AAA Batteries- More likely to leak that AA's?

glimmer

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I've had bad luck with AAA's leaking. Over the years, I've had far more AAA's leak than AA's- in all sorts of devices: calculators, remotes, flashlights, etc....

Is this typical? Have others experienced the same thing?
 

DRAWs

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me too, my AAA remote controls and calculators always has leaky alkaline in them
 

SoCalTiger

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I haven't noticed a difference as leakage for me seems more correlated to the brand rather than just the size. I think that the main problem with AAAs is that alkalines will become leak prone once the charge gets low and AAAs have low capacity to start with.
 

Lynx_Arc

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I too haven't noticed a difference between AAA and AA and alkaleakage. I typically figure ANY AA or AAA alkaline battery has enough chance of leaking that I avoid using them in most devices but I can't afford to put lithium batteries in every remote I have yet so I just check stuff with alkalines in them quite often and use nimh in regularly used devices, lithium in rarely used devices that I need to keep batteries in and take the batteries out of everything else.
 

glimmer

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I haven't noticed a difference as leakage for me seems more correlated to the brand rather than just the size. I think that the main problem with AAAs is that alkalines will become leak prone once the charge gets low and AAAs have low capacity to start with.

Interesting that alkalines are more prone to leakage when the charge gets low. I didn't know that. Thanks.
 

Lynx_Arc

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Interesting that alkalines are more prone to leakage when the charge gets low. I didn't know that. Thanks.

I've rarely let them get low and still have had plenty of leaks. I've found that the chance of leakage increases a lot about 2 years before the "expire" date as I've had many leak well before they reach that date and most of those leaking measured 1.5v+
 

Crazyeddiethefirst

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I have quite a few devices that use either AA or AAA's and have not noticed a difference in the rate of failure using alkys. I have a stash of Alky's AA & AAA for a crisis, but they are my last. By switching to Energizer Lithiums & Eneloops I have not had a single leak. As a result, I will just build up my supply of these cells and no longer keep a stock of alkalines.
 

Lynx_Arc

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I have quite a few devices that use either AA or AAA's and have not noticed a difference in the rate of failure using alkys. I have a stash of Alky's AA & AAA for a crisis, but they are my last. By switching to Energizer Lithiums & Eneloops I have not had a single leak. As a result, I will just build up my supply of these cells and no longer keep a stock of alkalines.
This is what I'm in the process of doing. I've got the AAs covered but am short on AAAs for now. I still stock alkalines in a small quantity usually I get them with new devices or buy used devices with alkalines that test out fine in them. I typically buy dollar store alkalines when I get low and need a few. The funny thing is of all my alkalines I've stocked in the last few years only the name brands have leaked in storage the cheap brands haven't leaked at all and cost 1/3 to 1/4 as much.
 

elzilcho

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My experience is the opposite. Very few alkaline leaks that I remember but those that did were all AA. I use primaries in everything.
 

eh4

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Well, they've got less capacity, so all other things being equal out makes sense that they'd become over depleted sooner than AA.
We'd also assume that they'd be put into less current thirsty devices than AA, like TV remotes, little liquid crystal clocks, etc. But there's plenty of miniature high drain devices, FRS radios, flashlights, and the like.
 

Lynx_Arc

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My experience is the opposite. Very few alkaline leaks that I remember but those that did were all AA. I use primaries in everything.

You are very lucky then, I only use primaries in about 10% of my stuff now and that has cut leaks down by about 25% of what it used to be instead of 90% of what it should have as I still find batteries leaking in stuff but it is just irritating now since the stuff they are in I can throw away without guilt anyway they are old flashlights that are strategically placed around the place that I almost never used as I'm used to taking flashlights with me wherever I go.
 

Lynx_Arc

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Well, they've got less capacity, so all other things being equal out makes sense that they'd become over depleted sooner than AA.
We'd also assume that they'd be put into less current thirsty devices than AA, like TV remotes, little liquid crystal clocks, etc. But there's plenty of miniature high drain devices, FRS radios, flashlights, and the like.

I find AAAs and AAs in the same types of stuff these days from remotes to clocks to flashlights with about the same output ratings. I have several items that have AAAs in them that should have AAs instead that when they are used eat batteries pretty quickly. The two main reasons for AAAs is it saves trying to engineer things to accommodate AA batteries and also saves having to design in a boost circuit for some devices to save from a dollar or two to just a few cents now. I try and buy stuff that takes AA batteries over AAA as I've found AAA nimh batteries are more fragile than AAs in series I've ruined a lot of AAA nimh when one gets discharged too much and reverse charged.
 

bykfixer

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Triple A's likely to leak over double A's? Hmmm.

That's kind of a "if a tree falls in the woods with no one around" question.

My personal experience is that triple A's have indeed leaked more often than double A's. But the cells that leaked are the usual "Ching Kong" or other sketchy brand that arrives in a device like a remote control or portable clock etc. Never really put much thought into the whys n why nots, but stopped using Chung King batteries in my devices and the issue is solved.
 
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glimmer

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In my case, both battery types were always name brand batteries- usually Duracells. The most recent instance was in an expensive scientific calculator my son has. It uses several AAA's. Had a bad leak that was time consuming to clean up, and the batteries were probably no more than 2 years old- and many years before expiration. Thank goodness for DeOxit. Last several instances for me have been AAA's. :thinking:
 

terjee

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I've come to the point that alkalines just don't go into anything I care about. Expensive calculators for example, will experience a leak eventually. Pretty much always going with eneloop these days, sometimes lithium primaries for sevices that can handle the higher voltage. These devices also don't go in drawers, but rather on a shelf or desk, where I'll remember to charge them once in a while.

Also makes for a nice rule of thumb when ordering. Would I care about the thing enough to put Eneloops in it? If not, I should probably think twice about the purchase.
 

CarpentryHero

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If it's something that you don't go through batteries monthly or sooner, don't leave alkalines in it. If it takes a year to kill a battery and potentially is close to drained for a month or more, count on it getting a leak. Maybe you luck out some years but it's bound to happen.

aaa's might seem like they leak more because they have lower reserves and tend to be in low draw devices and sit longer
 

flphotog

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me too, my AAA remote controls and calculators always has leaky alkaline in them

I don't think AAA's are any more likely to leak than AA's however I do think that in the applications you list they are more likely to last significantly longer than in some other applications making them more likely to leak over there lifetime, IMHO
 
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