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Take batteries out

EBEBRATT-Ed
EBEBRATT-Ed Member Posts: 17,716
in THE MAIN WALL

One thing we all do but shouldn't is leave batteries in test equipment. I had a piece of electrical equipment that was only 11 months or so old a Klein Circuit Tracer. I pulled it out and have been debating weather to sell it or not. They are a little bit north of $200 new. Only used a couple of times.

i posted it on Marketplace and had a buyer for $100 within an hour or so. I never doubted it would work.

I fired it up and it won't power up so I thought batteries were dead. Pulled the back off and its all corroded.

I spent an hour cleaning it up, backing soda etc and dried it our good with a fan.

It's toast.

I guess the cheap China batteries it came with leaked all over the place.😕😕😕😕 Now I guess I will go check my other tools with batteries.

kcoppEdTheHeaterManLarry WeingartenLRCCBJIntplm.

Comments

  • mattmia2
    mattmia2 Member Posts: 12,624

    i've seen stuff that uses very little power like clocks and thermometers both be working and have the batteries leaking everywhere. i have rarely seen it so bad you can't scrape it out and make it work. you really usually need to use scotchbrite or scrape it because it will get an oxide coating that insulates the batteries. i don't know that the chemistry of household batteries is acidic so not sure baking soda helps. it isn't a lead acid cell.

    i bought a gps on ebay and marked down a notch or 2 for as described because they didn't disclose that the battery terminals were corroded.

  • EBEBRATT-Ed
    EBEBRATT-Ed Member Posts: 17,716

    I spent a lot of time cleaning it probably an hour. It looks fine but doesn't work.

    Lyle {pheloa} Carter
  • EBEBRATT-Ed
    EBEBRATT-Ed Member Posts: 17,716

    Now I have to check my meters etc as I don't use them much and cross my fingers they are ok.

  • Alan (California Radiant) Forbes
    Alan (California Radiant) Forbes Member Posts: 4,417

    I did the same thing yesterday with my old Bacharach Fyrite combustion analyzer as there’s a colleague interested in buying it. I thought for sure the batteries had leaked, but the Duracell’s were intact.
    I haven’t heard back from the guy. $200 and it probably needs new sensors if anyone is interested.

    8.33 lbs./gal. x 60 min./hr. x 20°ΔT = 10,000 BTU's/hour

    Two btu per sq ft for degree difference for a slab
  • mattmia2
    mattmia2 Member Posts: 12,624

    sometimes it corrodes the solder where the contact is attached to the pcb or the wire or even the trace on the pcb, usually easy to fix unless it really got all over the board. my grandfather's 260 had the i think d battery leak all over the board and it seemed to not read correctly after that. i couldn't figure it out. it is in a box in pieces.

  • Sal Santamaura
    Sal Santamaura Member Posts: 541

    Despite their higher cost, I now put Energizer lithium batteries in everything. Not only don't they leak, their shelf lives are at least 10 years, and many much longer, depending on the particular battery size. They also work perfectly in very low temperatures, if any use case demands such performance.

    Intplm.
  • ethicalpaul
    ethicalpaul Member Posts: 7,624

     i don't know that the chemistry of household batteries is acidic so not sure baking soda helps. it isn't a lead acid cell.

    I would say the alkaline ones definitely aren't acidic!

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