Battery corrosion destroys equipment (almost)...

[Blade Canyon]

Decided to try some product photography in the basement tonight using an off camera strobe and Phottix flash triggers. I had not touched these flash triggers for a few months.

The Phottix transmitter screen was acting wacky and would not connect to the receiver. When I opened the battery case, the Energizer batteries had corroded, and they had leaked onto the circuit board inside the transmitter. I opened my Mecablitz flash and discovered the Energizers in it had also corroded.

Luckily, I was able to open the transmitter and clean the gunk off the circuit board. It worked after that. The lesson is to check your equipment regularly. For these items, I will no longer store them with the batteries inside.

You can see the design exposes the circuit board right under the battery connections:






The culprits! @#$%^%@$


Inside of flash:


Picture I ultimately got to shoot:

 

[JH Foto]

Nice gun but what has it got to do with the batteries ??

 

[Blade Canyon]

Nice gun but what has it got to do with the batteries ??

The pistol was my intended subject for the evening, but then I discovered the battery problem and had to fix the flash trigger and clean out the flash. I shot a few of the pistol once everything was back together.

 

[Roy1961]

now that is a point and shoot. lol

 

[nickt]

My recipe to get an alkaline battery to leak is to use for awhile at a high drain rate, then store it away. They are almost guaranteed to leak. They seem to never leak in low drain applications like my clocks or remotes. Anything else gets eneloops now.

 

[Bikerbrent_RIP]

Years ago I remember when batteries were leak-proof and the battery companies would replace or repair anything damaged by the leaking batteries. Now the batteries leak like sieves and explode. Ah, progress!

 

[Horoscope Fish]

Years ago I remember when batteries were leak-proof and the battery companies would replace or repair anything damaged by the leaking batteries. Now the batteries leak like sieves and explode. Ah, progress!

Energizer still has a No Leak Guarantee.


[MENTION=15302]Blade Canyon[/MENTION]

You state you got your equipment working but those are some pretty compelling photos. I'd consider emailing Energizer your story and evidence of damage. Your triggers are working now, but what if they fail in another week or two because of this?

 

[nickt]

Good idea to contact energizer as Fish said. Corrosion will come back to haunt you. Especially on battery contacts. Once they lose that nickle plating (or whatever it is) and the base metal is exposed they will always need a little maintenance to keep them making good contact. If there are any salts left behind in little crevices after cleaning they will continue to do damage.

 

[rocketman122]

sorry for your trouble. now, nimh might leak, who knows, but I never used any alkaline battery for ANY purpose. it just makes sense to use rechargeables today. I never heard of someone I work with or know had a nimh AA leak. I guess, lesson learned

 

[Zeke_M]

Eneloop rechargables are the answer here.
Their virtues have been extolled here for a long time.
I use Eneloops for all my flashes. One reason is they get recharged often and I can get a look at the battery box to check for corrosion.

Regular batteries should be used only in an emergency or until the Eneloops are recharged. YMMV.

Nice Beretta.

 

[Danno_RIP]

Nice weapon... I have one of those handy in the house. I will agree with everyone else on the Eneloop batteries. I finally broke down and bought some to try in my speed light and they are really amazing. I now have more.

On the down side that corrosion will likely come back since the protective coating is gone. I really messes things up once you get a leaker.

 

[weebee]

Now, If I were you. I would take those nasty batteries. And put some lead through em!

 

[Blade Canyon]

I had never heard of Eneloops. Based on the recommendations here, I just ordered a case of Eneloop AAs and a charger from Amazon.

Thanks!

 

[Bikerbrent_RIP]

I see Amazon carries several different brands of Eneloops (Panasonic, Sanyo, amazon basics, etc.) different capacities. Which brand and capacity is good. How do you avoid cheap Chinese knockoffs?

 

[Horoscope Fish]

I had never heard of Eneloops. Based on the recommendations here, I just ordered a case of Eneloop AAs and a charger from Amazon.

We quit buying disposable batteries in my house some years ago; we're all Eneloop (AA's and AAA's) all the time now. Between remote controls for the TV, and such and camera gear for two photographers they've paid for themselves many times over. Never a leak. We've also got some Amazon Basics "Eneloop" batteries in the mix and on a practical level they're fine for around-the-house use. I haven't done any testing of any kind, I don't care enough to do that. From what I can tell, they're great rechargeables for a great price.
....

 

[nickt]

I see Amazon carries several different brands of Eneloops (Panasonic, Sanyo, amazon basics, etc.) different capacities. Which brand and capacity is good. How do you avoid cheap Chinese knockoffs?

Panasonic bought or acquired or absorbed Sanyo battery division. Not sure exactly what the relationship is, but older stock would be labeled Sanyo and newer stock is Panasonic.

I have two sets of Amazon Basics, they seem to be as good as Eneloops. I am not sure if they are re-branded or something entirely different. I am still getting good service from my original gen 1 Eneloops from 2008. I have about 2 dozen of those originals. They get steady use and just keep on going.
You can google various ways to spot fakes, but if you buy directly from Amazon rather than a Amazon Marketplace seller, you should be ok.

There might be some benefit to the black eneloop pro's if you are really professionally pounding the flash, but for general use, the white are good and will live a longer life.

 

[Texas]

I've got lots of rechargeables, pretty old ones. Trying to think of a poor man's way to evaluate whether to keep certain ones of them or not. The tester/chargers are pretty pricey but maybe worth it.