Flashlight Battery Corrosion Fix?

[DougE]

All of us grab that seldom used flashlight and find that it glows feebly or not at all. Are there any cures (preventative maintenance) for this. I'm trying a couple of things right now but won't know if they'll work for quite some time. One thing I am trying is to put a dab of silicon grease on each end of the battery(s). The other thing I'm trying is to give the contacts a spritz of battery terminal corrosion inhibitor - the stuff you get for the car battery at the auto supply. Any thoughts?

[edbehnke]

just keep a couple of flashlights. get the led ones. pick up a half dozen are the dollar store.

[Gdetrailer]

MEXICOWANDERER wrote:
Batteries need high or low Ph media to work. High or low Ph media eats things for a living. Including whatever it is contained in. An answer is lithium but it's unavailable In AAA - F cell. NiMH is better than alkaline or zinc chloride for resisting case leakage, but at the expensive of losing several tenths of a volt flashlight brightness. Can't winnemall...

Even Lithium has an "Achilles heel" so to speak.. Lithium can get rather unstable if the battery seal is damaged and oxygen gets in to the point of an extreme high temperature fire.

The answer to rechargeables not having quite as much voltage which means not as bright of a incadescent bulb.. You can get LED replacement bulbs which have a large voltage acceptance range.

HERE is a 3W 100 lumen-120 lumen LED flash light bulb I am currently testing in my Makita flashlight..

My first venture down this road was a Harbor Freight LED which worked but lacked the brightness and focus of the OEM incadescent. The HF bulb is rated for 2 cell to 6 cell flashlights. I think I got it for $6 with a 20% coupon..

The replacement LED in the link above is rated from 7V to 30V.. And let me tell you it is bright and has a nice focused spot.

[2oldman]

If you get those speakers then your flashlight problems should be solved.

[RoyB]

I just recently picked up a couple of inexpensive PHILLIPS Battery powered speakers (AMAZON) to use for external speakers in my truck. These fit perfect pushed into a nice catch all hole in my truck console. These portable speakers work extremely well with CELL PHONE PHONE OUT connections. This is how I monitor my Internet POLICE SCANNER App I have on my cell phone. Works great for my country music when waiting for momabear to get back from shopping at Food Lion hehe...


They use three each AAA batteries and I was surprised how short battery life these guys have. I think I am going to start using re-chargable AAA batteries and then use a USB Battery Charger in my truck to keep a charged up set going for me. My truck console has two different locations for USB charging ports...

Roy Ken

[MEXICOWANDERER]

Batteries need high or low Ph media to work. High or low Ph media eats things for a living. Including whatever it is contained in. An answer is lithium but it's unavailable In AAA - F cell. NiMH is better than alkaline or zinc chloride for resisting case leakage, but at the expensive of losing several tenths of a volt flashlight brightness. Can't winnemall...

[Gdetrailer]

BuckBarker wrote:
Reverse one battery for storage, then turn the battery around the correct way when you need to use it. Fixed.

Nice try.

But, battery corrosion will still happen with DRY CELL BATTERIES once they get too old.

This happens whether you use them until flat or allow them to lay around for years until they go flat. Once flat they will eventually eat the battery case/seal and the caustic electrolyte migrates outside the battery.

It is for that reason most good name brand Dry cell batteries have a USE BY DATE on them.

Too reduce the chance of corrosion in flash lights or any battery powered devise you NEED to REPLACE DEAD or OUTDATED batteries as soon as possible.

To cut down on the chances on corrosion you could change to rechargeable NiMH batteries but you will need to recharge them every month or so since they will tend to self discharge themselves. You can buy Eneloop rechargeable batteries which have a very low self discharge rate.

ENELOOP BATTERIES

Rechargeables also have a very good low temperature operation which is very handy in extreme cold temperature usage!

My go to flashlight is my Makita 9.6V flashlight which uses the same 9.6V rechargeable battery as my Makita drill. I keep the flashlight in my truck under the seat. Even during the coldest days I can pull it out and still get several hrs of light. I just rotate a freshly charged battery into it once a month for good measure.

Dry cells tend to not work as well or not at all at extreme cold temperatures.

[Gjac]

I found that with the small led type flash light like from HF after they sit for a while they get dim (maybe from some slight corrosion) if you spin the batteries in place they get bright again.

[DougE]

I don't know if what I'm trying will stop the corrosion, but if it prevents the contacts from getting corroded it would help a great deal because then just replacing the battery would be all that was necessary to get the item working again. No more scrapping and treating the contacts.

[2oldman]

Mobile phones make a pretty good flashlight.

I don't know if there's any way to inhibit a battery's leakage. The suggestion above doesn't make sense because if the FL is off there's no current flow.

Take the batteries out, as per manual on almost any device.

[BuckBarker]

Reverse one battery for storage, then turn the battery around the correct way when you need to use it. Fixed.