Loose connection inside D cell battery
 

Anybody ever see a D cell flashlight battery with a poor connection
inside?
I had a flashlight that was giving me fits. The light would always
fade out or quite at the most inopportune time. A shake or bang would
sometimes get it working again.
I cleaned battery connections and every other connection inside the
flashlight. No help.

Finally when I had the batteries out I happened to shake one and it
sounded like liquid inside. There was a rattle in it! It was a
duracell alkaline. The battery still had good voltage but an
intermittent connection inside.

New batteries solved the problem. Anyone else ever hear of a problem
like that with D cells?

73
Gary K4FMX

I have seen this problem in quite a few flashlights and they don't seem
to be brand specific either and it even includes a new maglight. It
would always seem to show up when I was up in a very tight crawl space
that took 20 minutes to get to :-). Maybe the D cells did get internal
damage from being dropped because the symptoms were the same. Good
thinking on your part, I would have never considered that.

With kind regards.

Mike Burch K8MB

Apache Junction, AZ

I have seen this problem in quite a few flashlights and they don't seem
to be brand specific either and it even includes a new maglight. It
would always seem to show up when I was up in a very tight crawl space
that took 20 minutes to get to :-). Maybe the D cells did get internal
damage from being dropped because the symptoms were the same. Good
thinking on your part, I would have never considered that.

With kind regards.

Mike Burch K8MB

Apache Junction, AZ

On Fri, 21 May 2004 06:51:34 GMT, Mike Burch
wrote:



I have seen this problem in quite a few flashlights and they don't seem
to be brand specific either and it even includes a new maglight. It
would always seem to show up when I was up in a very tight crawl space
that took 20 minutes to get to :-). Maybe the D cells did get internal
damage from being dropped because the symptoms were the same. Good
thinking on your part, I would have never considered that.


I had a similar problem with a 5A slowblow fuse in a TCVR, on RX it
was fine, but when I went to TX the fuse acted like a re-settable and
went O/C. I spent hours looking in the TX strip for a problem ;=(

On Fri, 21 May 2004 06:51:34 GMT, Mike Burch
wrote:



I have seen this problem in quite a few flashlights and they don't seem
to be brand specific either and it even includes a new maglight. It
would always seem to show up when I was up in a very tight crawl space
that took 20 minutes to get to :-). Maybe the D cells did get internal
damage from being dropped because the symptoms were the same. Good
thinking on your part, I would have never considered that.


I had a similar problem with a 5A slowblow fuse in a TCVR, on RX it
was fine, but when I went to TX the fuse acted like a re-settable and
went O/C. I spent hours looking in the TX strip for a problem ;=(

Gary Schafer wrote in message
...
Anybody ever see a D cell flashlight battery with a poor connection
inside?
I had a flashlight that was giving me fits. The light would always
fade out or quite at the most inopportune time. A shake or bang would
sometimes get it working again.
I cleaned battery connections and every other connection inside the
flashlight. No help.

Finally when I had the batteries out I happened to shake one and it
sounded like liquid inside. There was a rattle in it! It was a
duracell alkaline. The battery still had good voltage but an
intermittent connection inside.

New batteries solved the problem. Anyone else ever hear of a problem
like that with D cells?

73
Gary K4FMX

Yes... but I had the problem on one or two occasions with 9v
batteries---Wallgreen store brand. Considering the large number of
batteries I used the issue is a minor one in my instance. BTW, those
Wallgreen batteries are a good deal, especially when they are on sale.

RG

Gary Schafer wrote in message
...
Anybody ever see a D cell flashlight battery with a poor connection
inside?
I had a flashlight that was giving me fits. The light would always
fade out or quite at the most inopportune time. A shake or bang would
sometimes get it working again.
I cleaned battery connections and every other connection inside the
flashlight. No help.

Finally when I had the batteries out I happened to shake one and it
sounded like liquid inside. There was a rattle in it! It was a
duracell alkaline. The battery still had good voltage but an
intermittent connection inside.

New batteries solved the problem. Anyone else ever hear of a problem
like that with D cells?

73
Gary K4FMX

Yes... but I had the problem on one or two occasions with 9v
batteries---Wallgreen store brand. Considering the large number of
batteries I used the issue is a minor one in my instance. BTW, those
Wallgreen batteries are a good deal, especially when they are on sale.

RG

On Fri, 21 May 2004 03:07:32 GMT Gary Schafer
wrote:

Anybody ever see a D cell flashlight battery with a poor connection
inside?

I had one once which seemed to just have very high internal
resistance. It measured fine for voltage using a high impedance
voltmeter, but wouldn't get the bulb much above a dull glow. There was
no rattle to it, however, and I only solved the problem by throwing it
away.

-
-----------------------------------------------
Jim Adney
Madison, WI 53711 USA
-----------------------------------------------

On Fri, 21 May 2004 03:07:32 GMT Gary Schafer
wrote:

Anybody ever see a D cell flashlight battery with a poor connection
inside?

I had one once which seemed to just have very high internal
resistance. It measured fine for voltage using a high impedance
voltmeter, but wouldn't get the bulb much above a dull glow. There was
no rattle to it, however, and I only solved the problem by throwing it
away.

-
-----------------------------------------------
Jim Adney
Madison, WI 53711 USA
-----------------------------------------------

I have used that technique on quite a few circumstances. It works
pretty good. A good G-Force test against a cinder block wall never hurt
anyone and is most just good entertainment Time is money! :-)
-----------------------------------------------

I have used that technique on quite a few circumstances. It works
pretty good. A good G-Force test against a cinder block wall never hurt
anyone and is most just good entertainment Time is money! :-)
-----------------------------------------------

In article ,
says...

Anybody ever see a D cell flashlight battery with a poor connection
inside?
I had a flashlight that was giving me fits. The light would always
fade out or quite at the most inopportune time. A shake or bang would
sometimes get it working again.
I cleaned battery connections and every other connection inside the
flashlight. No help.

Finally when I had the batteries out I happened to shake one and it
sounded like liquid inside. There was a rattle in it! It was a
duracell alkaline. The battery still had good voltage but an
intermittent connection inside.

New batteries solved the problem. Anyone else ever hear of a problem
like that with D cells?

73
Gary K4FMX

I have had a huge problem with alkalines stored in the refrigerator. They
work well after warming back up to room temp as would be expected. Then
about three days later they just open circuit!!! Have had this problem so
many times that I just buy smaller quantities of batteries now. Used to buy
them by the case, and keep refrigerated to increase shelf life.

In article ,
says...

Anybody ever see a D cell flashlight battery with a poor connection
inside?
I had a flashlight that was giving me fits. The light would always
fade out or quite at the most inopportune time. A shake or bang would
sometimes get it working again.
I cleaned battery connections and every other connection inside the
flashlight. No help.

Finally when I had the batteries out I happened to shake one and it
sounded like liquid inside. There was a rattle in it! It was a
duracell alkaline. The battery still had good voltage but an
intermittent connection inside.

New batteries solved the problem. Anyone else ever hear of a problem
like that with D cells?

73
Gary K4FMX

I have had a huge problem with alkalines stored in the refrigerator. They
work well after warming back up to room temp as would be expected. Then
about three days later they just open circuit!!! Have had this problem so
many times that I just buy smaller quantities of batteries now. Used to buy
them by the case, and keep refrigerated to increase shelf life.