[stuarth]

The puzzle to me is why Duracell’s seem to be so bad.

My survey (checking and counting cells on their way to recycling) shows
Panasonic 201 cells, 3 leaky, 1.5%
Duracell 71 cells, 14 leaky, 20%
Aerocell (Lidl) 60 cells, 1 leaky, 1,7%

So all 3 manufacturers have cells which leak, but out of these 3, one is obviously an order of magnitude worse than the others.

Reviews from a well known consumer magazine show that Duracell’s are amongst the best for battery life at several different levels of drain, but not always THE best, and anyway, the top group are all within a few % of each other, so it’s not that Duracell have some magic trick that gives them more stored charge at the expense of electrolyte leakage. And they cost 4 times the price of some other top rated cells.

In answer to the question in post 10, maybe some folk never use Duracell’s, and others only use Duracell’s, so have nothing to compare them to. I started my survey because I had an impression that Duracell’s were more leaky than others, but it was not until I started cell counting that I realised the extent of the problem.

I only have significant cell numbers for 3 makes. Is anyone else cell counting for other makes? I see a few other makes from time to time, but not enough to be statistically significant, especially if they have low rates of leaky cells.

Stuart