50 Dying batteries: Can they be shorted by cardboard if humid enough?

[Thomas G. Marshall]

I recently ordered on eBay 100 energizer AA batteries.

I tested them using a simple battery tester from radio shack. 4 were dead,
one was near death, and 95 were at an identical high mark, but just a
"little" below an energizer I bought from a retail package from Home Depot.
The tester is simple and unmetered, save for a "75%" mark. The needle moves
up to almost the same spot as my control (retail) battery does.

They were shipped in 2 corrugated cardboard boxes, roughly the height of an
AA cell. 50 in each, all standing up on the negative (flat) end. So
(especially if they are stacked) the top and bottom of all the batteries are
touching the top and bottom of the cardboard box. HUGE speculation: If the
cardboard is even minutely conductive (humidity, acidity, or whatever) then
I have effectively a wired in parallel 1.5V "50xAA-amp" "battery" that is
shorting through its own packaging (?)

Is there another possibility for this, other than just lesser quality
batteries? And is the cardboard shorting even possible? I'm working with
the seller to try to figure this one out. He's asking about possibly
putting a plastic or foam sheet above or below them. I'd appreciate your
thoughts on all of this.

 

[Tom Biasi]

I recently ordered on eBay 100 energizer AA batteries.

I tested them using a simple battery tester from radio shack. 4 were
dead,
one was near death, and 95 were at an identical high mark, but just a
"little" below an energizer I bought from a retail package from Home
Depot.
The tester is simple and unmetered, save for a "75%" mark. The needle
moves
up to almost the same spot as my control (retail) battery does.

They were shipped in 2 corrugated cardboard boxes, roughly the height of
an
AA cell. 50 in each, all standing up on the negative (flat) end. So
(especially if they are stacked) the top and bottom of all the batteries
are
touching the top and bottom of the cardboard box. HUGE speculation: If
the
cardboard is even minutely conductive (humidity, acidity, or whatever)
then
I have effectively a wired in parallel 1.5V "50xAA-amp" "battery" that is
shorting through its own packaging (?)

Is there another possibility for this, other than just lesser quality
batteries? And is the cardboard shorting even possible? I'm working with
the seller to try to figure this one out. He's asking about possibly
putting a plastic or foam sheet above or below them. I'd appreciate your
thoughts on all of this.

Most likely you bought old batteries.

 

[Radiosrfun]

"Thomas G. Marshall"


Most likely you bought old batteries.

Though you don't have to buy the most expensive to get a decent product, you
do have to watch what you buy. I've bought some "cheap" batteries in my past
and well - not only did they go dead fast, they leaked and caused some
damage to the item. A bargain - it was not. The damage was realitively easy
to correct - but I knew then not to buy "some" off brands.

Sounds like you guys got a bum shipment of batteries. I tend to agree with
the other guys, it is highly doubtful the "shipping" box caused them to go
dead. It would have to have been made damp and have good contact - top and
bottom of cells.

 

[Meat Plow]

I recently ordered on eBay 100 energizer AA batteries.

I tested them using a simple battery tester from radio shack. 4 were dead,
one was near death, and 95 were at an identical high mark, but just a
"little" below an energizer I bought from a retail package from Home Depot.
The tester is simple and unmetered, save for a "75%" mark. The needle moves
up to almost the same spot as my control (retail) battery does.

They were shipped in 2 corrugated cardboard boxes, roughly the height of an
AA cell. 50 in each, all standing up on the negative (flat) end. So
(especially if they are stacked) the top and bottom of all the batteries are
touching the top and bottom of the cardboard box. HUGE speculation: If the
cardboard is even minutely conductive (humidity, acidity, or whatever) then
I have effectively a wired in parallel 1.5V "50xAA-amp" "battery" that is
shorting through its own packaging (?)

Is there another possibility for this, other than just lesser quality
batteries? And is the cardboard shorting even possible? I'm working with
the seller to try to figure this one out. He's asking about possibly
putting a plastic or foam sheet above or below them. I'd appreciate your
thoughts on all of this.

You got ripped off.

 

[maxfoo]

I recently ordered on eBay 100 energizer AA batteries.

I tested them using a simple battery tester from radio shack. 4 were dead,
one was near death, and 95 were at an identical high mark, but just a
"little" below an energizer I bought from a retail package from Home Depot.
The tester is simple and unmetered, save for a "75%" mark. The needle moves
up to almost the same spot as my control (retail) battery does.

They were shipped in 2 corrugated cardboard boxes, roughly the height of an
AA cell. 50 in each, all standing up on the negative (flat) end. So
(especially if they are stacked) the top and bottom of all the batteries are
touching the top and bottom of the cardboard box. HUGE speculation: If the
cardboard is even minutely conductive (humidity, acidity, or whatever) then
I have effectively a wired in parallel 1.5V "50xAA-amp" "battery" that is
shorting through its own packaging (?)

Is there another possibility for this, other than just lesser quality
batteries? And is the cardboard shorting even possible? I'm working with
the seller to try to figure this one out. He's asking about possibly
putting a plastic or foam sheet above or below them. I'd appreciate your
thoughts on all of this.

Report the seller to ebay's fraud department and have the idiot banned from
ebay. If more people would report these scammers it might make it a better
shopping experience.
http://pages.ebay.com/securitycenter/?ssPageName=f:f:US

 

[Jack]

On Sun, 04 Mar 2007 14:52:39 GMT, "Thomas G. Marshall"

Report the seller to ebay's fraud department and have the idiot banned
from
ebay. If more people would report these scammers it might make it a better
shopping experience.
http://pages.ebay.com/securitycenter/?ssPageName=f:f:US

Pretty extreme retribution toward someone whose product was 96% satisfactory
and who was working with the buyer to resolve the problem.
Perhaps you could share your Ebay id with the group so we could avoid doing
business with you.

 

[Radiosrfun]

Pretty extreme retribution toward someone whose product was 96%
satisfactory and who was working with the buyer to resolve the problem.
Perhaps you could share your Ebay id with the group so we could avoid
doing business with you.

Do we "really" know the seller was working to solve the problem? OR just
blowing off the buyer with a bunch of questions - he himself may have had no
clue of? I'm not saying the seller wasn't trying to resolve the issue - but
there is no way to prove it. It is as we've seen, a far stretch to imagine
"cardboard shipping container" to short out batteries. OR some being dead as
I believe was also the case.

In buying bulk, you're probably always going to have some defective product
show up - I've had it happen to me. Actually, maybe the seller could have
offered to reimburse some money for loss - but if "he" wasn't BSing the
buyer, then he had about as much knowledge and chance for a refund - as the
buyer seems to have had. Us trying to prove the case for the buyer OR
seller - most likely won't make a damned bit of difference to the original
supplier if the seller indeed relied on one.

When you factor in all the product in a "bulk" deal - you figure out your
per piece cost and then see what you've lost. Is it worth dicking around
trying to prove anything - or just toss in the trash and forget about it?
Batteries in bulk are usually pretty cheap. At our local store, I can buy a
4 pack for a $1 - batteries I use often with no issues. OR I can buy a 12
pack for a $1, which I HAVE had issues with - leaking. Price doesn't always
dictate quality, but sometimes - it does.

Just my 2 cents

 

[Homer J Simpson]

Batteries in bulk are usually pretty cheap. At our local store, I can buy
a 4 pack for a $1 - batteries I use often with no issues. OR I can buy a
12 pack for a $1, which I HAVE had issues with - leaking. Price doesn't
always dictate quality, but sometimes - it does.

I can buy an 8 pack for $1 here. They're good. The fake Energizer 12 per
pack are total crap.

 

[Homer J Simpson]

Kind of reminds me when i bought a brick of what i thought was
Duracell's AA's. after the first set of cells died in a short
lived period, i noticed they said Duraking and had the same copper
top casing and all.

Yeah, that's a sure sign of crap IME.

 

[Jamie]

I can buy an 8 pack for $1 here. They're good. The fake Energizer 12 per
pack are total crap.

Kind of reminds me when i bought a brick of what i thought was
Duracell's AA's. after the first set of cells died in a short
lived period, i noticed they said Duraking and had the same copper
top casing and all.

 

[Thomas G. Marshall]

Radiosrfun said something like:

Do we "really" know the seller was working to solve the problem? OR just
blowing off the buyer with a bunch of questions - he himself may have had
no
clue of? I'm not saying the seller wasn't trying to resolve the issue -
but
there is no way to prove it. It is as we've seen, a far stretch to imagine
"cardboard shipping container" to short out batteries. OR some being dead
as
I believe was also the case.

All such notions were mine from the start. The buyer isn't the one with the
questions. He is just interested in what I discovered, and seems to be
genuine in this, or so I think.

In buying bulk, you're probably always going to have some defective
product
show up - I've had it happen to me. Actually, maybe the seller could have
offered to reimburse some money for loss - but if "he" wasn't BSing the
buyer, then he had about as much knowledge and chance for a refund - as
the
buyer seems to have had. Us trying to prove the case for the buyer OR
seller - most likely won't make a damned bit of difference to the original
supplier if the seller indeed relied on one.

Your wording here is a little unclear to me, but I'll try to clear it up by
saying that the seller *did* offer me a full refund. I didn't press him on
this to see if it included shipping or not, but I think he would have.
*Plus*, he also without me asking to put in a small package of 16 AA's (some
unknown brand) for free. I really just get the sense that this is a guy
attempting relying on feedback and because his feedback has been almost
entirely positive he simply was unaware of any issues.

When you factor in all the product in a "bulk" deal - you figure out your
per piece cost and then see what you've lost. Is it worth dicking around
trying to prove anything - or just toss in the trash and forget about it?

Discussions are valuable when they instruct, so this seems like a worthwhile
conversation. There's much here for me to learn about the consumer battery
world, and I'll leave it at that.

 

[maxfoo]

Pretty extreme retribution toward someone whose product was 96% satisfactory
and who was working with the buyer to resolve the problem.
Perhaps you could share your Ebay id with the group so we could avoid doing
business with you.

You don't need to bid on the item to report fraud, hell I've had a few crooks
banned before their auction was over. All in the test equipment department.

 

[Thomas G. Marshall]

Jamie said something like:

Kind of reminds me when i bought a brick of what i thought was
Duracell's AA's. after the first set of cells died in a short
lived period, i noticed they said Duraking and had the same copper
top casing and all.

Is there a reliable 3rd party battery reviewer/tester/etc. ? Perhaps
consumer reports? Or does anyone else know of any?

I can tell you from a fairly thorough experiment of mine involving a Sony
Walkman (analog audio casset tape) in the gym for nearly 2 hours every day,
that AA-energizer (classic energizer, not e2 or anything else fancy) beat
duracell's standard coppertop alkaline every single time. Big thorough
experiement, but very narrowly focused on 2 brands, one device, and one
"way" of using it (left on with no stops and restarts). But it was without
deviation: E beat D in this narrow case.

But what of BJ's "Berkely & Jensen" OEM'd brand? Or any of the other
million mumble names out there, probably 99% of them originating in asia.
Any good ones people like?

 

[Eeyore]

I can buy an 8 pack for $1 here. They're good. The fake Energizer 12 per
pack are total crap.

'Fake' Energisers ?

Do they have 'fake' written on them ?

Graham

 

[Homer J Simpson]

'Fake' Energisers ?

Do they have 'fake' written on them ?

They look the same as or similar to a good brand but they self destroy
without even being used.

 

[Michael A. Terrell]

'Fake' Energisers ?

Do they have 'fake' written on them ?

Graham

Yes, they do if you know how to read. Cheaper construction, lighter
materials, paper labels instead of silk-screening. It all says "FAKE"
loud and clear. US customs impounds tons of the crappy things every
week or so.


--
Service to my country? Been there, Done that, and I've got my DD214 to
prove it.
Member of DAV #85.

Michael A. Terrell
Central Florida

 

[Radiosrfun]

Yes, they do if you know how to read. Cheaper construction, lighter
materials, paper labels instead of silk-screening. It all says "FAKE"
loud and clear. US customs impounds tons of the crappy things every
week or so.

Graham,

Maybe you've not seen them, though they may not say "Fake" in writing, they
ARE "packaged" to look like a brand name. If you didn't look at them
closely - you would buy them "assuming" they are "brand name".
The ones I've seen, were IDENTICAL to Duracell.

There is a HUGE market out there for Knock-offs. Batteries, clothes,
watches, CDs, you name it - there is probably one for it.