Batteries Lurking In The Fridge

[Steve Green NEPA]

Ha -- the great NY Post sportswriter / media critic Phil Mushnick recently asked, 'Which came first? The chicken salad or the egg salad?'

So I ask again, as to the old-wives' wisdom of stowing these batteries in the refrigerator. We have a few nice radios and clocks here that depend on those AA batteries for our peace of mind.

Does such storage prolong their life? And if that's the case, wouldn't they best be kept in the freezer?

Thanks in advance for your guidance and pity.

 

[cyberdad]

Someone more knowledgeable than me (not find to find) can give you the definitive answer.

BUT, I think that was probably true in the days of zinc-carbon batteries. In those things, the sleeve was part of the electricity producing process....which was slowed by lower temperatures. With today's alkaline batteries, the sleeve is pure packaging (as opposed to an active component in the process), and ambient temperature plays little or no role.

That said....my oldest son and daughter in law keep AA and AAA cells in their fridge. So go figure!

 

[PTBoardOp94]

According to Energizer, its Everready line of Carbon Zinc batteries do have improved capacity when stored at temperatures cooler than 21 degrees C (70 F). However, they claim that a battery stored at 21 C for one year will maintain 90% of its rated capacity. But when refrigerated, the same battery will hold about 95% of its capacity after one year. There is some evidence that older production methods (think 1950s) of Carbon-Zinc batteries were even more strongly assisted by storing in a chilled environment.

See pages 8 and 9: http://data.energizer.com/pdfs/carbonzinc_appman.pdf

The same does not hold true for Alkaline or Lithium Iron Disulfide batteries.

 

[Steve Green NEPA]

I wonder where baseball great Al Kaline stows his batteries.

We buy those AA things by the 8-pack up here.

We're told as well that replacement batteries for flip phones / cell phones are stored upon manufacture in a climate controlled clean room. It's really close to impossible, though, to find a replacement battery for some Samsung Bravo phones, though.
I guess we'll just keep shopping at Ollies or Big-Lots.

Thx, PTB and Cyberdad!

 

[cyberdad]

I wonder where baseball great Al Kaline stows his batteries.

We buy those AA things by the 8-pack up here.

I buy mine at the dollar store (Dollar Tree). I won't buy them unless they're 50 cents/cell or less. Dollar tree had been selling them for a buck for a four-pack until a few months ago. Now it's three for a buck....still a good deal. And the AA and AAA sizes seem to be every bit as good as the name brands. Harbor Freight Tools sometimes has them for even less.