Duracell batteries (Re: Canon Elan and B&H)

Tanvir-

Many years ago, I made comparisons between Eveready and Duracell alkaline
cells. At the time, I found Eveready to be clearly better. Today, I'm
not so sure. In the last three years, I have had several cases of
nearly-new Eveready Alkaline C & D cells leaking inside portable radios
and electronic flashes. Cell electrical output was normal, even though a
puddle was forming under the equipment! It would seem that recent
increases in electrical capacity have been made at the expense of seal
integrity.

Although both companies are selling "dated for freshness", the dates are
often 3 or more years away. I just purchased some Eveready AA cells dated
December, 1997. Although there may have been improvements in the
state-of-the-art over the years, I still feel that 3 years is getting
close to the shelf life of these batteries.

Back in 1977, an article in Popular Photography magazine, provided a clue
to the manufacturing date codes of these two brands of batteries. On the
back of most DURACELL packages, there is a printed code consisting of the
last two digits of the year, followed by a letter indicating the month,
two digits indicating the day of the month, and additional characters
indicating plant of manufacture. The month-letter is A=January,
B=February, et cetera.

The code for EVEREADY is more difficult. It consists of two (or three)
alpha characters stamped somewhere on the cell. It is printed in tiny
characters on the edge of their button cells. The basic code is two
characters, but there is sometimes a third character inserted between the
other two, frequently an "X". The first character refers to the month,
and the second character refers to the year. There are two sets of month
characters, depending on whether the year is odd or even. There are seven
letters for the year, providing a total range of 14 years before the code
repeats.

The even-year month code letters are: V F X B Z L D R O J T H.
The odd-year month code letters are: K A Y I U C W P E G S M.
Corresponding months are: J F M A M J J A S O N D.

The year code letters are spelling out "UNICARB". Working backwards from
data in the 1977 magazine article, the code has been in use at least as
far back as 1972, when the year code letter would have been "U". I have
kept track of it on and off over the years, and believe it is still being
followed. However, cells sold to the government sometimes have a standard
date stamped on them. When compared to their two letter code, there has
been a two or three month discrepancy!

For 1994, the year code letter would be "N". As an example, a cell with
the letters, "CU", stamped on the side, would probably have been
manufactured in June, 1993. In my desk, I've got an old AA cell stamped
"TXA", which should be November, 1990 (Ignoring the "X"). One might
assume it could also have been made in November, 1976. However, the
package style has changed since then, eliminating the ambiguity.

Since I started buying batteries according to the codes, I have been
getting a lot better service. You don't have to remember the Month, since
the current-year's batteries are still fairly fresh. Now, if they will
only do something about the leakers!

Fred

Interesting. I guess I bought into the Duracell myth. Radio Shack's
gold Super Alkaline brand I've heard is *the* best. I just put them in
my flash and they seem okay, but then they're new. Supposedly (heard
from a friend who is a district manager for RS) RS makes some of
Energizer's batteries. Is he full of it?

: (Jennifer R Linrud) writes:

: : : : :
:
: I had always used only Duracell until two years ago. I bought an 8
: pack of AA from the drug store (dated for freshness) and put them in a
: new alarm clock and guess what. The clock seem to eat one battery
: daily. I return the clock as defective as and got a new one. The
: same problem. In frustation I purchased Kodak batteries and it is
: still working in the same clock after two years. After that I
: switched to Engerizer, Kodak, Panasonic etc. That means pretty much
: anything that is available and works. I hardly useDuracell since then
: (I was late for work because of them :-) so can't tell if that was an
: isolated incident or Duracell's downhill roll.

: More people complain on .rec.photo about Duracell (fake? real?) than
: any other battery. Duracell might need to address the problem. The
: problem could be not only in their 2CR5 batteries but other lines too.

: Tanvir
: <Tanvir_
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