Alkaline AA and AAA batteries - which to get/avoid

Forums › Gadgets, robotics, home automation, electronics (including wearables) › Alkaline AA and AAA batteries - which to get/avoid

1 | 2 | 3

757 posts

Ultimate Geek
+1 received by user: 336

#3445323 18-Dec-2025 13:21

johno1234:

Thanks for the replies. I had a sneaking feeling that there wasn't as much difference between the cells themselves as there is in the prices.

that depends a lot on the use case. for your needs (mice, remotes), that's probably a safe statement. for things like camera speedlites/flashes and high output torches (most of which use LiIon these days), there's certainly a difference. quite obvious with the recycle time (speedlites) and run time (torches).

MikeB4

MikeB4
18775 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 12766

ID Verified

Trusted

Subscriber

#3445396 18-Dec-2025 15:32

Varta and Duracel are good. We always a large supply of cells at home but never the size I want at a given time.

Here is a crazy notion, lets give peace a chance.

xpd

Geek of Coastguard
14116 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 4578

Retired Mod

ID Verified

Trusted

Lifetime subscriber

#3445501 19-Dec-2025 08:03

(using the link above for the Ikea supplied batteries)

No product description (theyre some plant ball things)

But are battery/tech related apparently :D

XPD / Gavin

LinkTree

Goosey

3016 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 870

Subscriber

#3445507 19-Dec-2025 09:00

Ahh yes, those meatball batteries are for powering the Bluetooth bbq temperature sensors…. The meatball texture ensures the battery within isn’t intrusive on your grill and won’t be suspectable to heat…..because it’s a meat ball…will just sizzle and no risk to battery fires on the grill…

Radiotron

187 posts

Master Geek
+1 received by user: 36

#3445768 19-Dec-2025 21:09

Some thoughts about AA/AAA alkaline batteries:

Leakage risk can be minimised by never leaving partially or fully discharged cells in equipment.
This may vary by brand, I do not have very good experience of Duracell, and will not buy them.
Have also observed that the the super duper higher energy density cells (extra plus super max sort of nomenclature) are more likely to be leakers due to a more active chemical content with the same thin cell walls that all variants appear to get.
In my world, the only use case for alkaline cells is where they are regularly discharged and replaced as soon as no good, like the battery radio in the bathroom.
For very low demand/intermittent use such as remote control handsets or the multimeter I leave in the car, the humble zinc chloride type are fine, low leak risk and cheap.
If a serious device that matters needs AA (or 9V for that matter) batteries and rechargeables like Eneloops are not practical, e.g expensive DMMs, then it's lithium.
The lithium cells are also the only type I'll leave in always on devices like the weather station.
Expensive but awesome energy density, light in weight, and no known leak risk.
The relatively affordable lower risk alkaline if you must use them, is probably the Eveready "Gold", same as base model Energizer and Energizer Industrial I understand, and maybe the Vartas as well (all owned by Energizer Brands).

In order to get the right answer, one must ask the right question

SepticSceptic

2263 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 779

Trusted

#3445778 19-Dec-2025 22:08

The drop test to determine the amount of remaining charge really does work. For alkaline.

Drop from a height of approx 1cm or so. Flat end down and square on to the drop target. Target needs to be quite solid, like a formica or similar hardness so a good bounce is obtained.

A flat battery will tend to bounce 2-3 times and fall over.

A good battery will do a small bounce, and remain upright.

Bounce each battery a few times to get a good overall average.

HP

Shop now for HP laptops and other devices (affiliate link).

alasta

6889 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 3363

Trusted

Subscriber

#3445891 20-Dec-2025 10:35

I won't touch Duracell batteries because their button cells have a child-safe bitterant coating which is so dense that it prevents proper electrical contact with the host device. Utterly stupid design.

Gurezaemon

~HONYAKKER!~
1417 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 1566

ID Verified

Lifetime subscriber

#3446818 24-Dec-2025 09:36

Project Farm has a comprehensive review of AA batteries here.

US-based, but it still features quite a few brands that we can get here.

Get your business seen overseas - Nexus Translations

MichaelNZ

1594 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 485

Trusted

Net Trust Ltd

#3446943 24-Dec-2025 16:07

Also consider what you are using them for. Most of the small batteries I have are Energizer Lithium. In most instances I use them inside portable test equipment. I am not using it every day so I need a battery with a long shelf life. I also need a company I can hold responsible if the battery leaks which hasn't happened yet.

But the downside of this is with gadgets which through faults or poor design are left running. Energizer Lithium are expensive to find this the hard way.

I had an automatic light came for free with a rifle safe. Worked great but didn't always turn off. After a couple of rounds of trashed batteries it went in the bin and I replaced it with a low cost light with a switch.

Another example was a Fluke Networks network cabling test tool. This product is a piece of crap anyway (not buying Fluke Networks again) but on top of this the large round knob was too too easy to miss it was not switched off. So that also became a battery trasher.

So for items I want a lower cost battery I use Energizer Max Plus. Still expensive but available locally and they have the added benefit of the expiry date printed on them.

WFH Linux Systems and Networks Engineer in the Internet industry | Specialising in Mikrotik | APNIC member | Open to job offers | ZL2NET

Ragnor

8279 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 585

Trusted

#3447039 25-Dec-2025 00:18

I've found Chevron from Woolworths to be longer lasting than Varta from Bunnings and better bang for buck than Energizer, Duracell and Panasonic

1101

3141 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 1143

#3448181 30-Dec-2025 15:56

AVOID Varta

Ive had too many of those leak in various devices over the years.
I now only buy Panasonic , never had a single one leak.

Dell

Shop now for Dell laptops and other devices (affiliate link).

adwrussell

3 posts

Wannabe Geek
+1 received by user: 1

#3448206 30-Dec-2025 17:51

1101:

AVOID Varta

Ive had too many of those leak in various devices over the years.
I now only buy Panasonic , never had a single one leak.

I completely agree with this advise - just had a Varta AA leak badly in a TV remote (Samsung) and was an absolute pain to extract as it swelled and then decent amount of time needed to pull remote apart and clean. There were two AA's in the remote and only one of them failed - but it was a major fail (within a year).

About a year ago also had a Varta AA fail in a penlight torch - again a major to extract and clean.

Have removed and replaced all Varta from the house now (with Panasonic AA, Kirkland AA or Jaycar AAA batteries replacing them)

I have never had a problem with Panasonic and am interested to see how others go.

Kirklands get chewed through in teens Xbox controllers - others are being used in remote controls.

nitro

757 posts

Ultimate Geek
+1 received by user: 336

#3450927 9-Jan-2026 08:37

SepticSceptic:

The drop test to determine the amount of remaining charge really does work. For alkaline.

Drop from a height of approx 1cm or so. Flat end down and square on to the drop target. Target needs to be quite solid, like a formica or similar hardness so a good bounce is obtained.

A flat battery will tend to bounce 2-3 times and fall over.

A good battery will do a small bounce, and remain upright.

Bounce each battery a few times to get a good overall average.

interesting variation to a widely-circulating life hack. i have serious doubt any battery i bounce will "remain upright" regardless of charge.

i have tried this, but i could really only reliably make out whether a cell is charged or not (by the height of the bounce). as it happens, i have no need of that information as i know which ones have been used (discharged to some degree) or not (unused freebie AAs, i keep separately). the bounce test does not tell (me) whether it has 50% or 30% left - no idea how to correlate the height of the bounce with remaining charge, if that is even linear.

timmmay

20858 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 5350

Trusted

Lifetime subscriber

#3450959 9-Jan-2026 10:08

It's probably better to use a voltmeter to work out battery state of charge.

openmedia

3449 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 878

Trusted

#3450974 9-Jan-2026 10:48

1101:

AVOID Varta

Ive had too many of those leak in various devices over the years.
I now only buy Panasonic , never had a single one leak.

I use Varta AAA batteries from Bunnings and i've never had one leak.

Generally known online as OpenMedia, now working for Red Hat APAC as a Technology Evangelist and Portfolio Architect. Still playing with MythTV and digital media on the side.

1 | 2 | 3