Unused batteries

[Dolt]

Do unused batteries lose their power?

[starone]

Yes, if you leave them long enough.

[wildwood]

^^ Huh??????

I have no idea what you are on about chestere, could you elaborate? It seems like you were going to explain the technical reasons why batteries have a limited shelf life.......

[rojash]

I suspect that chestere has merely copied and pasted the preamble from an article about batteries.

[Dodger666]

A simple expanation from Wiki:-

Even if never taken out of the original package, disposable (or "primary") batteries can lose 8 to 20 percent of their original charge every year at a temperature of about 20°–30°C.[54] This is known as the "self discharge" rate and is due to non-current-producing "side" chemical reactions, which occur within the cell even if no load is applied to it. The rate of the side reactions is reduced if the batteries are stored at low temperature, although some batteries can be damaged by freezing. High or low temperatures may reduce battery performance. This will affect the initial voltage of the battery. For an AA alkaline battery, this initial voltage is approximately normally distributed around 1.6 volts.

Discharging performance of all batteries drops at low temperature

[Dolt]

I have heard that keeping them in the fridge prolongs the battery's life nd i've heard that heating also prolongs it's life, :-s

[boxtops]

You can certainly squeeze a battery in your hand to warm it up if you want to get a bit more life out of it, after it says it's drained - I've done that with my camera batteries, just to get a few more pics.