What do you do to keep batteries from corroding in flashlights

[Bill Huber]

What do you do to keep the batteries from corroding in flashlights and things like that, that you don't use a lot.

I have a good head light that uses 4 AA batteries and when I went to use it the other day the batteries were all corroded and I had to clean the contacts up on all of them.

Is there something I can put on the contacts and springs to keep them clean.

[Phil Thien]

That is an awesome question. It seems that, as of late, even the Duracell batteries are leaking.

[mike holden]

When we moved into our house, the inspector recommended that we "exercise" our electrical breakers at the daylight savings time changes. We would have to reset all the clocks anyway. I have taken this as a time to replace ALL batteries in all our battery powered devices. It might seem wasteful, but leaking batteries usually means the waste of the device as well, so it seems like a reasonable tradeoff to me. After 3-4 cycles, it becomes a habit.

[Harry Hagan]

I recall seeing commercials touting name-brand batteries that won't leak for a real long time. You might look into that.

[ken masoumi]

I would switch to Lithium or NiMh batteries ,they don't corrode as far I know.
A few years ago I bought a whole bunch of AA/AAA eneloop or Duracell rechargeable batteries and a Maha Powerex(mh-c9000) charger and so far I've had zero problems.

[Phil Thien]

I recall seeing commercials touting name-brand batteries that won't leak for a real long time. You might look into that.

You're right. I had always had good luck w/ Duracell. But the ones that leaked in the calculator were a mess. At least Duracell said they'd fix/replace any damage (I was able to get it cleaned-up and working) and they sent me a coupon for $10 in replacement batteries. I think Mike is onto something in regards to replacing batteries before they have a chance to go bad.