Your Digatron Tach/Temp gauge has leaking batteries! PSA
Posted: Thu Nov 14, 2024 8:28 pm
The battery company changed the formula for Alkaline battery cells that often leak all over your device ruining the battery holder and sometimes more. I had only been using Copper Top Duracells and Eveready Energizers and have lost more equipment and flash lights to these soon to burst open acid bombs. I lost 3 mini-mag lights to these AA substandard menace-ing shite. The Battery companies now say to NOT refrigerate your unused batteries due to the formula change.
The Digatrons out there should be removed and stripped of these fouling batts and replaced with Energizer Lithium-Ion AA or 9 Volt cells. Longer extended life, longer exp. dates, better voltage consistency….and pricey. And they don’t leak like the alky’s do.
I used Apple cider vinegar and Q-tips to bring the 4-AA battery carrier back into shape and liberally coated it with WD-40 when it was dry. I had to keep working it with the Q-tip over the morning and by afternoon it was reading consistently without shorting between the batteries.
The acid you remove will affect clothing, so contain your chunks of corrosion to the kitchen sink. Using a tooth pick to un-lodge the crusty slag works nice.
These Alkalines are all garbage now, and hopefully you can save your Gauges from this nasty corrosion.
I have seen unused Duracells still in the package showing evidence on the bottom that are starting to leak, so if it isn’t shiny metal surface on the Neg side, throw it out.
If nothing else, just remove them till you’re ready to use the gauge.
So now I finally have gone through my 4 DT 31’s and DT-32’s and all have powered on and didn’t have any shorts.
I recommend the 9 volts used in the early DT-6E be used also in C O detectors and Smoke Alarms we so desperately rely on while we sleep. These are also essential for digital cameras and indoor outdoor wireless thermometers.
Thanks for reading,
Mark L. // SWNY
The Digatrons out there should be removed and stripped of these fouling batts and replaced with Energizer Lithium-Ion AA or 9 Volt cells. Longer extended life, longer exp. dates, better voltage consistency….and pricey. And they don’t leak like the alky’s do.
I used Apple cider vinegar and Q-tips to bring the 4-AA battery carrier back into shape and liberally coated it with WD-40 when it was dry. I had to keep working it with the Q-tip over the morning and by afternoon it was reading consistently without shorting between the batteries.
The acid you remove will affect clothing, so contain your chunks of corrosion to the kitchen sink. Using a tooth pick to un-lodge the crusty slag works nice.
These Alkalines are all garbage now, and hopefully you can save your Gauges from this nasty corrosion.
I have seen unused Duracells still in the package showing evidence on the bottom that are starting to leak, so if it isn’t shiny metal surface on the Neg side, throw it out.
If nothing else, just remove them till you’re ready to use the gauge.
So now I finally have gone through my 4 DT 31’s and DT-32’s and all have powered on and didn’t have any shorts.
I recommend the 9 volts used in the early DT-6E be used also in C O detectors and Smoke Alarms we so desperately rely on while we sleep. These are also essential for digital cameras and indoor outdoor wireless thermometers.
Thanks for reading,
Mark L. // SWNY