This is the
crud that forms around the
positive and
negative terminals of old and/or
dead batteries. If the batteries happened to be in a
device while this growth took place, the
contacts of the
device have most likely become
corroded and the
device possibly ruined. This makes one wonder if the "
We will repair or replace, at our option, any device damaged by this battery"
guarantee would really be honored - but that is a subject for another node.
Common places to locate
fermenting batteries that may have started producing battery
leakage (battery fungus) are:
In your
calculator that you haven't used since
Junior High.
In your
miscellaneous junk drawer.
In the
remote control for the
TV that never gets used.
In any battery operated
hurricane supply items (
flashlights,
radios, etc.).
In your
fire alarms.
On that old
286 motherboard.
And for those of you with
battery operated adult toys, well,
you get the idea.
And the 3 best ways to avoid battery fungus:
1. Never purchase batteries that already have it.
2.
Replace your old batteries before they get it.
3. And hey, if you're not using the
device,
take the batteries out!
My encounter with battery fungus:
A friend and I recently ventured out to the
Recoton factory outlet store, intent on purchasing some new
speakers. Shortly after entering the store, my friend saw something that caught his attention: A large box filled with
blister packages, each containing 10
AA alkaline batteries,
for the low price of 99ยข per pack! This warranted some closer
inspection, so I picked up a pack to get a close look at the batteries. This deal seemed
too good to be true. I quickly found out why these batteries were so
cheap - at least one battery in each pack had a generous coating of some kind of light
green powedery
crystalline growth. I thought to myself, "Hmm, these batteries must be very old - they've started to grow
fungus." Needless to say, I didn't
buy any.