Wet Batteries ??

[Cody JW]

A recent post about cave packs made me wonder about something and I suspect Marduke or Yucca can answer this. Does it hurt to get AA alkaline or Eneloops wet ?? I have done wet caves for years using Lost Creek Packs and keeping things dry with Nalgene or Otter Boxes. I can remember several times where I allowed alkaline AAs to get wet and did not really notice any changes to the batteries. I am just now starting to use Eneloops and was wondering if allowing those to get wet can harm the batteries ?? Most recently with efficient LEDs I do not need to carry as many batteries in the cave as back when Halogens were used so I normally carry one extra set in my Otter Box. Back when I used Halogens I had to carry several extra sets and did not have room in my box for all those and just let them get wet. I do know wet batteries over time may corrode terminals but what about the batteries ??

[potholer]

I can't see much of an issue beyond potential corrosion of the cells and/or inside any light they're inserted into while wet.

The insides of the cell will be sealed from the outside, if only to prevent the cell drying out, and that seal should work both ways.

[Marduke]

Biggest issues are corrosion, and putting moisture inside a battery compartment which may cause issues with other electronics.

It shouldn't hurt the batteries themselves directly.

The one MAJOR exception being protected Li-Ion cells, where you could potentially short out the protection circuit, causing a short with the cell itself, causing "vent with flame".

[Mudduck]

It would depend on the conductivity of the water they're wet with, whether or not they're in a semi sealed wet environment or are wet but open to air and how long they stay wet. "IF" they are wet enough and the resistance of the water is low enough to create a load by conducting across the terminals, they could potentially become discharged. Also I've seen some cells wrapped internally with cardboard but do not know the resulting problems on this getting saturated. All this is a little out there unless your caving in a saltwater environment but I tend to double ziplock mine just to be sure if I forget my small pelican case.

[Chads93GT]

some of my duraloops are rusty around the positive terminal. got them really wet in my fenix once when i left the case partially open..........oops. they still work great, so sayeth the smarteth chargereth............eth

[NSS8921]

Marduke - thanks for the heads-up re PCB's! I had assumed they would be waterproof, although I always carry my spares in a Pelicase to prevent getting water in the battery cases.

John