Alkaline Battery Shelf Life and contrived, totally fictional, extreme examples [was: Re: Canon A710 IS discontinued??]

Note: I changed the subject of this thread digression because it doesn't
relate to the A710 IS being discontinued or not.

"ASAAR" <caught@xxxxxx> wrote in message
news:f4tpa3l5g9g9q44n8cnmegi8lae2617df0@xxxxxxxxxx
On Sun, 29 Jul 2007 10:07:14 -0700, Tom Delaney wrote:

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"I'll explain with a contrived, totally fictional, extreme example."
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Who said that?

I did, of course. And SMS has deceitfully removed all of the
original context where the reason for that wording was made clear.


I went back on Google Groups and read that post, it's at
http://groups.google.com/group/rec.photo.digital/msg/8543dec625086905 for
those that want to see it.


Your example made no sense at all. It was no explanation at all. Not a
surprise with a "contrived, totally fictional, extreme example." Simply put,
it was wrong. Examples, while never proof, are often useful when they are
non-contrived, non-fictional, and non-extreme.


Shelf life of alkaline batteries, as in shelf life of food, is based on the
product being unused. Once the chemical reaction inside the alkaline battery
has been started, the shelf life printed on the package no longer applies.
This is common knowledge (or so the manufacturers believe), so there is no
need to print "Good Until 2013 Unless Used Before Then." On some Duracell
battery packages they print "Guranteed Fresh Until 20xx". On some Energizer
packages they print "Use By 20xx." On some packages, they just print a date
with no qualifier. Probably the "Guaranteed Fresh Until 20xx" is the most
descriptive, as obviously a used battery would not be "Guaranteed Fresh."
When you open a can of food with a "Good Until" or "Use By" date stamped on
it, it's clear that you have to use the food once it's opened, you can't
keep it around, even refrigerated, for a couple of years until the stamped
date.


Once the chemical reaction inside the battery begins, the shelf life of the
remaining capacity is significantly reduced. Occasionally you'll see
alkaline shelf life properly qualified with "Shelf Life of Unused
Batteries." In an MIT lecture on batteries, at
http://web.mit.edu/2.72/www/lectures/Batteries.pdf, page3, the author was
specific about shelf life of alkaline-manganese batteries stating: "The
shelf life of the cell (in unused condition) is at least 3 years." It
shouldn't have been necessary to qualify "Shelf Life" with "unused
condition," as most people understand the meaning of "shelf life" to mean
"shelf life of new and unused," but it probably doesn't hurt to be more
specific. I can see how someone might look at a package of batteries on the
shelf that says "Use by 2013" or look at the year 2013 printed on a battery,
and not understanding chemical reactions and not knowing anything about
batteries, think that they could use the battery a little bit for each of
the next six years, so maybe your confusion does have some basis. For a
rechargeable battery, "shelf life" is often used interchangeably with how
long a battery holds a charge after charging, though this is an incorrect
use of the term.


What's irritating, at least to me, is that you felt that you had to respond
to a post by someone else that actually knew something, Ron Hunter, with
your "contrived, totally fictional, extreme example." Next time, use an
uncontrived, non-fictional, non-extreme example, if you want to be taken
seriously. Or better yet, if you aren't knowledgable about a subject, you
don't have to reply at all.


While I don't approve of the recent rash of forged posts, it is symptomatic
of your attitude and your seemingly strong need to respond to posts that
address subjects of which your knowledge is limited or non-existent. It's
not nice that these forgers make fun of you, but this is what happens when
you gain a reputation for posts that are incorrect or nonsensical. Sorry
that I could not state this more gently, but maybe you can be more selective
as to which posts you reply to, and limit your responses to posts with
subject matter that you know something about. Google is your friend. When
you need to learn something, there is no shortage of sources on the web. It
took me about one minute to find the MIT lecture on batteries that
specifically addressed shelf life of alkaline maganese batteries, by
searching for "shelf life unused alkaline-manganese". One thing that you
don't appear to do is to use references. You make things up and then wonder
why no one believes you. Maybe SMS shouldn't be using your quote in a
mocking way, but he did not take anything out of context, and he doesn't
attribute it to you. His web site on batteries would be a good starting
point for you to learn about battery technology. I read the whole thing, and
while the linear page format is rather annoying, the information in the site
is solid and well-referenced (as well as consistent with my own extensive
experiences with Alkaline-Manganese, Li-Ion and NiMH batteries).




.

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