SB-910 Battery Door stuck

I'm fairly sure Duracells can leak if you leave them long enough - although I normally use lithiums in flashes anyway, and they take a lot longer to go wrong. My bigger concern has been a trickle discharge that's seemed to affect my SB-600s, so the batteries are flat when I try to use them if everything is connected. Could be worse, I have an Eos 620 that would kill its single-use batteries overnight if given the chance. I'm used to things shipping with plastic in the way; I don't know why it never occurred to me to insert something.

 

Or we could, you know, have off switches that actually work. :-)

I certainly have alkaline batteries leak outside a device - some did so just sitting in my drawer without their contacts touching anything at all. If I could get organized enough to always have charged rechargeables at hand, I would no longer have any alkalines lying around.

A few months ago, I had some older Duracell AA sitting around in a paper tray, and one of them started to leak a bit.

Mine have never leaked except for that SB910 issue. In this case, then all batteries need to be left out of any device then. This is not good. :( Better not to use flash any more. I will be using Litra cubes more.

Or..... you could just boycott brands that have proven inferior in your own experience.

 

As I previously posted; the only alkaline battery brand that I've had leak and ruin a piece of kit is Duracell. To follow Duracell's CYA legal lead - of course this may be an isolated incident, YMMV, etc, etc.

I have quite a supply of Duracell now and not using flash so much. In the future, I will probably go back using Energizer lithium.

For electronic flashes, lithium batteries will give you the slowest recycle time, at least based on the manual for the SB-800. If you Care about recycle time, I would use NiMH recyclables.

For electronic flashes, lithium batteries will give you the slowest recycle time, at least based on the manual for the SB-800. If you Care about recycle time, I would use NiMH recyclables.

Totally agree with that recommendation. I stopped using alkalines in speedlights years ago, just on grounds of excessive cost. I never kept count, but it seemed that a set of AA alkalines didn't even see me through a 36 exposure film. Then alkaline cells started to climb in price, so swapping to rechargeables was a no-brainer..... and I've never had a rechargeable cell go leaky. The old NiCds sometimes got a bit furry around the positive terminal, but nothing bad enough to ruin the equipment.

NiMH cells seem even better, so far.

Well, I checked the manual for the SB-910, and apparently on the SB-910, lithium AA provides similar recycle time as NiMH rechargeables. However, on the SB-800, lithium is the slowest among all types. I have all the flashes to verify, but I no longer have any fresh lithium AA at home. They are expensive and I haven't bought any since I stopped using my F5 around year 2005 or so.

Vinegar is a huge YEP!

 

I had a very stuck door, tried various methods and then went for the vinegar.

 

The key is to use VERY hot vinegar - just shy of boiling. I used a syringe and needle to force inject around the edges and waited a few minutes. I took a tool to pry the door and Bam! It slid open. Messy, ugly and rough, yes - worked fabulously with no damage to flash.

 

After opening the case and prying out the terribly corroded batteries, I used more hot vinegar to scrub contacts, filed of what I could and after a finish wipe down with alcohol, drying and new batteries, all is well. I saved hundreds of dollars with vinegar!

 

Don't listen to the vinegar protesters, vinegar WORKS GREAT. I know because I just did it. Remember the key is HOT vinegar and injecting under the cover + patience. Vinegar also removes limescale on anything - as long as it's too hot to touch comfortably. Soak it, spray it or wipe it on - it's a miracle substance if you know how to use it!

 

just now by Just Me

The key is to use VERY hot

You can also buy (very inexpensively) Citric acid...the acid component in Bath Bombs) It also has a very benign cold action and vigorous hot action.

 

It's main benefit is that the dissolved/dispersed crud stays in solution better when it cools.

 

.....and the smell of hot vinegar can make your den smell like a chip-shop....:D