Topic: is it safe to store 'aa' batteries backwards in portable devices?

[ellaguru]

my  taping friend has a habit of storing his batteries 'backwards'  in electronic devices when they are not being used.  im just referring to 'aa' sizes in his older sony stereo mics but now i see he's doing it with his new sd mixpre and dammit, something just seems wrong about that practice.  i want to tell him not to do that, but i have no data/reason to back up my advice.

i could see that if there's just 1 battery, like in those sony stereo mics, the circuit may not complete and this practice would be tolerable.  when there's 2 batteries, im not so sure that something couldnt get fried. 

chris

[runonce]

For mics - it may not matter - I ran my Tascams with the batteries backwards for a few shows before I realized the batteries were oddly marked.

In general - I dont like to store batteries in a device at all...take them out.

[it-goes-to-eleven]

It is a terrible practice.  It could destroy the device.  It could discharge the batteries, leading to rapid leakage. If they are disposable lithium cells (which have no short protection), it could result in a Major Battery Event.

And just because "nothing happens" over a brief time is no indication that something won't happen over a longer period.

[twatts (pants are so over-rated...)]

"DC" direct current...  Power is supposed to flow in one direction...

In the case of simple electronics (motors), the device would simple run backwards...  In complexe electrical devices, you could potentially damage the device.  Most are equipped with diodes to stop reverse flow, but do you really want to test it??? 

Switching one battery around in a 2 battery situation should stop flow...  turning a single battery around in a multiple battery situation will NOT stop flow, but will provided less power and could potentially cause damage to the batteries (I know this one from experience, I had a battery melt when I had one of 8 AA reversed - ruined the battery pack)...

All in all, it not a good idea...  Honestly, you shouldn't store batteries in your device, even if done so "correctly"...  Batteries can explode or leak and can easily ruin electronics...  I have/had a brand new batter operated air-matress pump (for camping) that made it one day with brand new duracells...  One duracell leaked and ruined the contact points in the pump...  POS Chinese made crapola, but still...

Terry

[stevetoney]

Yeah, I agree with everyone else.  To me that's a pretty dumb practice because you're reversing the power polarity on the circuit. 

Remember the stories people told back a number of years ago about reverse polarity of the UA-5 jack and how that led to polarity mistakes when plugging your UA-5 cable into other gear that has the same m-connector as a UA-5?  Some gear got fried because it wasn't reverse polarity protected.  Well swapping the battery terminals is really no different than reversing the polarity on your cable.  Sure, as Terry points out most devices have diodes and such to polarity protect the device, but not all of them.  I know from personal experience that the Apogee MMP isn't polarity protected.

Besides, what do virtually 100% of the instructions say to do with the batteries when a unit is not in use...take them out.  Yeah, that's mainly due to concerns with leakage, but it's good practice nevertheless.

[H₂O]

Bad idea - what happens to a device when you connect the power connecter in reverse polarity if there is no polarity protection - SMOKE

Most devices will have polarity protection - but this is not guaranteed

Don't leave them in either as if the device pulls any power (some devices may and you may not know this - such as the E.A.A. PSP-2 for example) then you have the risk of leaks or running rechargables

[H₂O]

...but if it's a Zoomie GO FOR IT and ZOOM away or let it ZOOM away!

[F.O.Bean]

HORRIBLE practice IMO. I take my 9v and AA batteries OUT of my Lemosax and M10's after EVERYTIME I use them. When batteries corrode or leak into a device, its SURELY not pretty. Especially when you have a super RARE preamp like my Lemosax Getting it fixed because the batteries exploded would NOT be a fun thing to do. And not to mention theyre $1,200.00 USED