Back to Dick's Gadget Warehouse for a pack of 13 year old Duracell Batteries.

Will they still work?

It’s 1996 and Duracell introduces PowerCheck Batteries. These are said to be the world's first alkaline battery with an on-board fuel-gauge-like power tester. Using the tester built into every Duracell PowerCheck Battery, buyers could determine battery power anytime, anywhere with no additional equipment. Duracell PowerCheck Batteries were sold in AAA, C and D- sizes. To activate the tester, all you had to do was use two fingers to press the dots on the side and bottom edge of the battery. A yellow thermochromic indicator measures heat resistance in the cell and provides an easy-to-read indication of remaining battery power. When remaining battery power was sufficient, the display rose into the 'Good' zone on the indicator. When remaining battery power was insufficient, the display remained in the 'Replace' zone. I found a 2Pack of D-cell PowerCheck batteries in the warehouse. They were marked “best if installed by 2002”. Since it’s 2013, they are 11 years past the “best if installed by” date. Did they have any power left in them? When I put my fingers on the tester the thermochromic indicator didn’t move a bit. So I tossed the batteries in the trash. Then I thought, wait! Let me double-check them with a battery tester. Surprise, the batteries were still good. It was the PowerCheck thermochromic indicator that probably dried out. The idea of a built-in battery tester is not dead. In 2010, Duracell introduced a tester on their Ultra Advanced batteries. These are said to “last up to 30 percent longer in toys than the previous Ultra Digital”.

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