Given that today’s electronics are so demanding, some even requiring NiMH or lithium instead of alkaline, why haven’t zinc-carbon batteries gone the way of the 8-track? It has to be at least 20 years since I bought a pack of silver Evereadys (I think they’re black now). Even in flashlights people use alkalines. Are there enough devices left out there that can run on carbons? What are they?
The only reason carbons still exist is price. They are somewhat cheaper than alkalines and therefore occupy a niche market (we’re talking hard core cheapskates here). Carbons offer no advantage over alkalines, they have a shorter shelf life, a shorter usage life, and they do not withstand temperature extremes as well. You get what you pay for. It’s like asking why they continue to make generic ketchup when just about everyone on earth buys Heinz. It’s that niche market of cheapskates who are only concerned with the price and not the quality.
How about for cheap children’s toys, in which case the batteries would die just about when the child would lose interest anyway?
I had a “Verti-Bird” helicopter (or maybe it was one of those helicopters on a cable attached to a flashlight-shaped handle) that specifically said not to use alkaline batteries.
I, a noted cheapskate, put them in my flashlights because my kids, when they aren’t actually LOSING said flashlights, burn up the batteries making shadow puppets. When I reach for a flashlight that I really I usually find the batteries dead. I’d much rather those batteries were cheap.
As an ex-Radio Shack Manager from 81 to 86 the main reason is that standard retail alkalines were/are still pretty expensive relative to carbons. People would get little gifts or cheap flashlights for limited vacation use and go for the cheaper batteries all the time for practical reasons.
The cheaper carbon has an appeal as a more “disposable” battery. If I was buying electronic toys, radios or flashlights for smaller children (or older kids) I could easily see myself getting the Radio Shack carbons for a lot less than the alki’s on the premise that the toy will likely be left on and the batteries die. Even with my 10 and 14 year old children I’ve dumped a lot of dead alkalines $$$$ into the trash from flashlights, toys and radios that had been left on.
As a narrow technical application I remember a model airplane enthuasiast telling me (20 years ago) that carbons had a niche use for electrically powered super-light flying aircraft models and some similar applications in that carbon n-cells were somewhat lighter than the alkalines.
IIRC, under low drain conditions, carbon batteries have lives comparable to alkalines. My work calculator, used every day and which doesn’t have a solar cell or other outside source of power, still uses the Casio carbon cells that came with it in 1984.
dropzone, that’s what I heard too. I’ve read that it’s a waste of money to use alkaline batteries on things like clocks - in very low current applications carbon batteries provide more run time per dollar.
OTOH, I have a clock with a faux pendulum that will burn up a carbon C cell in about three hours.