I brought a battery operated toothbrush to Germany. When I purchased replacement AA batteries, my toothbrush briefly worked at an outrageously fast pace and then died.
Now I am worried. My camera flash also needs AA batteries and my car FOB has given up the ghost.
Are German AA batteries somehow providing more "juice" and therefore will they also fry my other equipment?
I would hate to lose even more expensive equipment. Please advise!
Thank you
Hmmm. I have had to replace alarm clock batteries more than once in Europe. AAs. I did not notice any difference in packaging or performance. I look forward to other responses since I never considered this before.
The short answer is no, batteries are the same in Germany as they are in US (they are probably all made in the same Asian factories as well).
DJ
A battery is a battery. Sounds like either your toothbrush was defective or you bought a bad batch of batteries. Likely the former unless you were buying no name batteries.
Sorry you’re having such bad experiences. As others have indicated, as long as you’re using the same size battery (AA, AAA, whatever), the Volts and other specifications would be exactly the same, in the USA or Europe.
You mentioned your car key fob - is that a remote lock/unlock device, and maybe is even needed to start the car? Is this your car, or a rental? I’m guessing the fob uses a “camera” type battery, a disc, like a thick coin. If you’re replacing it, of course, make sure the code number of your replacement matches the number stamped on one side of the old battery, I hope the electric gremlins don’t pester you further.
A side note: for years, Rick Steves has said if you run out of toothpaste in Europe, head into a pharmacy. That’ll give you the chance to pick up something you think might be toothpaste. He doesn’t mention electric toothbrushes, which would be a considerably costlier adventure. I’ve traveled for years with a German, manual Fuchs-brand toothbrush, and they’re well naw.
Batteries of the same size and designation will be the same (AA, AAA, D, C, etc.) since it is the form/physical size of the battery and the DC Voltage that matters. Some sizes of batteries may be less common in Europe, but any you find should not cause issues.
For your case, are you sure it is broken? Have you tried replacing with new batteries again? One possibility is to look at the manufacturers recommendation for batteries. Most batteries are an older Zinc-Carbon or an Alkaline type cell, good for general applications, but some applications do require Lithium Batteries, especially those with a bit more current draw. If you put fresh batteries in and it runs for a while, go get some Lithium batteries and try those, bit more expensive, but what you need. If new batteries do not work, then it is likely it may just be the toothbrush and nothing to do with the batteries, just a coincidence.
Thank you everyone. These replies give me a great deal of relief. It must have been a coincidence that the toothbrush went bad just as I changed the batteries. I had it for less than a year. The car dealer changed out the battery in the FOB today and it is working fine (I brought my car from the US with me.) I will stop bringing batteries with me from the US and I can stop worrying!
The fact that your toothbrush operated at an "outrageously fast pace and then died" would tend to indicate that it was operating at a higher voltage than it was designed for. Is it possible that the batteries you bought were a Lithium AA model? According to this chart, some of those deliver 3.7 V and not 1.5 V - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_battery_sizes .
And of course German batteries produce more "juice" :-)
