As mundane as the following phrase will sound to some, Rayovac is a name that is legendary to those familiar with batteries. Now a subsidiary of Energizer Holdings, Inc., whose pink, drum-thumping bunny has been tattooed onto the long-term memories of all contemporary generations, Rayovac boasts a history of battery production and innovation that spans well over a hundred years, all the way back to 1906.

Nowadays, Rayovac is probably best known for its hearing aid batteries, which are some of the most highly regarded in the industry. They are well known for their mercury-free, zinc air batteries that use oxygen as a catalyst to release energy from the fuel cell. Powerful, long-lasting, and reliable, Rayovac hearing aid batteries are deserving of the tireless image of their greater mascot, the Energizer Bunny, but how long do they last?

To answer this, we need to qualify the intent of the question. Then we can break it out to offer a few different answers based on expectations. First, let’s take a look at how long Rayovac hearing aid batteries last on the shelf.

So, Shelf Life: How Long Rayovac Hearing Aid Batteries Last on the Shelf?

One way to shed some light on the question of how long Rayovac hearing aid batteries will last has to do with how long they will remain viable if they are properly stored on the shelf before you are ready to use them.

Considering the fact that hearing aids are a lifeline to interaction with the world around you, popping in a pair of hearing aid batteries that are dead or largely discharged by the time you unpack them would be quite an unpleasant occurrence, and it certainly isn’t one that is entirely unheard of.

However, since most hearing aid batteries are air-powered, including the Rayovac hearing aid batteries that are the focus of this article, there are some things you can do to improve their shelf life. Even so, their shelf life is pretty long as it stands.

When properly stored and sealed, most Rayovac hearing aid batteries should last up to four years, although it is not entirely impossible that batteries could last longer than this. It’s possible that they could, but don’t come to expect this, and if it happens, treat it as an anomaly rather than as a regular occurrence.

This should come as welcome news to anyone that stockpiles hearing aid batteries for a rainy day, especially considering you could theoretically wake up to a set of dead batteries anytime, and having some batteries in reserve will make all of the difference between being able to hear that day and having to guess your way through your routine.

We sell a variety of different Rayovac hearing aid batteries here at Local Battery, some of which are available in quantity so that our customers can be both better prepared and also enjoy the benefits of cost savings. However, there are a few things you need to keep in mind when it comes to preserving the viable lifespan of hearing aid batteries, beyond simply keeping the tab in place until you are ready to buy it.

If you are interested in ensuring that your hearing aid batteries will last as long as functionally possible before you have to break into them, observe some of the following tips and tricks.

-Store your batteries at room or cool temperatures, but not in the fridge or freezer

A common hearing aid battery “hack” is that storing your hearing aid batteries in the fridge or freezer will supposedly extend their shelf lives. However, this is a generally inadvisable practice and one that you should most certainly avoid. While the theory behind the idea is true (that cold temperatures will forestall the reaction and subsequent release of energy) it rarely occurs this way. Instead what happens is that storing them in the fridge or freezer will introduce them to condensation which will cause them to corrode and will actually diminish their shelf lives.

Instead of storing your hearing aid batteries in the fridge or freezer, store them somewhere cool and dry at room temperature. Cool temperatures are alright so long as the batteries themselves will not be subjected to a constant onslaught of condensation.

-More importantly - don’t store them anywhere they will come in contact with moisture

If you’re going to store your hearing aid batteries at room temperature, it is imperative that you store them in a dry location. This is significantly more important than the location you store them in terms of temperature since it is chiefly water that causes damage to hearing aid batteries and not the ambient temperature.

Keep them somewhere sealed away and in a dry place, and you’ll be doing your part to ensure that your hearing aid batteries actually have adequate power when you go to use them.

-Use the oldest batteries you have on hand first

While this tip will not actually enhance or extend the shelf lifespan of any of your hearing aid batteries, it will serve to hedge your bets against batteries dying when you need them the most. If you make it a habit to keep a ton of batteries on hand, make sure you keep them ordered and arranged so you know which batteries to use first. By using the oldest batteries first, you can ensure that you’re following a FIFO, or “first in, first out” inventory plan. That way, you won’t use the newest batteries first, only to find out that the oldest ones went dead in the meantime.

-Remove the batteries from the hearing aids if you don’t plan on using them for a long time.

Finally, it’s a generally advisable practice to remove your hearing aid batteries from your hearing aids if you aren’t going to be using them for a while. While this won’t technically extend the shelf life of your batteries, it’s sort of like extending the shelf life since when the batteries are removed they’ll be held in reserve the same as batteries on the shelf.

What you need to remember, though, is even if you do this, you can’t let them remain unused for too long. Once you remove the little tab on the back of the battery, the battery is going to start draining whether it’s in the hearing aid or not (since they’re air-activated). Just removing them from the hearing aids while you’re not using them may be able to help keep them alive for a little bit longer.

What about the Usable Lifespan of Rayovac Hearing Aid Batteries

The shelf life of a set of batteries is not the only way to determine how long they will last. Some of you might be here specifically looking for an estimate of how long your hearing aid batteries will last when they’re in your hearing aids and, you know, you’re actually using them, which is completely reasonable.

Unfortunately, there is no blanket statement that can answer the question of how long Rayovac batteries will last once you’ve activated them and installed them in your hearing aids. This has more to do with the size of the hearing aid batteries, so for an estimate of how long they will last, check out our estimates below.

Keep in mind that these estimates are for hearing aid batteries that are installed at full battery life and stored in ideal conditions. These approximations also only reflect the potential lifespan of hearing aid batteries that are kept in hearing aids that are kept dry and clean.

Size 10 hearing aid batteries are the smallest of the bunch and are recognizable by the little yellow tabs that also protect them from the air. These batteries, when used consistently and on a daily basis, will last somewhere between 3 days on the low end and 7 on the high end - so up to about a week.

A step up the size scale are size 312 hearing aid batteries, which are also very small. They’re small enough to be easily confused with size 10 batteries, but you can easily distinguish them by their brown tabs. When they’ve been properly stored, installed at full battery health, and used consistently, you can expect them to last up to a few days longer than size 10s - from 3 days up to about 10.

Slightly larger are size 13 hearing aid batteries, which are identifiable by their orange protective tabs. Since they are bigger and have commensurately larger capacities, they also last a little longer than the two other smaller batteries offered so far, typically lasting around a week or two.

The largest batteries of the bunch are size 675 hearing aids, which you probably don’t need to identify using their color-coded tabs. Since they’re so much larger than other hearing aid batteries, you might be able to identify them on sight - but if not, the blue protective tab is a dead giveaway.

They’re also the longest-lived hearing aid batteries among the bunch, and a fresh, well cared for 675 hearing aid battery could breathe anywhere from 10 days to nearly three weeks of life into a hearing aid.

That all has to do with how long you can reasonably expect your Rayovac hearing aid batteries to last, assuming they’ve been properly stored, cared for, and installed at full strength, and of course with attention to size, which is the real determining factor.

All the same, you may be able to squeeze just a bit more life out of your Rayovac hearing aid batteries by following these next few recommendations.

Getting Your Money’s Worth

Now that you have a serviceable estimation of how long you can expect your Rayovac hearing aid batteries to last, keep these remaining few pointers in mind. They might just be able to secure you another day or two.

-Wash your hands before handling your Rayovac hearing aid batteries

Moisture is not the only thing that is well attested as a damaging influence on the life and health of hearing aid batteries. The oils and minerals that are naturally present on your skin are just as damaging and can encourage corrosion and shorten the lifespans of your batteries.

Therefore, before you handle the batteries, especially before you replace them, be sure to thoroughly wash your hands.

-Do not remove the tab until it is time to do so

The number one thing you can do to protect the projected lifespan of a hearing aid battery is to leave the tab in place at the back before you are ready to use it. Those tabs are there to help you identify the batteries, but that is far from the only reason why they’re there.

The main purpose of these tabs is to protect the battery from air before it’s ready to be used. Leave them in place; once you remove them, the battery will slowly start to drain.

-Let the battery breathe before installing it

In order to ensure performance and longevity from your batteries, when you take the tab off the back, don’t pop the batteries in all the way. Let them “breathe” air for a few minutes first so you can ensure the battery is starting to function and release energy before placing it in the hearing aid.

-Either open the battery door at night or keep your hearing aids in a dehumidifier

If your hearing aids feature easily reclosable doors, it’s a good idea to leave the door open at night to let the hearing aids air out. It’s an even better idea to invest in a hearing aid dehumidifier to help remove all of the moisture from your hearing aids, which will help prevent moisture damage and corrosion to your batteries. Some dehumidifiers sterilize hearing aids as well.

The Rayovac Quality Assurance

Rayovac hearing aid batteries are well known in this industry not only for quality and performance but also for longevity. Some of their lines feature innovative packaging and improvements over previous Rayovac formulations, for better, more reliable performance and battery lifespan.

If you’re interested in learning more about the Rayovac batteries that we sell here at Local Battery, or you’d simply like to know what alternatives exist at your disposal, please get in touch with us at sales@localbattery.com and we would be more than happy to help you out.