A battery arrangement that minimize battery-to-battery and battery-to-device contact resistance by rupturing or removing an insulating contaminant layer on portions of battery terminals that contact each other or that contact contacts in a battery compartment. Generally, standard dry cell and miniature batteries are arranged such that the surface area of the terminals that contact other terminals or device contacts is reduced. A given compression force applied to the serially-aligned batteries in the battery compartment results in a contact pressure sufficient to rupture the insulating contaminant layer at the terminal region that contacts the adjacent terminal or device contact. A relative lateral motion can be imparted between adjacent batteries and/or a battery and device contact to facilitate the removal of the insulating contaminant layer.