Camping Lights

I have kind of an odd question. Lets say you are going on a camping trip for several days and nights. You are also going to take a couple of flashlights as well. At least one main light and a back-up per person. You are also going to take spare batteries just in case you would need them. The question is; Do you put fresh batteries in all the lights before you go on vacation? Remember you are also carrying spares.

Ideally you would put fresh batteries in and put questionable charged batteries in a special place so they would never get mixed with fresh batteries.

I wouldn't put fresh batteries in. What would be the point?
May as well use up the older ones first and keep your spares handy so you won't be caught in the dark.

I do put fresh batteries at the start of a trip. I like knowing how much juice I have in them so during use I'll know I'll have a while before I have to change cells.

jcs71 said:

I have kind of an odd question. Lets say you are going on a camping trip for several days and nights. You are also going to take a couple of flashlights as well. At least one main light and a back-up per person. You are also going to take spare batteries just in case you would need them. The question is; Do you put fresh batteries in all the lights before you go on vacation? Remember you are also carrying spares.

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If you don't put fresh batteries in your flashlight you will need the spares.
When I go camping(and its been too long)I always have fresh batteries in the lantern, flashlights, and have fresh spares for each light.Being out in the woods,desert,or wherever remote location that you camp is not the time to learn the one is none, two is one rule.

I only put fresh batteries in if I'm backpacking, when everything thing that gets carried has to be 100%. For car and boat camping, spare batteries and lights are always available. I just burn the ones in the light and just change them. I'm sure I take more lights than I'll ever need. I even take a few "loaners" for those who are unprepared.

mbw_151 said:

I only put fresh batteries in if I'm backpacking, when everything thing that gets carried has to be 100%. For car and boat camping, spare batteries and lights are always available. I just burn the ones in the light and just change them.

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Exactly :thumbsup:

Yes... load fresh cells. Carry fresh backups. Mark the partially used with a sharpie and leave them at home for less-critical applications.

I tend to use rechargeables in every light I currently own, so I just recharge before leaving, and then pack a few primaries for spares along with another rechargeable set. I also almost always bring my XPower 100 mobile which can be quickly used to recharge any of the dead cells in a pinch... Although the only time I have gotten to that point was during a one week trip...

If I was forced to only use primaries, I would trade out the ones in there for new ones... unless the ones in there were 80-100%... then I wouldn't see the point. You could argue the 10 min extra runtime between new and 80% might make a difference... but I tend not to go crazy thinking about those things... if I did, I probably would stop going camping alltogether

Last time I went camping, I just put fresh batteries in the 3C Mag and didn't take spares for that one, because they're heavy. I took the smaller lights as they were with a supply of spares. I don't know why I took the big Mag to be honest, the only thing it was useful for was knocking in tent pegs. :laughing:

Oh wow, I have surely learned the hard way to function test everything that I pack for a camping trip. I think that was my second packing lesson after learning the value of a packing check list.

None the less, looking my back some of early packing failures are more memorable than any of my successes. Plus my packing failures did teach me to be more self reliant and helped develop new skills.

Today, my planning checklist starts with the assumption that I will arrive at the trail head or campsite after dark, in rain and heavy fog. Therefore, the lights on my person (at least three or four) need to have fresh batteries and spare batteries readily at hand. The lights are usually a mix of incans for throw and fog piercing ability and LEDs for personal and immediate area use. If I arrive while it is bright and sunny, at the worst I have a couple of extra pouches on my belt and a gore-tex rain jacket with bulging pockets.

For a light using alkalines I would probably opt to change the batteries but I wouldn't switch out lithium batteries unless they were very low.

I always replace any old batteries in my lights that I take camping, before I leave. I like to know that if for some reason I need the extra runtime it is there.

Backpacking, climbing, hunting: Fresh batteries in flashlights and headlamp.

Car camping, fishing, offroading: Nope.

Culhain said:

Today, my planning checklist starts with the assumption that I will arrive at the trail head or campsite after dark, in rain and heavy fog.

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Ugh. Heavy pack, Darkness, cold and fog are all fine BUT I HATE HATE HATE RAIN! Probably since I live in Oz I'm not used to it. If I ever went camping I'd make absolute sure rain was all but an impossibility. Being rained upon is not my idea of fun tyvm.

I'd put in fully charged or new batteries. Before I was into LEDs, I used to carry my magcharger with me, with a fully charged battery in and two spare batteries in my backpack. With such a heavy battery it is rather obvious (to me) (why carry the extra weight of an almost empty battery?)

Also you never know what might happen. Maybe you get into an emergency situation where your light is needed for a longer time. I'd blame myself forever if my light stopped due to dead batteries.

edit: even here at home I have two spare batteries fully charged waiting (even though I have non-rechageable batteries as well)

depends on the light...... a light with a long runtime and few small batteries that you probably won't use up may not need new cells in it. If you don't have to worry about carrying a lot taking a dozen non C/D sized batteries along isn't a big deal. If your stuff uses the same batteries then you can swap them back and forth if you ever run low on batteries for some reason. It is nice to have LED lights that can run on depleted batteries such that you can take them out of other stuff that eats them fast then put them in a light that sips them dry and dispose of them if primaries.

I almost exclusively use rechargeables so it is no biggie - I just swap the batteries for fully charged ones with all the lights I have been using and recharge the ones that I removed. I take the batteries that I just recharged as spares. I always recharge the batteries coming out of my lights straight away, that way the only semi-flat batteries are the ones in my lights. If camping I put any dead cells somewhere where they don't get mixed up with good ones and then recharge them once I am home again.

For a weeks camping I tend to take enough lights and batteries to last for a couple of months. I guess I really am a flashaholic.

KiwiMark said:

I almost exclusively use rechargeables so it is no biggie - I just batteries the batteries for fully charged ones with all the lights I have been using and recharge the ones that I removed. I take the batteries that I just recharged as spares. I always recharge the batteries coming out of my lights straight away, that way the only semi-flat batteries are the ones in my lights. If camping I put any dead cells somewhere where they don't get mixed up with good ones and then recharge them once I am home again.

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Yeah,this is pretty much what i do,i'll even recharge the cells in the car at the campsite.
I think my next camping trip i'll bring a couple 18650 lights for the extra long runtimes too.

kramer5150 said:

Yes... load fresh cells. Carry fresh backups. Mark the partially used with a sharpie and leave them at home for less-critical applications.

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+1...