Does it ever bother you that a leaky battery can destroy your high end flash light?

Up until now all I've owned were the old school different colored Maglights with the incandescent bulbs. I recently went to use one of the micro AAA lights and the light was pretty dim, so I attempted to change the battery. Well, the battery leaked and welded the tail piece shut. All the WD40, heat, cuss words and prayers weren't going to loosen that thing up and I ended up destroying the thing to take it apart. The inside was trashed with goopy battery poison... I was soo bummed out. The weird thing is, the battery wasn't that old and it still worked.


So, this is a long way of asking:

1. How do you protect your flashlights from leaky batteries? Is there anything that you can coat the inside of the flashlight with to minimize corrosion?
2. Do all batteries have the potential to leak? If not, what are some safe batteries to consider?
3. Are rechargable batteries safer than non rechargables?
Thanks for your time, yeah I'm a no0b, but have a couple of nice Fenix lights on the way and am excited about them. :rock:

There's a lot of information out there on this, including elsewhere on this site and at batteryuniversity.com. But the short answer is that nickel-metal hydride rechargeable (NiMH) and Energizer primary lithium (NON-rechargeable!) AA batteries can't leak the way that alkaline cells do. I think it's safe to say that the vast majority of people on this site use NiMH batteries like Eneloops, or Energizer primary lithium cells (aka "L91's"), instead of alkaline AA's and AAA's.

Then there's lithium-ion and other primary lithium cells like CR123A's, which present their own set of issues. Check both batteryuniversity and the Flashlight Electronics and Smoke and Fire sections of this site for a great deal of information on those.

Oh, and welcome to the site, and congrats on your new lights. Whadja get?

Not quite correct to say that NiMH cannot leak. I had one do just that in a long long forgotten remote. It self-discharged to dead then corroded the contacts. It'd probably been forgotten for 5 years maybe?

It's the only time that's ever happened to me with NiMH. They don't like being dead for long periods of time, it'll eventually destroy them.

After deciding my mini Mags were no longer bright enough for my aging eyesight, I got an E25. As soon as I got it, I stuck in the no-name alkalines that came with it. In my enthusiasm, I found CPF shortly afterward, which got me up to speed on the leaking issue right away. Since then, I've spent a pile of money on Eneloops and lithium primaries (and li-ions for some other lights as well). I consider it money well spent, though - despite the fact that my lights seldom get used for much of any real importance, they're there for power failures and other emergencies I hope will never happen. And all those alkalines are still around for a zombie apocalypse that outlasts my supply of better batteries.

:welcome:

Simplest and cheapest long term(well after a couple of charges you start saving $$) sanyo eneloops (or equivalent)in AAA and AA flavour...........Your fenix deserve nothing less

Sorry to hear about your light.

Yeah, avoid alkalines if possible and if you need to use them, pull 'em out of the light when it's not going to be used.

Now if you're using a multi cell light and you remove the batteries, tape 'em together, number them or something to identify them as a set. That way they'll likely all have the same or very similar juice left when you go to re-use them...

A bunch of years back, I used to bring home a different colored Mag 2xAA every time I went to Target. Sadly, they all were destroyed by the very Duracell alkalines they were packaged with! Ended up throwing away at least a dozen of them. Sad... but now I'm onto much better and brighter things!

fresh eddie fresh said:

A bunch of years back, I used to bring home a different colored Mag 2xAA every time I went to Target. Sadly, they all were destroyed by the very Duracell alkalines they were packaged with! Ended up throwing away at least a dozen of them. Sad... but now I'm onto much better and brighter things!

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I know it's years too late, but those things DID have a warranty. Mag has changed that warranty, only covering Rayovac IIRC. It'd be sad if they packaged them with Duracell knowing their own warranty doesn't cover that now.

Kudzu said:

I think it's safe to say that the vast majority of people on this site use NiMH batteries like Eneloops, or Energizer primary lithium cells (aka "L91's"), instead of alkaline AA's and AAA's.

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Yep!:welcome:

+1 on the Eneloop or Energizer lithium AA or AAA's. No alkalines here at my house. The only AA light that has cells left in it is a SF 2xAA Outdoorsman, and those are Eneloops. The ROI is phenomenal if you use the light with any frequency.

Careful now, there are a few members here that will "drop by" in a bit to tell you that what you had happen, can't/doesn't/won't happen.

But, for the rest of us here, they are known as Alkaleaks for a reason.

I use alkalines regularly and have had very few leaks, but very few is not the same as none !

I would never leave alkaline batteries in a valuable or rare light, or in one that is expected to lie unused for a while. Rare or valuable lights are best stored empty. Seldom used lights that must be available for instant use should be fitted with lithium disposables.
Lights in regular use that are not of special value are fine with alkalines IMHO.

My last loss to battery leakage was an old 2D Maglite, I saved the expensive LED bulb, and the lens and the reflector, and tossed the rest.

The cheapest guy I know went to the effort of DRILLING out alkaleaks fused into a 3d mag. He sank probably 3 and a half hours labor into it.

He will throw NOTHING away.

It's frugal, I'm told.☺

Kudzu said:

There's a lot of information out there on this, including elsewhere on this site and at batteryuniversity.com. But the short answer is that nickel-metal hydride rechargeable (NiMH) and Energizer primary lithium (NON-rechargeable!) AA batteries can't leak the way that alkaline cells do. I think it's safe to say that the vast majority of people on this site use NiMH batteries like Eneloops, or Energizer primary lithium cells (aka "L91's"), instead of alkaline AA's and AAA's.

Then there's lithium-ion and other primary lithium cells like CR123A's, which present their own set of issues. Check both batteryuniversity and the Flashlight Electronics and Smoke and Fire sections of this site for a great deal of information on those.

Oh, and welcome to the site, and congrats on your new lights. Whadja get?

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Thanks for the info and links!

I bought a Fenix PD35TAC, an E05 stainless, an E12 and several E01 (for stocking stuffers this Christmas).

more_vampires said:

The cheapest guy I know went to the effort of DRILLING out alkaleaks fused into a 3d mag. He sank probably 3 and a half hours labor into it.

He will throw NOTHING away.

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Sometimes it's about fixing what you already have.

Sometimes it's about doing something no one can or would think of doing.

Sometimes it's not about cost or effort, but about the reward of doing something that involves fixing something instead of throwing it away.

Couldn't tell ya how many lights I saved backin the pre-lithium days. It was only a matter of when back then.

And flashlights didn't arrive via ups back then. You actually had to get in your car, carry your happy@$$ to a store, plunk down cash and the $25 flashlight folks scoff at now was $25 back then.

Minimum wage was a buck 65, so $25 was a bid deal.

Yes Raven...frugal.

I just pitched a MiniMag body into the trash 30 minutes ago. Cleaned it out once already and got it working, but I'm not going to muck with it any longer. My own fault: fool me once, shame on you, fool me twice, shame on me.

I kept the head, the NiteEze 3 LED module and the tailcap for the other one I have.

A couple of old Panasonic AA from a new remote control and I couldn't even get the last one out.

I'm pretty much all rechargeable, all the time, so I generally don't worry about my nice lights being ruined by alkaleaks.

Chris

ChrisGarrett said:

I just pitched a MiniMag body into the trash 30 minutes ago.

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Best place for 'em.

It doesn't bother me because I don't put alkaleaks in any of my lights.

I mostly use IMR lithium ion cells in my flashlights. Unlike with alkalines there is no risk of leakage with these cells. Li-ion cells might explode, but they don't leak.

For lights or devices not driven to the edge, I typically use Energizer lithium 1.5v L91 primaries. They also don't leak and have the added benefit of weighing less than alkaleaks or eneloops.