alkaline batteries in cold climates

I have a Maglite 4D with maglite xenon lamp
I read that alkaline batteries don't like cold climates.
But if I take my flashlight with me and for example it's snowing or it's some degrees under zero, I can rely on it?
For example if at 20° i have a run time of n hours, what happens at -10° ?? If I left it in my car, it won't work when I need it?
Excuse me for my english, i'm not American..

If you carry it from warm areas to the cold for short term use it should tolerate the cold as much as you do

It may show a shorter than normal run time in the extreme cold. Probably not that short and the batteries should recover when warm.

Long term storage in the cold caused a 2D Mag I have to have massive battery leakage. It was in one of my vehicles that does not get regular use so it sat for days without attention rather than the warmup/cooldown of a daily use car. This happened back when 2D Mags cost over 30 dollars so I repaired it. Next winter, the same thing happened. I fixed it up again and now it never sleeps out in the car.

I don't know for certain that the cold caused that to happen but twice in two winters is almost more than circumstanital.

Another concern would be cold shock of the lamp if terribly cold and then getting pounded with surge current, The lamp might not like going from that cold to white hot and could fail. I have not experienced this but it is a remote possibility.

I would not worry about it as long as I did not keep it in the car. Besides at -10 degrees it gets too cold to handle without gloves That is another reason not to let it become a popsicle.

Welcome To CPF!

Your English is just fine and your question is a good one.

Pellidon has summarized accurately. While it is true that ambient temperature has a direct effect on battery performance, it is the nature of exposure to this temperature that matters.

A light carried from inside at 20C to outside at-20C would work fine. Remember, that once it is turned on it generates its own internal heat from current flow and lamp heat.

A light soaked in your car trunk for hours at -20C would suffer a large decrease in runtime and some decrease in output performance as well.

This is one of the clear benefits of lithium batteries which are less affected by colder temperatures.

Here is a link to an Energizer document that gives temperature performance for various chemistries. It will give you somewhat of an idea what to expect.
Battery Temp Performance

If you have to leave a light stored in a very cold location, you'd be much better off with a 2x123 lithium light than a 4D alkaline one.

Mark

It was a shock to see how much NiMH nosedive at -20.

I'd be careful in drawing any conclusions comparing one chemistry to another from that Energizer document. It looks as though each chemistry was tested under different loading conditions. The loading for the NiMH wasn't specified at all.

brickbat said:

I'd be careful in drawing any conclusions comparing one chemistry to another from that Energizer document. It looks as though each chemistry was tested under different loading conditions. The loading for the NiMH wasn't specified at all.

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True, you may not want to draw any absolute design or critical use conclusions from this data. However, I think it is pretty conclusive that any of the lithium chemistries clearly have a much flatter voltage curve over a much wider range of temps.

I think a lot of it just varies on an individuals specific routine. Back in the day, I had a 2D Mag in my car, then truck, then car, then another car for probably six or seven years and I never had any leakage. I generally changed the cells once a year but the first three years, I don't think I ever changed them and when I did go to replace them, the light still powered on despite having been through three Indiana winters and seeing below zero temps every year.

Having said that, I now have two lights in my car that run on lithiums, regardless of what else is or is not in the car and there is NEVER anything wrong with planning for a worst possible scenario. I mean, heck... when I carried a 1911, I used to keep five loaded mags in the trunk along with two boxes of ammo. If you don't need it, great, you don't need it. On the other hand, if you're several miles from anything and it's twenty below, do you really want to rely on an incandescent light with nearly expired alkaline cells?

I sure don't!

If you take a light while out or walking, keep it in an inside pocket when you aren't using it. Also if you carry spare batteries (a good idea in my opinion), keep them in an inside pocket as well to keep them a bit warmer.

I believe I'd get a nice "wear around the neck" light. Inside of all the clothes close to the body you'd have no major problems.

For an outside light, I'd load up with Lithiums.

But then I don't live where this would matter in the least!

I have a maglite 4D ...
It's not easy to wear around the neck or to put in an inside pocket

No one serious enough to register and post on a flashlight website would do any less than try and find a light for the situation. We would NOT try to adapt the situation to the light.

And are you telling us you don't have a small EDC light? For SHAME!!!

jayflash said:

It was a shock to see how much NiMH nosedive at -20.

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Yes, but -20C is damn COLD! The heck with the flashlight; I think my own life expectancy at that temp will take a nosedive!

My general experience with batteries and cold temperatures goes about like this...

-Alkalines taken from a warm environment out into a cold one tend to take a while to cool down to the point where they are affected by the cold. The eventual effect is usually a slightly dimmer (incan) light and shorter runtime. If the batteries have been out in the cold a long time (say in the automobile glovebox) the effect is more severe.

-NiMH cells seem to be affected by the cold rather quickly, even when in use. The runtime does not seem to decrease all that much but the amperage drops suddenly by about 5-10%. This often fools devices such as digital cameras and GPS units into thinking your batteries are about to die when in fact you have plenty of juice but the chemistry can't keep the delivery rate up.

-Lithium Cells, I've never been anywhere cold enough to affect lithium cells but I understand they will start to weaken at around -20 to -30 F (-30 -35C)

-Lithium Ion Rechargable... so far seems unaffected but I've only had it down to 20F

So having said all of that, I keep Lithium based lights in my vehicles now. Good strong LED light with fresh Surefire Lithiums... the lights will probably outlast the cars.

Phaserburn said:

Yes, but -20C is damn COLD! The heck with the flashlight; I think my own life expectancy at that temp will take a nosedive!

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Oh 'cmon Phaserburn, you know to turn the phaser to "heat" and warm the rocks