I want to assemble some Disaster Supply Kits for family.
I have sturdy backpacks I picked up Goodwill, and I added Long shelf life “Water Blocks” , Nutrition Packs
hand tools/gloves/duct tape/fire starters —but looking to add torches and batteries to the kits.
Are lithiums the way to go?
Will they hold most of a charge (60%?) for 5 years?
Rechargeable or primary not as important as ability to maintain a charge.
lithium primaries are the way to go for long term storage
lithium primaries - cr123 and aa aaa etc are good for 10 year shelf life
some new duracell/energizer alkalines claim 10 year shelf life as well
eneloop nimh 3rd or 4th generation are good for 3-5 years
also - i have heard lifepo4 cells have very low shelf discharge
what do i use? i have several lights that take 18650 or 2x cr123 so i have a pile of cr123s
also i have 54 AA duraloop/eneloop 
I use Eneloops. In an emergency/disaster I will be able to recharge them with a solar charger
Which begs the question which solar charger do you recommend?
I have this WakaWaka in my GO bag, as well as a few others lying around like this one from Fasttech as well as a few 18650 battery packs. Everything is USB based so it’ll be really simple in an emergency to move power around to the devices that need it.
Here’s a random dump of some photos which show what I am talking about: The flexibility of USB charging. I even have a crank light with a USB port on it. Towards the bottom you can see me charging some NiMH cells with a USB charger from one of the battery packs.
A small inverter is a must for emergencies
So is a portable tire inflator which also acts as a 12V power source I can plug a USB dongle into
I have a Goal Zero solar panel Amazon.com that I’ve used to charge NiMh batteries as well as my Android cell phone. The included battery charger works but I don’t think the channels are independent.
These 2 usb charges work when I connected them to the panel, but that isn’t surprising since the panel puts out 5volts and 1A.
http://www.amazon.com/Sanyo-eneloop-Pre-Charged-Rechargeable-Batteries/dp/B004UAG776/ref=sr_1_1?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1384138961&sr=1-1&keywords=sanyo+usb+battery+charger
http://www.amazon.com/GP-Charger-Pre-Charged-Rechargeable-Batteries/dp/B00FQMM9ME/ref=sr_1_sc_1?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1384139012&sr=1-1-spell&keywords=reyko+usb+battery+charger
I much prefer the Sanyo because it has an attached USB cord while the Recyko plugs directly into a USB port (unless you use an USB extension cable). Also the Recyko has a sliding mechanism that you have to push down to insert the batteries, which doesn’t seem all that robust to me.
It’s more cost effective to just get the panel (around $80) and then get one of the chargers above. Unfortunately for me the Sanyo’s weren’t being made when I bought the panels, and I didn’t know about the Recyko’s.
Hello everyone, nowadays without battery can not move anymore. Many companies provide good life long batteries.