I used to keep batteries in all my flashlights, then those HF free 9 LED things started to pile up and batteries that come with them go bad pretty quickly and leak, so I’ve shifted to batteries out in many of my lights, but now I have a pile of empty lights and a pile batteries.
I always have some lights handy with batteries in them, but I am thinking of cutting that down so I have the discipline of loading in freshly charged prior to use, and don’t leave batteries in anything rarely used.
I’ve come to the same conclusion about batteries in general to you Danglerb. I’ve put a lot in storage at 3.7 volts. If I need to charge them for whatever reason with no power I have a couple of 12 volt batteries that I can use to power chargers.
I keep a selection of lights with batteries in them for instant use.
Most of the lights I keep in a display case with batteries sorted in a box, so I can pick my favorite light for the moment and put in a battery.
I keep all of my Li-ion lights empty. Most of the batteries charged. I figure if it takes what, 3-4 years for cells to loose enough capacity to be noticeable, might as well keep them fully charged for when I need them. Especially at the price we get new laptop pulls for.
I don’t really know why.
The only lights i keep in the batteries are NiMH. The D40A and the TK70. Locked out.
Only flashlight that doesn’t have batteries in them are the ones I’m selling. Keep my K40vn fully loaded with spares in the case. IMO its dumb to own flashlights and not keep them loaded. I’d you need them and the power is out, good luck finding the batteries and loading the lights. Juat buy lights that you can lock out. Cheap lights are junk. Started out with a C8 and have since upped my collection with the cheapest light being a SL3 and they are all locked out
Charged cells in all 28 lights, I try to rotate lights used, try to use all of them regularly at least to some extent, and recharge them immediately afterwards. When the power goes out, I stand ready.
When I reach for a small light, any and all are ready to go. Big light is needed? Ready to go. Wait for a bit while the battery box is brought out and a cell charged? I don’t think so! But that’s the difference, I guess, between using them and playing with them.
For everything that CAN be done, there are just about as many different ways to do them as people that participate.
Probably about a dozen lights in circulation all have batteries. When a light goes out of circulation I take the batteries out and put it in the ‘bag of shame’ for longer term storage.
I did for a while but I have gotten out of the habit. So I have a box full of batteries and about five or six lights with batteries in them. Although on any given day I have four different chargers in use. I play with my lights a lot. I mod a ton and like to take out four at a time to see which ones compare best with others. A day doesn’t go by without me turning on the soldering iron.
I’ve got cells in every light I own. The little lights are the ones I use most day to day so they NEED to have cells in them. The bigger lights are mostly for entertainment. And I prefer to go to any given light at any time and find it ready and waiting to light up the sky, or woods, or whatever. I hate them not being ready. For example my SR90 came in its case with head and battery pack separated. So I kept it like that for a good while. But I started noticing that I rarely used the light anymore simply because I didn’t want to have to hassle with it. Maybe I’m just an impulsive person, or too impatient, but so be it.
It might be minor or silly, but I also don’t like all the extra wear on threads and drivers by constantly removing batteries and putting them back in.
I keep cells in the lights I use for disaster response and investigations, so I can’t show up with an empty light if I have to rush off somewhere, etc.
Lights that need Alkaleaks are empty no matter what or have Nimhs or primary Li-ions, etc.
Lights that are back up of back ups might be empty, but I have boxes of fully charged cells, and boxes of storage charged cells.
Some cells I have in fully charged experimental storage to see what the max shelf life at full charge IS for them….the rest get rotated as appropriate.
So far at least, good 4.2 v charged 18650’s for example will still have a ~ 4.1 v charge after about a year. I have yet to let one sit at full charge longer than that, so I don’t have data on how much longer they COULD go, but I’d guess that as they drop in v, they will be approaching the normal lower storage voltage anyway. I STORE the ones not in a long-term test at storage v to maximize their life of course….the ones in test are essentially sacrificial so that I know if a brand or whatever is any different in that regard/how long I can go w/o topping them off, etc.
As almost all my lights are users, for the most part, they stay loaded and get freshies swapped in after their shift is over, etc. As I operate off grid in emergencies and remote surveillance/monitoring scenarios for example, I tend to have many many spare cells to rotate via solar and cig lighter chargers and so forth.
If I have a light say in the glove box of the wife’s jeep, where I know it will not be looked at unless there was a breakdown/emergency, etc….I might use li-ion primarys to help ensure it will work years after being tossed in there, and avoid ME having to remember to go out and swap in freshies once in a while (Because I’ll forget to…)
