Why use L91/L92 lithium primaries?

Realised I bought myself quite a few 1xAAA torches lately, far more than what I could use in daily rotation, and thought of storing them around the house with L92 batteries in them. When checking for prices, I realised they cost almost as much as Eneloops. So for all practical purposes w.r.t. self discharge, doesn’t it make sense to buy the Eneloops and top up their charge every few years (or even 5 years) than throwing out those L92s? Or am I missing something?

Yes, no, maybe….

:wink:

There is no correct answer here, just preference.

The Lithium primaries will give ultimately longer runtimes than NiMh does. And the long shelf life means they can serve easily as backup lights for long periods of inactivity, or even random short use.

Eneloops are good, but even the best LSD ones still loose charge over time. So it really depends if you think you will be proactive enough to check them and top them up when needed. Or if you have enough torches, to simply not worry if one is flat.

According to this Energizer .pdf about lithium primary batteries, on the “Shelf Life” page, they claim that at room temperature, the lithium primary batteries is supposed to retain 95% of their original capacity. The advantage of this over Eneloop is that if you forget to recharge the Eneloops after several years, they’ll be low on power.

Also, so far, I haven’t found any info about whether or not Eneloops can still be recharged to 95% of their capacity after 20 years. In other words, how much does age itself affect Eneloop’s performance?

I buy lithium primaries for their ability to survive more extreme temperatures. I have a couple packs of AA and AAAs in my car in case the Eneloops in my car flashlights are discharged when I absolutely need them to work in an unexpected auto emergency.

Keep an eye out for the L92’s on sale. I stocked up on several packs of energizer AAA/AA lithium’s at $4 a four pack at home depot recently.

The alternate is the Sunbeam brand alkaline batteries at Dollar Tree stores. At $1 a pack of four, just spend fifty cents a light per year and change them twice a year.

Got it. I guess for my use, I’ll stick to eneloops for now and keep an eye out for L92 deals.

Alkaline is out of the question. While I personally haven’t had any leaks, have heard too many leakage stories to risk them in my babies. :smiley:

I would use the Eneloops, the 4th generation still holds 70% charge at 10 years and can be recharged 2100 times, and I am not the type of prepper to leave them without attention for 10 years at a stretch anyway, and many battery chargers plug into the cigarette lighter of the car, they also operate down to –4f temps.

I prefer owning such a high quality, almost permanent reusable battery, to one time use of what amounts to a super quality Alkaline that is still a throwaway, having some lithium for specialized needs is nice, but I would still use the Eneloops as the foundation of my long term preparation needs.

Eneloops can even be partly charged with your solar garden lights in an emergency or taken to any government supplied recharging station, or friend/neighbor’s source of power for recharging during emergencies, or as mentioned, charged in your car, with Eneloops you have much more depth, flexibility, and long term battery security.

My preference is Eneloops. I have a bunch of rechargble AA and AAA’s. None are kept in lights in drawers to be forgotten. The cells not loaded in lights and such, to be used, sit in a stack of fully charged cells. Once a cell get drained, it thrown into a box awaiting recharge. Once enough drained cells are in the box, I charge them and put them on the bottom of the stack of fully charged cells. That way all my cells are in rotation. I keep unload lights in one location too.

If power interruption event is approaching (hurricane, big snow storm, etc). I load the fully charged cells into lights and such and then scatter them about the house, cars, etc.

EDIT: Fixed some typos

If I remember right they work better in the cold which is why I have them in my light for the glove box, cold might not be an issue for you or I could be not remembering write, lol

Exactly, Brad and ImA4Wheelr. Good to know lots of other folk share my feeling that L91/L92 batteries are a little outdated.

Am not sure how much of a difference extreme cold makes, but I’m more likely to have my lights and batteries on me rather than in the glovebox, so quite the nonissue in my case.

I keep primaries in all my cars and also in my earthquake supplies. Not so much for me but more for my wife and kids. I have several solar chargers but there’s no assurances that I’ll survive the event and it’s easier for them to not have to think about charging batteries. I could certainly rotate rechargeable batteries but sometimes it’s hard when a car is away for years at a time.

I just gifted my mom a couple AAA keychain lights with L92 cells inside. I figure the extra runtime and longevity of the cell can only help.

1 Thank

Me, same.

Wise for any area susceptible to the occasional earthquake/hurricane/tornado/swarm’o’locusts, I’d think.

Once the dust starts to clear and the fires are out and the sun comes up, there’ll be time to set up recharging stations for the neighbors.

But for that first few hours — I’ll be glad to be handing out flashlights with Energizer lithium primaries.

Heck, during the first few hours of dusty, shaky and dark, people will drain cells dead and throw them away without looking at them. And that’s fine.

And if it’s daytime — you’ll be glad if you remember having studied this, before you needed to know it:

http://sb.longnow.org/SB_homepage/Earthquake_Lessons.html

I still use L91/92’s in devices that might sit a few years without use. I use Eneloops’ also but for items that get a bit more use. I am budget but not on batteries.

Lithium primaries are MUCH ligher weight than Eneloops. The difference is definitely noticeable in the pocket. If weight is an issue, such as for a small EDC, the energizer lithiums work great. Why carry around extra weight when you don’t have to?

I use eneloop pro clones, Duracell, amazon pro, imedion etc. But I also keep a stash of about 400 alkaline cells 200 aa 200aaa and best buy has clearance sales every few months on there energizer advanced lithium for like 3.99 a 4 pack or something. And on amazon every two months I have them send me a pack of 8 aa ultimate lithium’s. Just want to he prepared. I have 10 years to use the alkalines and I will in time with two daughters. But I live in the heart of hurricane alley. Power can be out for up to two weeks. Can always charge batteries in the car. But usually using the car to run power inverters for fans and keep the refrigerator going every couple hours. Car batteries have amazed me. Long as you start it up every few hours for about 20 mins you’d be surprised what you can run off it. I’ve ran a swimming pool pump for a 16 ft round pool for about 12 hours without starting. Crabked right up. But back to subject. Don’t wanna get caught unprepared. Need my lights and lanterns to work. Aa and lithium lights. Along with gadgets to keep my oldest daughter entertained. All three chemistries would get heavily used.
And might be soon. That storm out by Cuba is predicted to come right in the mouth of the Mississippi just like Katrina did. Well Katrina was 30 miles closer to me. If this storm does this and develops I’ll be homeless again. Like I was after Katrina. But that’s s whole different story

I would like to learn more about that using of the car battery to cycle the refrigerator periodically, that has been my plan for years but I keep waiting for the money for a quality inverter.

A solar car battery charger could help keep your car battery healthy during those uses.

Do you think this inverter would be enough for a modern top freezer fridge?

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B007Y4BL1C/ref=wl_it_dp_o_pd_nS_ttl?\_encoding=UTF8&colid=24RKNQMUTI917&coliid=I3T720LWN59CHG

They’re good for your average person who’s not going to remember to charge their batteries. I threw some in a lantern and a cheap low output single mode 2aa energizer light for my mom in case of emergencies

And for a buk each, getting CR123As is a good choice, too.

Can run in 1-cell lights (Jet-II, i332, KL03, etc.) or 2 at a time in 18650 lights that can stand up to 6V (most Nitecores and a bunch of Sofirns).

You’ll notice the number of emergencies rises with age, like to reading small print in the evening.
So I have a lot of AAA lights scattered around the house. Most of them with L92 primaries.
For the moments I want just some light, any light, at THAT particular moment.

The batteries in my 18650 lights are never “suddenly empty” so it’s LiIon for those.
They are just too bulky to stash everywhere. I’ll take them if I know I’ll be needing a light (for a walk).