The recent devastating earthquakes have prompted me to store some water, food and camping supplies away from the house in a storage shed on the property. Lights, lanterns, headlamps and radios will be stored in a clear plastic storage box without batteries but with one set of lithiums for each device. With the exception of one surefire and a couple of button cell devices, everything in the shed will run on AA.

For longer term and cost I'd like to store some of the copper tops, as the lithiums would be expensive to run devices on for several weeks. So my question is how to store a couple of the packages, 36 AA, of the coppertops and minimize the risk of them leaking? Would storing them in a small cooler help? Or any other ideas? The two packages I just picked up are packed in hard plastic, with 18 on each side so if one leaked it should only get the the 18 on each side. I could split them down further into either zip lock bags or containers, as nothing they would run requires more than 4 batts.

I've learned the hard way that the coppertops do leak, but these were a decent deal so I have them now, as well as a couple of packs purchased in the fall in the house. I'm in W. WA state with a moderate climate but we do have short-term heat and cold, and bringing them into the house during those periods sort of defeats my plan of having some supplies stored away from the house. The storage shed is easily accessible for rotation and checking on things and does have decent ventilation for a shed.

Over the last year, I've started collecting the eneloops and they are deployed in my home and auto kits. Really like them but don't have enough yet to sustain a long-term power outage. I do have a generator but using it to re-charge batts wouldn't be a very efficient (or cost effective) use of the limited gas that I can safely store and rotate. The gas in a separate very old shed over 500 feet from buildings. Gas is such a pia to safely store and rotate.

I'm storing one surefire in the shed, but it will be stored in a separate lock and lid box with the surefire batts, as I've read never to store different battery types together.

Thanks in advance for any suggestions.

For my purposes, the money spent on Energizer Lithiums is worth it. They last longer in storage, last longer in use, and do not leak. For emergencies, it's Engergizer Lithiums or high-quality 123A batteries for me. I like Eneloops but for emergency use I want to store things that require as little maintenance as possible.

If you're committed to alkalines, get high-quality batteries, store them in a cool dry place, and replace them at least annually.

I've done well with the 36 packs of Energizer Alkaline AA's that home depot sells. been using them for a few years now, but I rotate those, buy a new pack once or twice a year and put those in storage and give the old ones to the kids to burn away in toys.

I use eneloops for most things myself and have bought a half dozen packs to have for emergancy use. I have a pair of chargers, both of which can run from 12v so instead of running a generator I can put them in a car and charge that way (or remove the car battery and biring it in the garage and use an alagator clip on socket to power them). this gives a good recharge system that could last days before having to start a car to top off its battery.

Sanoy eneloop appears to handle storage pretty well. I did a small search and it appears that their claim of 80% after one year has been verified by independent testers. But the higher the temperature the more rapid self discharge. Cool is good.

One option for eneloops is to rotate sanoy eneloops between your every day usage pool of freshly charged batteries and your emergency storage. Say every 3rd or 6th month, or every year.

Also, buy a digital multi meter (voltage meter) and / or a battery tester. The best test to measure capacity is to measure voltage under load (which a good battery tester will do for you). But as far as I understand there is no fail safe way of telling 100% good alkaline batteries from crappy ones - if it's unused it can apparently have a high voltage.

For alkaline storage: Keep 'em cool. Handle with care - don't toss them about. Never mix batteries of different brands or different charge levels in a multi cell application. (Once the weakest alkaline is drained the current is reversed => instant leak. The device may actually still work if the other batteries are good and the device can operate at lower voltages). I don't know how long you can store them - batteries are less prone to leakage now than before, but it still happens. Apparently, good alkalines can be stored for several years, but if you're unlucky you will have a leak in just months. There is an expiration date, but I don't know if that is of any help. Never store alkaline batteries in the apparatus!

Lithiums are also affected by heat and cold, just much less so than alkalines. Investing in a 12V car plug adaptor for your Eneloop battery charger is a good idea. And of course a ZTS Battery Tester is essential. It tests batteries under load so the readings are far more accurate. I have both the mini-ZTS and the MBT-1, the difference being the MBT-1 can also test NiMH, Lithium AA, coin cells, etc.

Buy the lithium ones and be done with it. Rotate them out every ten years.

This subject deserves being reviewed and reconsidered regularly. Battery technology is changing. As are my needs and desires.

I like lithium batteries. Long life, increased capacity, relative temperature insensitivity are all in their favor. Even minor factors like their light weight are good. Their one major problem is cost.

On the other hand all the strengths of lithium cells are relative weaknesses of alkaline cells. Over time alkaline cells have improved. And even the basic chemistry was a major advance over the old chemistries. Looking back I'm always amazed that anyone got anything done using lead-acid and chloride cells. But they got us through WW2 and Hippies. We used them because they were all we had.

Alkaline cells were a big advance and they have gotten better. The one exception here is that they seem to leak more than they did. A leaking alkaline cell typically destroys whatever it is used in. Something to keep in mind when you stuff them into expensive, or critical, electronics.

But alkaline cells are still a bargain. For about $12 I buy a pack of 30 that lasts me a couple of years. They don't store for more than a few years but rotation is simple to accommodate at home because I have a scad of remote controls, battery powered clocks, and a couple of small flashlights that get a lot of use.

I suspect I will be moving to all lithium cells. In high turnover devices I might use rechargeable cells but recharging is still an issue and rotation of lithium batteries might eliminate much of the need for rechargeable batteries.

I've tested lithium against eneloop and there is maybe a very slight advantage to lithium, my gps runs over 24 hours on either for example with maybe a few minutes more on lithium depending how many months the eneloops have been sitting between charge. Same with my radios and such. Also the cost of eneloops and lithium is about the same. So far eneloops do much better in the cold than traditional so there isn't much lithium advantage there, maybe someday I'll put some side by side in the freezer and test but any cold that I could stand to be in they did fine.
I see little point in lithium now a days.

When you cost out runtime, lithiums are actually cheaper to operate than most alkalines, and they do not have the issues of leaking, etc. that plague alkalines. I would not put alkalines in anything that I value very highly. It is either Eneloops, for regular use where recharge is an option, or lithiums for items that are stored away or used intermittently. If you want to save money, rechargeables are the only way to go.

Temperature can be significant. If you store a radio or flashlight in an arctic environment would like them to have runtimes of more than a few minutes, Alkalines are not for you.

Lithium batteries can be hazardous. Li-ion secondaries seem more prone to this, but even AA primaries can fail catastrophically.