Are you using a good charger for the eneloops? I've found their performance to be about equal to lithium to the point I don't buy any lithium in them.

I have a 3AA maglight sitting in a drawer from leakey energizers. Iv'e had rayovac's and radio shacks leak too.

I hope it restores your faith in us, Dave, to know that I wear a photon around my neck 24/7, and refresh the batteries every 6 months when we change the clocks for daylight savings time.

Phew! That was close. Thanks for restoring my faith! I was starting to wonder, what if the converstion drifted to knives and someone said "Everytime I need a knife all's I can find are old rusty ones in the back of my drawer." Gack!

I have a number of flashlights stored without batteries. I have lots of batteries but they're not stored in the flashlights. I have two flashlights I use around the house, one in my flight bag and another next to the seat of my truck. Those have lithium AA batteries, so batteries going bad is not an issue.

When I have stored flashlights with batteries, the batteries have always been dead by the time I went to use the flashlight. It would be a moronic maneuver to keep doing that. So, I don't store flashlights with batteries anymore. My everyday carry flashlights do have batteries.

We're supposed to change the batteries???

Sue

My "stored" flashlights are equipped wit non rechargeable lithium batteries - no problems whatever with storage intervals as long as five or six years. Flashlights and equipment in more or less continual use get Eneloops. I have been very happy with the performance of both types.

Hi folks,

Just to add my .02 cents worth on this subject.
I use lithiums in my flashlights that are exposed to cold and heat ( vehicles), and in other flashlights, and lanterns that are in my "blackout" kits.

I tend to use rechargeables in my EDC lights and carry a spare alkalines for backup.

Every 3 months, I will test the rechargeables batteries to see what their status is. Then I will batch them for a recharge so they will keep fairly fresh and useable in an emergency.
I use a battery tester called a ZTS Multi-Battery Tester to check for the battery's remaining capacity in %.

In the past, I used a volt meter but it was not as accurate.
I get good voltage but the the batteries usually didn't last long since their capacity was diminished due to age, etc...
even after charging.

So when there's a power failure at home, I tend to use the rechargeables first and then work my way down to the alkalines and lithiums.
Hope this helps!

Welcome to the Forum newguy!!!! Thanks for the post.