I did have a Lithium Ion rechargable battery explode on me. I had a new, 3rd party battery pack for my Yaesu VX-7R amateur radio handie talkie in the factory smart charger for about 5 hrs when it exploded. It threw hot material on a stack of papers, starting a fire in my living room. If one of the roommates hadn't heard it pop, it could have burnt my house down.

While it was a 3rd party battery, it was from a reputable supplier of replacement batteries that has been around for a long time.

So that gas is the source of the destinctive smell of lithium batteries. I figured it had to be something out gassing or something, so I've always opened my G-2s ever week or so to let them air out.

I'm glad I've always used Energizer, Duracell or Surefire 123s.

Thanks for the heads up on the Duracell/Energizer seal quality. I'm about to replace every battery in the house.

How long have you kept Rayovacs? I've had a number of failures recently in batteries with a 2011-2012 date on them. They are AAs about six years old or newer. It seems to be worse in MiniMAGs than other lights. Recently installed & little use & they've swollen to the point it's not worth the trouble to get them out.

Sometimes it is the charger. I have had a number of chargers for radio batteries stop working right and over charging batteries to the point of explosion. Not with a lithium battery, but with both NiCad and NiMh batteries.

The topic is primary NON-RECHARGEABLE batteries. Rechargeable batteries are a whole different ball game. I generally do not recommend them for survival gear in any case, but that's an entirely different subject.

UTAlumnus,
I have only stored RayOVac's for two years to date. No problems yet. Since my wife joined Costco, we have purchased Duracell's at a good price. I would note that Kirkland brand AA's appear externally to be Duracell. I have also stored those cells for almost two years without problem.

Spud

I've had a lot of leakage from Rayovac alkaline AA's in the past year. I use them almost exclusively now so it's a little hard to compare, but I definately feel like I've had a higher failure rate than a few years ago when I mostly used Duracells. Maybe I'll go back.

Like Doug, I had personally never heard of any stories of lithium primary cells exploding or catching fire in flashlights. Seems like a very rare event. Anyway, without any hard evidence to the contrary, like staying away from Chinese-made lithiums, I guess I agree with the suggestions except for modifying one thing.

I think talking a bit more about "plastic" flashlights would be helpful, along the lines of what I think RAS was getting at in his post. Not all "plastic" flashlights are alike. I mean, after warning us away from Chinese-made lights, an additional effort is made to mention that some Chinese-made flashlights may be OK. Something similar to that statement for plastic-bodied flashlights might be helpful, too.

First, there's the distinction between cheap, flimsy plastic flashlights like what you might find at the supermarket vs. high quality plastic-bodied flashlights. Like RAS, I'm a big fan of the UK 4AA eLED light, and also the Streamlight ProPolymer series. The cases of these lights are very strong. However, secondly, even with high quality flashlights, if someone is very concerned about this very rare possibility of exploding flashlights, then they might want to further subdivide plastic lights by whether they have additional safety features.

For example, dive rated lights are generally extremely strong and great for survival situations, however, they are also generally sealed up tight. That could lead to a catastrophic build up of pressure. In constrast, industrial/work lights, like the UK eLED or ProPolymers, often have safety features like pressure relief vents. (They also often have hydrogen catalysts but lithiums can generate gasses other than hydrogen. And even if only hydrogen was generated during a short circuit, I'm not sure that the catalyst could cope with a very rapid venting of hydrogen from a battery. I think the catalyst is meant to handle gradual build ups of hydrogen from alkalines.) These features could help prevent an explosive flashlight case failure.

One comment about the pilot's story. Since plastic is a thermal insulator, I wonder if his flashlight was already heating up when he first noticed that the flashlight had gone out? I suspect that it was, but it didn't feel alarmingly hot to him before he put the light away in his flight bag. Just a guess, but if he had an aluminum light, he might've felt it getting too hot and might have handled the situation differently. I suppose that's one distinct advantage of an aluminum flashlight. But then again, a pressure relief valve might have simply resulted in a ruined flashlight with crispy batteries instead of a projectile/explosive hazard.

Check the date on the side of the batteries. The date on one or both of the last ones to fail were 2011. IIRC they were putting about a 10 year date on them about 2001 or 2002 (2011 exp. date). I should have remembered the old saying about if its too good to be true...

These could have been up to six years old but were probably newer. They used to have a 10 year date on them. I think the current date is only six. I'll have to check a couple of other sources.