Leaving batteries in your lights and lasers...

[Eurodriver]

specifically, a PEQ15 and a Surefire M600C.

These items are on my "Obama defaulted on .gov loans and now China's here to get their money" rifle. (I've seen some creative names in lieu of 'SHTF' lately...)

Anyway, what is

A.) The longest amount of time you would leave the batteries in and still be confident that they will work

and

B.) The longest amount of time you would leave the batteries in without risking leakage or damage to the device?

Assuming the answers for A and B are different of course...

I know in country our SOP was that we changed our PEQ-15 batteries out before every mission but we also had shitty ones with no O-rings, and of course every 19 year old Lance Corporal with a laser plays with it constantly. I don't know if this was a Cover your ass move by the CO, a waste of batteries, or a legitimate reason necessitated it. Its really easy to change out a 3$ battery every few days when you have 9,000 of them lieing around.

I have both Panasonic and Surefire batteries if that makes a difference.

[6933]

If the rifle is used as a "may be needed at any moment" gun, then the batteries would be replaced every month for both. This is a personal preference. Batteries left in each 24/7. Replacing them each month should decrease the probability of leakage issues.

If rifle is not "may be needed at any moment" gun, then I would not keep batteries in either and would check them(batteries) with a tester before use.

[Eurodriver]

This is the only AR I would grab in an emergency, but I've come up with a compromise.

I will leave the batteries in the Surefire for 6 weeks, and not put any in the PEQ15.

I don't think I will ever need a laser in a HD situation, and if I have enough time to grab my NVGs, I can throw a battery in it.

[El Pistolero]

FYI Lithium CR123s won't leak like alkalines, so I wouldn't worry about leakage. I know quality CR123s have a shelf life of 10 years but I don't know if that still hold true for batteries that have been used momentarily a few times or if it only applies to virgin batteries.

[ucrt]

.

If whatever device the batteries are used in is kept out of the heat/cold extremes, lithium batteries, depending on the brand, have a shelf life of 7-10 years. Like Pistolero said, it may depend on how much or if they are used.

This past Christmas, my great wife bought me the ZTS Tester (http://www.ztsinc.com/minimbt.html) and it seems to be pretty accurate .

I had batteries that I knew about how much they were used and I would "guestimate" a percentage of remaing life and then I'd test them. The Tester would indicate remaining life near to what I guessed.

The Tester actually "loads" the battery up for a few seconds and then calculates the remaining life. So far, it seems to be a good indicator. This gives a little confidence that the batteries are gtg.

.

[aaron_c]

I've left my batteries in my Fenix TK12R5, WX150, and G2X Tactical since they day they were bought (6, 3, and 1 month respectively). All still work fine, no leakages, all are cr123a batteries. And the Fenix and G2X get used pretty frequently for random things around the house etc.

[Just a Jarhead]

deleted by Just a Jarhead