EOTech Parasitic Power Drain?

[HKGuns]

As part of my annual maintenance routine I pulled out one of my EOTech equipped AR’s this morning to find the optic was dead.

Further investigation revealed the batteries in both EOTech equipped rifles were dead.

I’ve not shot either in a while so there must be some parasitic drain on the battery when not in use.

Has anyone else noticed this or am I simply late to discover something already well known?

In any case, it is something folks should be mindful of as I didn’t expect this to happen.

ETA: Using the Red SureFire batteries in both.

[Glock9mm1990]

How old are the batteries?

[mebiuspower]

How old is the EOTech?

[ggammell]

Very common with Eotech. Has been for years.

[HKGuns]

EOTech's are both XPS and the batteries are less than a year old.

[markm]

EOTech's are both XPS and the batteries are less than a year old.

Wow. I'll have to check mine.

[1168]

Just checked mine. Its an older NV model I got used 5 years ago. Lives on my .22 that I don’t use often enough. Its had the same lithium AAs in it for 1-2yrs. Still works. I seem to have pretty good luck with stuff like this lately.

[RHINOWSO]

I only have one, a new build 518 I got on sale. I have heard about the issue so I keep the AA batteries in the pistol grip since it's on a spare budget AR15 that isn't required to be 'always ready'.

[3monkeys]

If you live in a really humid area like i do it can affect your batteries prior to being used in your sights, and I’ve had batteries corrod inside a supposedly sealed compartment.

[CoryCop25]

Eotech uses a laser not an LED like Aimpoint and other optics.

Because this laser requires a warm up time (kind of like an old tube TV).

Eotech has the board powered up all of the time so that when the user pushes the buttons to turn the optic on, the start up is instant. If the board was to not consume power when the unit was off, there would be a delay when the power button was pushed before the dot would appear.

So basically, any Eotech will draw from the battery even when the power is off.

So your options are this:
Change the batteries very regularly
Remove the batteries when not in use
Buy an Aimpoint