Do you change your optic batteries out annually ?

[yoni]

My primary pistol gets changed Jan 1 every year. But this year the battery screwed with me and died on Dec. 29.

Everything else gets changed as needed. With more and more optics having sleep mode, I am not sure if we will need to change batteries every year. I will have all the parts I need for both my 9mm and .357sig Glocks dedicated to the Leighi Defense 65 grain round by the end of the month. These pistols will wear Leupold Delta Micros which have sleep technology for the higher settings. So I will run them till the battery dies as a trial of the system.

[Defaultmp3]

This is me, got spares in my range bag and that is where they usually go dim on me. Also 123As don't corrode like AA and AAA batteries, they just stop working. Anything still running on AA or AAA I keep the batteries pulled so they don't corrode my electronics which is usually old NV stuff.

Why would battery size have anything to do with corrosion? Lithium AA and AAA primary cells don't corrode either, AFAIK.

I change my batteries out on a regular schedule, far sooner than a year, utilizing the Google Calendar reminders. This applies to all batteries, my optics, MFALs, WMLs, flashlights, headlamps, etc. The longest I wait is 6 months for my Aimpoint CompM5/T-2 batteries. This is simply out of an abundance of caution; batteries are cheap, and I stockpile them anyway, might as well use them to rotate them out.

[georgeib]

I'm surprised no one has mentioned testing the voltage on their batteries. You can check the voltage and compare it to the nominal voltage for that battery to determine how much life it has remaining. If you decide to change at 12 months, and see that you still have 75% remaining, perhaps you could extend to 24 months and still have plenty of reserve, for example.

[Five_Point_Five_Six]

I'm surprised no one has mentioned testing the voltage on their batteries. You can check the voltage and compare it to the nominal voltage for that battery to determine how much life it has remaining. If you decide to change at 12 months, and see that you still have 75% remaining, perhaps you could extend to 24 months and still have plenty of reserve, for example.

I have no interest in testing voltage to try to stretch $12 worth of batteries another year.

[georgeib]

I have no interest in testing voltage to try to stretch $12 worth of batteries another year.

Honestly it's not about the money; it's about the peace of mind. Yoni posted that he normally swaps his batteries out on December 31st every year, but had one fail 2 days prior. No harm, no foul. But what if it had failed at an inopportune time?

Most of us don't fill our cars up with 3/4 of a tank left, so why change batteries then? Nor should we wait 'til we're out of gas to use the 5 gallon container we've got stored in the trunk. The voltage testing is nothing more than a fuel gauge.

[Pappabear]

For my Aimpoints I feel I could easily go two years. I changed everything out yesterday and maybe used $20 worth of batteries. I had one flashlight and one RDS that were dead.

i also added a lens cleaning as part of my annual review. Crazy how dirty some of my optics were.

PB

[themonk]

On my HD guns I change out the batteries on my birthday. Everything else I change out when needed.

[Defaultmp3]

Honestly it's not about the money; it's about the peace of mind. Yoni posted that he normally swaps his batteries out on December 31st every year, but had one fail 2 days prior. No harm, no foul. But what if it had failed at an inopportune time?

Most of us don't fill our cars up with 3/4 of a tank left, so why change batteries then? Nor should we wait 'til we're out of gas to use the 5 gallon container we've got stored in the trunk. The voltage testing is nothing more than a fuel gauge.

That doesn't really work all that well when utilizing batteries with a flat discharge curve, which is the majority of primary cells utilizing lithium-based chemistry.

As for peace of mind... don't wait a year. Change way earlier. Easy-peasy. Doubling battery costs isn't that big a burden for most folks.

[SteyrAUG]

Why would battery size have anything to do with corrosion? Lithium AA and AAA primary cells don't corrode either, AFAIK.

I wouldn't know, I was talking about alkaline batteries or whatever duracel / energizer are. Didn't know they made lithiums, might have to look into that.

[SteyrAUG]

That doesn't really work all that well when utilizing batteries with a flat discharge curve, which is the majority of primary cells utilizing lithium-based chemistry.

As for peace of mind... don't wait a year. Change way earlier. Easy-peasy. Doubling battery costs isn't that big a burden for most folks.

Also you can throw them in a drawer and use them for less "critical" stuff when swapping in new for "still not dead" batteries.