I have recently bought myself the Streamlight Sidewinder military handheld LED light.
My question is, is it OK if I leave the AA Energizer Ultimate Lithium batteries inside the light?
Will they leak if I leave them inside the light?
The light itself is stored at room temperature and I would only use it for camping, and for emergencies.

Many thanks in advance

Anything can leak, but the Energizer Lithiums (Ultimate/Advanced) are better in this regard than alkaleaks.

The one thing to be concerned with is 'parasitic drain' which can be quite severe in some lights.  Princeton Tec has had some issues with some of their lights.

You have a circular battery cap on the Sidewinder II and I would store the battery in the light and just mechanically lock out the light by simply unscrewing the cap until the light fails to turn on.

Lights with digital switches will always have some parasitic drain due to their nature, but low drain is something like 'depleting an 18650 in 12 years,' so no biggie, however, some lights whether they have a digital switch, or not, can drain batteries/cells in a few months.

Chris

So to answer my question, will it be OK to leave the batteries inside the light?
I just need someone to confirm this in general.

Because I don't want to be in an emergency situation were I need to search for the batteries and then putting them inside the light during those type of emergencies like a major black out or something like that.

Thanks

Yes, you can leave the batteries in the light.  Lithium's don't leak.

That's all I needed to know.
Many thanks

I always leave my batteries inside the lights. However if its long term I will unscrew the cap, turn one battery around so that it doesnot drain or leak.

You realize that alkaleaks can and do leak in their blister packs, right?

Just keep the batteries in the light, in a normal orientation and lock out the tailcap if you're worried about parasitic drain.  Or run some other cells like Energizer Lithium Ultimates/Advanced, NiMH, or li-ions, which aren't prone to leaking.

Alkaleaks can leak in just about any position, or state of charge.

Chris

Please see my first post, I am using the Energizer Ultimate Lithium batteries and plus, keeping the light at cool dark room temperature.
This is what I am using here below.
http://www.energizer.com/batteries/energizer-ultimate-lithium-batteries

I just want to keep the batteries inside the light because if a major black out occurs, I do not want to waste time searching for the batteries and then putting them in the light in the middle of an emergency.

I did read your first post and I wasn't commenting about your question.

My comment was a general one about alkaleaks and the fact that they can leak in just about any state:  fully charged, near depletion, in a device, or out of a device, say, in their OEM packaging.

As I said above, Energizer Lithiums are better in this regard.  Apart from a particular light's parasitic drain, I wouldn't feel bad about leaving them in a light, in their normal orientation.

If I have a light with an electronic switch, that by its very nature, imparts a small amount of parasitic drain and I have more than few of them, I'd just unscrew the head, or tail cap a few turns and lock out the battery.

Chris

I had done many searches on "parasitic drain " on the internet, and this problem seems to be for car batteries.
https://www.google.com/?gws_rd=ssl#q=parasitic+drain+

Well, I don't know what to say?

Read any properly done flashlight review of a light that has an electronic switch (which always draws a little bit of current) and you'll see a parasitic drain measurement.

It's not unicorns.

Some Princeton Tek headlight models had such high parasitic drain that they'd burn through a set of batteries in weeks, hence the 'mechanical lock out' suggestion.

Anyhow, now you know...

Chris

Andy,

Parasitic drain is very real but not something you need to worry about with your Sidewinder since it doesn't use an electronic switch.  You're fine with the batteries you've chosen.  If you find yourself using your light more often than you plan you may want to look into Eneloop batteries.  Great life, don't leak and they are rechargeable.

http://main.panasonic-eneloop.eu/?q=en

Thanks for detailed explanation.

However, one would not expect this to happen especially for the Sidewinder as it is approved by the US military standards.
I mean think about it, this light has been tested by US Army and in the field or even the front lines, you do not want your light to drain your cells within a week.
Especially in addition, your out in the middle of nowhere for weeks on deployments, one would need a light that does not drain the cells.
So I would not imagine that the Sidewinder would even have this issue since it has a seal of approval by the US Army standards. (Family of Approved Flashlights) list.

You do realize that the Army usually buys from the 'lowest available bidder' for the job, don't you?

You're new here and maybe new to forums.  Discussions sometimes branch off on tangents, not 100% related to the original points being made.  I don't want to come off like a know it all, but I know a little bit about modern flashlights and you seemed to be concerned with 'longer term' storage, hence my reply about electronic switches, mechanically locking out flashlights, lithium AA/AAAs and parasitic drain for people that want to load up a battery and forget about it for a year, or more.

I'd like to have a second headlight and the Sidewinder II has been something that I've looked at for a year, or so, so I think it's a worthy light to have.

Chris

ETA:

Should have just done this first.

Here is a detailed review of the Sidewinder II back in 2012, so it's a bit dated, but it's also the military model with the main white LED, blue, red and IR.

There is parasitic drain on this light, but it is small.

Sidewinder II headlight review on CPF

"Being a soft click button, there is parasitic drain to be considered as the internal circuit is kept powered. The Compact II is unfortunately not as good as the Sidewinder in this regard and each type of cell had a different parasitic drain.

Cell type   Measured Drain        Time to drain cell

CR123-------48.3uA-----------------3.91 Years
AA Ni-Mh----0.12mA------------------1.9 Years
AA Lithium---0.07mA---------------4.74 Years
AA Alkaline--0.1mA-----------------3.08 Years"

Here's a review of the basic Sidewinder Sportsman light, which while similar in function, is different:

Streamlight Sidewinder Sportsman light review

So I guess we can put this one to bed.

Chris

Chris,

Thanks for posting this, I’ve learned something today.  I have both the Sidewinder and the Sidewinder II and had no idea there was such a difference between the two lights.  I had the Sidewinder a couple of years before picking up the II. I knew the drain was low enough on the original as to be, practically speaking, a non-issue.  I just assumed they were the same.

For both of them, it's a non-issue unless they were going into long term storage, but that's why I brought up parasitic drain in lights, for those that might not know.

I have a 3+ year old ZebraLight SC600 and IIRC, they had an issue with high parasitic drain in the first versions and lowered it quite a bit.  I was on their site and one of their lights would drain a full 18650 in something like 11 years, lol.  The cell would die of age before it was drained.

The solution is simple for lights with high P.D. and that's just to mechanically lock the light out by unscrewing the battery cap, or head, a turn, or two.

Honestly, unless you 'need' to have the red, blue and IR LEDs, there are much better headlights out there, IMO.  I mean, ~60LM on high is pretty anemic.  I have AAA lights that put out more light at one fifth the size.  I get the whole .mil vibe, so I'm not saying that they're bad, or worthless, just a bit dated.

Chris

Great info!   Thanks again.

Now going back to the leakage question, so just to confirm, the AA Ultimate Lithium batteries can be left in the light without them leaking?
Because like I posted, I do not want to be looking for the batteries in the dark during a major power outage...

They're about as close to a leakless battery as we're going to get, but never say never.

Chris

Will a parasitic drain damage the light itself or only drain power from the batteries?

Just drain the battery very slowly.