D-Cell storage?

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So I've got a couple of D-Cell Mags that I've been messing around with, and I'd like to know the safest way to store the batteries to ensure that there's no leakage (or reduce the chances, anyway). They don't have to be in the lights, as they're primarily power outage options (though I do really like the ML300L, and wouldn't mind using it as one of the go-to's). I've searched and found several older threads about the AAA-D converters, and as I'm reading it, I see that I could run Lithiums in it at the expense of slightly lower output, but notably lower runtime. But I really do want to preserve that runtime. So, I'd like to stick with alkalines, but I want to find the right storage method. I've not used them in years (as in, since childhood), so I'm sure time has changed my perception of leak frequency, but I can think of more than a few items we had that were affected by battery leaks.

From the reading I've done, they tend to leak at the end of their lives, and temperature extremes/changes will make it more likely? Would keeping the batteries in the lights with the tailcap backed off (or a piece of plastic to break up the circuit) be as much insurance as leaving them out of the light?

Just looking for some input from you guys that have kept them on-hand for years, and can relay your methods/experiences.

Thanks!
 
I'm not any kind of expert but I can tell you my experience. When they decide to spew , they just do it whether in a light or not.
Some leak and some short out and spew corrosives. I have learned to just leave the alkies out of anything that I care about.
I turned on my head lamp one day and it came on normally for a few seconds then faded quickly. I opened it up to change batteries and one
cell was spewing what looked like smoke and it instantly dissolved the coating of the contact spring.
 
The only real way to keep alkalines from causing damage when they leak (that I know of) is to store them outside of the light.

If you want more capacity out of adapters you can get the ones that use 3AA's in parallel in each D cell.

The newer C and D Mags can be locked out by loosening the tail cap by about 1/4 turn...locking out is a good idea with the ML series that have electronic switches to stop parasitic battery drain while in storage.
 
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Unless a light has an electronic switch of sort then backing off the tail cap won't help it from leaking at all as the switch itself already breaks the circuit completely. As for alkalines the only two things you can do about reducing leakage is check them often or remove them completely. I had some non alkalines higher performance batteries (non rechargeable) that I kept in a small ziplock bag that finally leaked in the bag I recommend storing alkalines in either plastic bags or containers that you can easily clean out in case they decide to leak. To be honest I'm not entirely sure that having a small electronic switch draining an alkalines increases chance of them leaking but I do believe draining alkalines dead does increase leakage and I think in multiple cell lights you can sometimes drain batteries to reverse charge alkalines and that can increase leaking chances.
I've basically moved away from using alkalines in everything I have if I can afford to either using LSD nimh or or lithium chemistries.
 
Well there are several different options. You could get the 3AA to D adapters using regular Eneloops so you got the flashlight ready to go in case of an outage and then replace those with the alkalines if needed. You may need an additional light so you can change out the batteries but 6000mAh is still pretty good and should get you through a week if you are using the light moderately.

You can also get some actual D NiMH cells such as Tenergy (i use these 10000mAh Sunlabz cells which runs longer than alkalines in my Maglite) but then you'd need a good smart charger to go along with it and so far the best one i have found is the MH-C808M and that's a little too much, considering the C808M is the only charger i know of that is good (sure there are other cheaper alternatives) but only if you want to go that route and if you don't use the light much it's simply not cost effective anyway. 3rd option is to simply store a set in or out of the light and check them regularly. Alkalines now have a lesser chance of leaking, though even some Duralock cells will still corrode (i only noticed it on one cell that was already damaged) leakage in these cells are less common now. I have basically moved away from alkalines, but if there is some freebees i'll take them. I have this remote for this digital receiver that had the original batteries still in them from 2010. The cells did not leak and they still provide power.

The biggest reason for alkaline leakage is cell reversal, humidity might be a factor as well and if you are storing them correctly 99% of the time they should not leak. Additionally you can also get some Eneloop Pros with the 3AA to D adapter would offer 7350-7650mAh of uninterrupted power which isn't bad either. So there are some options, let us know what you decide :).
 
MidnightDistortions said:
The biggest reason for alkaline leakage is cell reversal, humidity might be a factor as well and if you are storing them correctly 99% of the time they should not leak. Additionally you can also get some Eneloop Pros with the 3AA to D adapter would offer 7350-7650mAh of uninterrupted power which isn't bad either. So there are some options, let us know what you decide :).
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I have had few issues of cell reversal causing leakage but then too often the leaks I have had the batteries still measured 1.5v or more and I stored them correctly. I'm thinking often batteries are abused in shipping and stored in hot warehouses or moved in non air conditioned trucks in hot climates as I've seen an increasing amount of batteries leak stored in my plastic fishing tackle box and they were bought new never used and often were still years from the date on the batteries.
I've put two sets of alkalines in a fan remote control and both pairs of them have leaked with almost no use to them one pair was energizer the other rayovac. I don't believe a word about the claims of less leakage at all myself, if anything I would equate their idea of less leakage as to be "not more leakage" or rather dialing back the leaking to where it used to be in the 90s when alkalines leaked about half as often as today.... duralock is to me just a marketing gimmick until a battery company puts a double your money back if they leak guarantee on them it is all a game because the warranty when they leak is IDENTICAL as the ones on the supposed older "leakier" models.
 
Of all the alky-leak accidents I've had, I gotta say D cells are the WORST. Most likely to leak, and most destructive when they do.

As a rule of thumb, I don't leave alkaline cells in a flashlight EVER. For whatever reason, though, in my experience the bigger the cell, the more likely (and destructive) the leak. I've had many more D and C cells leak while in storage, than AA or AAA cells, by far; they've also ruined at least five Maglights over the years, too.

Most recently, I went through my entire stash of cells, in storage, in lights, wherever. A few CR123A cells that were near their expiration were toast, especially the ones kept in my truck or bike or other location with unregulated environmental changes. But the most surprising were in storage in a "cool dry place", in a drawer in my bedroom closet: of a 4 x D PowerPax with emergency cells for my lantern, one cell had nearly disintegrated into white alkali, and in a back-up box of D cells, two more had corroded out the bottom. In a plastic box for 12 C cells, 2 of 9 cells leaked so bad they not only left alkali residue, but at least one leaked some sort of nasty liquid that corroded the rest of the cells.

Good low-self-discharge C or D cells are damn expensive, but for emergency use, you really should consider them. Alky-leaks should be the batteries of *last* resort.
 
Never leave cells in a light, buy them in 6 or 8 pack containers and store them there. As noted above they do leak bad enough take the other cells out in the same container, BUT the plastic container will contain the leak.
 
Thanks a TON for all the information guys! I'm sorry it took so long to get back to you all, but I've been busy and wanted to do some research on each piece of information... I'm an ape that uses CR123 lithiums whenever possible, rechargeables and adapters are out of my lane.

So from how I'm reading, the best approach is to have a few different ways to power the light, with the alkalines being stored for if they're needed, a more stable power source for when they're needed. That didn't occur to me, and I really like the idea of just getting a few packs of Duracells, and leaving them sealed while I've got more stable cells in the lights. And on that, I like the look of the rechargeable SunLabz, and I don't mind the "entry fee" to the rechargeable game, but what kind of performance difference would I be looking at if I used that vs., say, some Energizer Lithium AA's in a parallel adapter? I really like that the lithiums can handle vehicle storage as well, which is a role I wouldn't mind pressing another ML300L into. I've searched just about every term I can think of, and I've only found the NiMH runtimes.

Again, thanks a ton for all of your input.
 
IMHO only way to prevent alki leaks is to not use them at all, the Tenergy option as suggested is what i would treat it to. They will pay for themselves with a couple of charge cycles, then as good as free to run :)

Could always store some separate for emergency uses if required...........just not in the light!
 
In the UK you simply buy the Alkalines that claim to be non-leak ,never caused me a problem and I use loads in my r/c cars.After all the worlds biggest selling battery.
 
D cells mr mcnair, although if used and changed regular they seem to fair better. For potential long duration's in between use, i would recommend NIMH D cells , no leaks and also cheaper in the long run(or short if used a lot).

Of past when used AA or AAA alki cells, these i had no issue with due to the use. Used daily and swapped out regular.................would be a rare thing for them to be sat for any period of time. Now i have swapped these out for loops, just better performance(also in my RC car remotes too) as after the initial cost, good as free to run and remote controls(RC) can be left for long duration's in our house.
 
ven said:
D cells mr mcnair, although if used and changed regular they seem to fair better. For potential long duration's in between use, i would recommend NIMH D cells , no leaks and also cheaper in the long run(or short if used a lot).

Of past when used AA or AAA alki cells, these i had no issue with due to the use. Used daily and swapped out regular.................would be a rare thing for them to be sat for any period of time. Now i have swapped these out for loops, just better performance(also in my RC car remotes too) as after the initial cost, good as free to run and remote controls(RC) can be left for long duration's in our house.
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Common sense is all that is needed.Items that are not in regular use just pop in Eneloop type in.I never have a problem with Alkaline but rest assured I would tell if I did.
 
TinderBox (UK) said:
Never had any Alkaline battery`s leak EVER, Maybe it`s the UK climate.

John.
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Lol. Theories blown. I've had duracells leak in an inova. New cells and only sat on the side in the bedroom so no extremes of temperature
Thankfully it was only an inova

I use duracell rechargeable d cells in my tk70 temporarily until better cells are affordable. No worries at all just leaving them in the light. Alkalines have lost my trust but have loads packed up for back up use. Won't leave them installed though
 
torchsarecool said:
Lol. Theories blown. I've had duracells leak in an inova. New cells and only sat on the side in the bedroom so no extremes of temperature
Thankfully it was only an inova

I use duracell rechargeable d cells in my tk70 temporarily until better cells are affordable. No worries at all just leaving them in the light. Alkalines have lost my trust but have loads packed up for back up use. Won't leave them installed though
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You really should have no leakage problems with Duracell in the UK and you should make a claim for the damage caused.
 
I store my unused battery`s in the bottom of my refrigerator, the oldest have rust spots on the positive and negative ends, but they do not leak, I have 11x Eveready Gold D size marked 2006 most partly used good for emergency, a few D duracell 2011, a couple of maplin d, My newest are 6x Duralocks C size marked 2019 they came with a couple of flashlights i bought.

I have 4 packs of konnoc AA alkaline sealed dated 2007, no leaks

Most likely i don't get leaks as i dont keep alkaline battery`s in my flashlights for months on end, If i am not using a flashlight i remove the battery`s and store them in the refrigerator.

I use rechargeable most of the time these days.

John.
 
I only have a couple of lights that use D cells... a Maglite 2xD and 5xD, with NiteIze LED PR bulbs installed. Both see infrequent use, so I keep AA Eneloops in them, in D-cell adaptor sleeves. A box of Rayovac alkaline D cells in the basement is there for an extended power outage. If/when that happens, I'll put the D cells in the Maglites and have 7 mostly-charged Eneloops freed up to use in my other lights.

Otherwise, the only devices in my house that use alkalines are the thermostats (2xAA), smoke detectors (9v), and a few other handheld electronics that run on 9v batts.
 
I basically switched over everything to NiMH, even the expensive D NiMH cells but are well worth it. I keep a limited supply of D cells as they take up more space and including if i'm not using the NiMH D cells they are basically not worth buying but they still work after 4 months and still provide adequate runtime (the capacity from 80-100% drops pretty rapidly, within 2 months but settles). I used up all the capacity in my alkaline D cell reserve but if i need more i can get some from my dad as he has a stockpile of them. The AA > D adapters work great, but found it a bit annoying having to replace the dead cells sooner (the light only illuminates for 8 hours) and i can get about 10-12 hours out of my D NiMH cells.

I'd keep the alkalines out of any flashlight or device you care about and only use them when you need them and take them out when you are done and there won't be many leakage in the device. I noticed my older alkalines will generally corrode (not leak) and you get white stuff at the negative terminal but better they leak when they are not in any of my devices.
 
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