"BobK207" wrote in message
ps.com...
Question for the group.............
Has anyone had this experience?
Over the years I have had & have found Maglite flashlights (only 3 & 4
cells) wihere the Duracell batteries have leaked & gotten stuck.
At first I thought it was that the battery spring was too strong but
now with my most recent experience (a 4 cell where the cell nearest the
buld leaked & got stuck)
I'm thinking that the bore in the flashlight allows for insuffficient
clearance for the battery?
Any thoughts on this?
Also since I only have one 4 cell flashlight (there rest are 3 cells) &
I thought the bulbs were bad I wound up using a 3 cell buld in the 4
cell. It's REALLY bright & I like it but the bulb life must be
reduced?
cheers
Bob
I have a 3 cell maglite and it goes years without leaking batteries. This is
not common, unless you have a bad flashlight. There may be an intermittant
or high-resistance short somewhere in your flashlight, that slowly drains
the batteries, as they tend to leak when low or dead, but cell life can be
years without leakage in normal flashlights. I recently popped a "fresh" aa
alkaline battery in a small flashight that had a 1990 expiration date on it,
and it worked like new.

As an aside, I think there are much better flashlights around than the
relatively clunky maglites. For small intense, narrow angle lights, I like
the surefire nitrolon, uses two 3 volt lithium batteries. The flashlight is
only 5 inches long, but comes close to outshining my 3-cell (D) maglite, tho
battery life is short. For general use flashlights with wider beam and
really long battery life, I prefer the led lights such as the lightwave 3000
or 4000 (the latter can be used as a club, as well, like the maglite).