A friend availed himself a couple of years back of one of those LED torch
special offers in certain large foreign shops. It was well built apparently
of metal and came with two alkaline batteries that seemed to be lasting for
ever. Till about a week ago, when the torch had switch issues where it would
go to dim mode or sos mode for no reason when switched on.
Opening up the torch revealed a completely corroded heap of left over
batteries that were completely stuck in the torch. Really it was a write
off. so beware, check batteries every month or so, and do not assume that as
its still lighting it has to be fine. He now needs a new torch.
Brian

--
From the Sofa of Brian Gaff Reply address is active

On Mon, 15 Oct 2012 10:06:01 +0100, "Brian Gaff"
wrote:

A friend availed himself a couple of years back of one of those LED torch
special offers in certain large foreign shops. It was well built apparently
of metal and came with two alkaline batteries that seemed to be lasting for
ever. Till about a week ago, when the torch had switch issues where it would
go to dim mode or sos mode for no reason when switched on.
Opening up the torch revealed a completely corroded heap of left over
batteries that were completely stuck in the torch. Really it was a write
off. so beware, check batteries every month or so, and do not assume that as
its still lighting it has to be fine. He now needs a new torch.

The upside to that, is that the same torch is now much cheaper or far
more light output for the same price (or less).

On Mon, 15 Oct 2012 11:54:19 +0100, Grimly Curmudgeon wrote:

On Mon, 15 Oct 2012 10:06:01 +0100, "Brian Gaff"
wrote:

A friend availed himself a couple of years back of one of those LED torch
special offers in certain large foreign shops. It was well built apparently
of metal and came with two alkaline batteries that seemed to be lasting for
ever. Till about a week ago, when the torch had switch issues where it would
go to dim mode or sos mode for no reason when switched on.
Opening up the torch revealed a completely corroded heap of left over
batteries that were completely stuck in the torch. Really it was a write
off. so beware, check batteries every month or so, and do not assume that as
its still lighting it has to be fine. He now needs a new torch.

The upside to that, is that the same torch is now much cheaper or far
more light output for the same price (or less).

Yup - a good bright LED jobby with a v. positive press-switch on the end for
£1, then 25p for the AAA cells...
It's good even when the sun's shining in to the room - illuminates the
corners by the window to a good level.
--
Peter.
The gods will stay away
whilst religions hold sway

On Mon, 15 Oct 2012 10:06:01 +0100, Brian Gaff wrote:
A friend availed himself a couple of years back of one of those LED
torch special offers in certain large foreign shops. It was well built
apparently of metal and came with two alkaline batteries that seemed to
be lasting for ever. Till about a week ago, when the torch had switch
issues where it would go to dim mode or sos mode for no reason when
switched on. Opening up the torch revealed a completely corroded heap of
left over batteries that were completely stuck in the torch.

It seems to be a well-known feature this side of the Pond with Maglites -
particularly ones fitted with Duracells, for some reason. Mag will
replace the whole lot FoC if the batteries are from one of the
manufacturers where there's known to be a potential problem. Advice seems
to be to take the batteries out and store them seperately if the torch
won't be used for long periods, but I've never seen an explanation for
*why* it happens.

I've only ever seen the start of it with any of mine - one of the three
cells had started to swell and there was a little bit of damage to the
interior of the torch casing, but luckily it was at the bottom where it
was easy to deal with.

cheers

Jules