For many years now, the fire service has reminded citizens to change their smoke detector battery when the clocks change. While that is a great reminder for them, we need to take notice ourselves. Change YOUR backup flashlight’s batteries!
Your backup flashlight is really not much different than a smoke detector. It’s something you may not even notice is around, but when you need it, it needs to work without fail (just like your smoke detector.) The unfortunate thing about backup flashlights is that most of us will throw one in the pocket of our gear, and never think much about. When the time comes that we need it, we reach into our pocket, turn it on, and hope or the best. Your backup flashlight needs to be treated like a piece of life safety equipment. While that may sound a bit extreme, it should at least be treated with some consideration. Obviously, we are all comfortable functioning in a zero visibility environment without a problem, but lets save that for when it has to happen, not just because we didn’t maintain our flashlight. Every one of us has had a rechargeable die within moments of it coming out of the charger. We certainly don’t always charge them within the manufacture’s recommendations. An alkaline powered backup light lessens the likelihood of being without light when this occurs. If you don’t have one, GO GET ONE!
We need to change our batteries periodically whether we use the flashlight or not. Changing the batteries once every other month is not a bad idea, or at a minimum, twice a year when the clocks change. If these batteries still have some juice, they can be re-used in less important electronic devices around the house. If nothing else, the battery compartment of your flashlight needs to be opened up and “burped†every now and then. Many of the fire department style flashlights are waterproof for obvious reasons. These flashlights tend to have sealed battery compartments in order to keep water out. An alkaline battery tends to “off gas†over time and ends up chewing the light apart from the inside out like shown in the picture below. Have you ever seen a light not work because of corroded batteries? This is what we’re talking about. The simple fix is just to open the battery compartment from time to time and let everything breathe a bit. Some of the newer or higher-end flashlights have a one-way valve in the battery compartment to prevent this from happening. However, we have on occasion, seen these valves get clogged with fireground debris and have even seen new flashlights ruined because they were not occasionally “burped.â€
Any piece of battery operated equipment can and will fail without warning! This is why we need to have a plan B. With very little effort, it’s quite simple to always have a reliable flashlight on hand, and every one of us has had a moment where a little extra light could have made our jobs a whole lot easier. Work smarter not harder. Let us all take a moment to change OUR battery to ensure our plan B will work for us when needed.
Editorial note: A special thanks goes out to Lt. Rich Taylor and Lt. Brad Grainger from Winter Park (FL) Firehouse 61 for hunting down a broken flashlight and taking these pictures for us. Also, we had another post about different styles of flashlights back in September 2007 written by Lieutenant Walt Lewis from Orlando Fire titled Flashlight Wrap that would be great supplemental reading for this post.
Haaaa you said “Burped” Like DMAN72 needs to be every night!!!! So is the light on my helmet equal a back up light???
But to be honest,, I prefer to make my probe carry all the latex gloves and flashlights along with sixty feet of search line !!!
Thanks brickcity for the out of nowhere shot! Dick. 🙂 Anyway, some baking soda and water, a new set of batteries and that baby will be good as new. Nothing stops a stealthlight! Seriouslyer though, I taught search the other night and Ill repeat here, CARRY A WHOLE BUNCH OF FLASHLIGHTS!!!!!!!!!!!!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nQrdxtWgHbE
reading this reminded me to change my batteries. i also put a wrap on it as well. thanks for the reminder!
i thought everyone did a moring check on all their gear!
Like they said, just change the batteries. Just cause it turns on does not mean it will stay on when you are 6 rooms deep and your main light hits the skids.
Great idea for a reminder, I will use it and definately pass it along to the others at my station.
Just to throw something out there for everyone to thing about when it comes to the lights being mounted on helmets ( and this is not meant as a dig towards anyone that keeps their lights there )I am involved in a lot of RIT training and I think we can all agree that one of the worst things that can happen to us is becoming entangled and running out of air. Believe me when I tell you how much of an entanglement hazard lights mounted to helmets can be, especially those that have the metal or plastic clips that keep the light secure to the brim. For the guys that use the tried and true inner tube trick, they come off very easily once hooked on something, including the inner tube and anything else that was jammed under it, leading us right back to the reason we should be carring a secondary flashlight in our pocket.
Just wanted to throw that out there after reading the question/comment about the helmet light. Again, where ever you keep your lights, making sure they work at all times is the important thing.
I’ve been told lithium batteries don’t leak like alkaline batteries do, so I started using them. I haven’t had on leak yet. They’ll last longer too.
I’m not a firefighter and found the site accidentally via Google’s not-so-perfect search results; but Steve Harris seems to have done a LOT of testing of the different types and brands of batteries, chargers, flashlights, and a lot more.
He has tested a lot of lithium ion batteries and says the only the pre-charged are worth much. The “pre-charged” ones use a superior chemistry. Not too spam anybody but his flashlight, battery and charger recommendations are at the bottom of http://www.Battery1234.com. He raves about the Powerex MH-C800S Eight Cell Smart Charger and eneLoop batteries, although for home use in power outtages. He says the 8 pcs of Premium Tenergy D Size 10,000mAh High Capacity High Rate NiMH Rechargeable Batteries are good and likes the Tenergy T-9688 Super Universal LCD Battery Charger for them.
I had written off rechargeables entirely until I ran across a pod case with him as a guest. He tests a lot of stuff and gives a lot of good info away as a loss leader for his business of selling videos to people with more money than . . . uh-hmmm . . .”experience”.
Re: RT158 November 4th, 2009 10:01 am
The headlights I bought at Lowe’s might be enough to use as a backup. I think they’d all work with the inner tube, at least a bicycle tube, and one of them has an lever-adjustable, long-throw lens. It also is the brightest. The downside is that the battery compartment is separate.
Re: DMAN72 November 2nd, 2009 11:52 am
I’ve used plain old vinegar with good effect on alkaline battery leaks.