A fairly common survivalist practice – setting a lightstick on top of the doorway to a room so its always there if you need it when the power goes out. Nothing special there. But, like all things on a long enough timeline, those lightsticks have an expiration date. Based on my personal experience, I usually ignore that expiration date…as long as the lightsticks were in a cool dry place (like the inside of my house) they should be fine. But, lets test that.
Heck, only 19 years past expiration……….
I did a round up of lightsticks and pulled a few out of the pile to try out. They foil packages were dusty, but everything seemed okay on the inside.
No leaks. Nothing broken. Vials inside the plastic tubes are fine. All looks good. Other than chemical degradation over almost twenty years, there shuldn’t be any reason these shouldn’t work. But, I didnt come all this way for theory. Lets crack these in half and see what does (or does not) happen:
As I 99.99% expected – they work fine. I suppose I should revisit them in a few hours and see how much life they have left in them but for my uses these are strictly short-term illumination devices. I use them to find my way to a real flashlight or lamp, or theyre for marking something.
I ordered some newer ones of Amazon a few days ago and they got here today, so I’ll be replacing these (much) older one. But its nice to know that after sitting in situ for almost two decades they work just fine. YMMV, of course, but I’m confident that these things will last far beyond their prescribed expiration.
I also keep a couple of these in my larger first aid kits, my generator supply box, and anywhere I think I might some lighting in an emergency when nothing else is available. These things are never a first choice, but for a source of light that is explosion-proof, water-proof, wind-proof, and will work when batteries have self depleted ten years ago.good choice. Cheap insurance for about a buck and a half each.
ETA: keep in mind, not all lightsticks are made by the same people. If you buy some Made In China lightsticks versus, say, the actual Cyalume product, you may get different results.
Pretty sure I learned that trick from you.
I velcro mine in place with velcro cordwraps, they don’t move even if the ground does.
Thanks for checking lifespan.
One of these nights, I may crack an older one and time it.
I have had mixed results over the last 40 years. Seems the shelf-life has improved.
Consider placing a cheap but bright LED flashlight behind or near each door of the house. Opportunity cost us periodically checking and replacing batteries; they always seem to spoil a flashlight or two every year.
Following. Light sticks are an underappreciated tool that in it’s low tech format, is often passed over in it’s capabilities by the new whiz bang cool kids products that recharge by USB cord. (Ghee mom, it charges up just like muh phone!) It’s limitations or simplicity is it’s own attribute. EMP proof durable may be a much more important feature as warfare and .gov controlled technology can now render many gadgets useless or a tactical liability. Analog methods of signaling and marking via differing color codes of light sticks may be a more useful capability to those on the ground commanders during skynet levels of spiciness. Have such options as part of your planning and inventory build up. Having lighting options is capabilities, which increases one’s frosty potential.
In my 20+ years in the navy, I never set foot on any ship without a fresh light stick in my pocket. I’ve experienced total electrical failures on more than one ship, and when you’re below decks, you absolutely, positively need a reliable light source.
Thanks for the light tube test, I’ve wondered about their shelf life too.
Good idea of emergency light source always available, especially with no requirement of fresh batteries to work. I have a few of these lightsticks, but can report good results with the glow in the dark products from UVPaqlite. Most of mine are the ‘jerky lights’ (crystals encapsulated in flat heavy plastic) which I hang from various ceiling fans in bedrooms. They cast a soft green light and have been in service over 10 years with no discernable difference in performance. Light goes out – they glow. Easy to remove (I hang chain over one of the ceiling lamp lens screws) in case I need one where I’m going. They are nearly completely weightless and are about as thick as a couple of sheets of paper.so can be rolled very easily.
The neck pendant – I have used in the wilds instead of a flashlight that will ruin your short term night vision. Holding neck cord in hand near the ground, illuminates the path well enough. And for signaling, spinning the pendant rapidly in a circle can be seen from quite a distance.
UVPaqlite products – I can recommend them.
https://www.uvpaqlite.com/
yep…I still have some from my days in the military and they last 20-30 years… they may not glow as long but they still work…
good to know. i bought a new batch the other day as well. i just can’t make myself toss the old ones. one in five of mine didn’t work, though i felt the rest were dimmer than new….the wife and i tried out a 30 year old mountain house, shrimp risotto, the other day. it was a freebie from mh for buying a package deal back then, and it was delicious. the 30 y/o scrambled eggs not so much, yuck.
Getting the idea from here… I am sure that’s where I first saw it, I got light sticks too. They are a great standby and can be “fun” with the kids too.
I also liked the idea that if I need to light up an area such as a dark room/basement or what not where there is no power, I can fire up one of my light sticks and toss them into the area and get a much better view of what’s going on.
Sorry, CZ, but I see no benefit in using these. Given how cheap batteries are, as well as how cheap LED Chinesium flashlights are, depending on the soft, faint light provided by these one-time use devices makes them more “gimmick” than practical.
Both Equalizer and Duracell are guaranteeing a 10-year shelf life on their batteries now. I know for sure that I have lesser quality batteries that are several years old and are still fine, and changing the batteries in flashlights every three years or so is no big deal.
I have a flashlight in every room. Most people don’t require illumination in every room at all once anyway.
Disagree. Lets say you do buy the cheap Chinesium LED flashlight and, to keep the Chineseium theme going, you leave the Chineseium batteries it came with in there. Let, mmmm, fifteen years go by. Will the Chineseium batteries hold their charge for fifteen years? Heck, even name-brand batteries are hit-n-miss when it comes to that. And thats assuming the Chinesium flashlight worked correctly to begin with. So, here it is, fifteen years after you tucked the flashlight from Glorious Peoples Manufactory No. 55 away, and the power goes out…and the cheap batteries, which were already of dubious quality, crapped the bed eight years ago and the interior of the flashlight is now a crusted mess.
And, thats on top of the cost difference. Maybe you can get a suitable Chinesium flashlight, with Chinesium battery, for less than $1.66.
I’m not interested in tucking a Chinesium battery/light combo in a corner and re-visiting it in fifteen years but I do have the confidence that , for what I need them to do, the Cyalume lightsticks are preferable over the Chinesium alternative. YMMV, of course.
and even those duracell/energizers are going to melt down inside the device in a year or two. i’ve had some go in months. one batch went tits up in the package years before the exp. date. they sent me a coupon for 2 bucks off. i sent it back.
I agree with both… Although I never know until i need them if the lightsticks will actuall render light I know they have never leaked on my watch. My Energizers ALWAYS leak. My buddy (enforcer) uses Duracell; THEY always leak, too. Yet I still prefer the battery powered handlights at each door. And no matter how much I keep after them, one or two always manages to get a little corroded. Ten minutes to clean it up, and I’m back in business. But that’s ten minutes ill never get back. I keep a small kit handy to perform such a task at the basement sink. So-called “lunker lights”, a tiny, tiny cyalume version, was my go-to back in the day (mid 80’s). I also have “krill lights”, an electronic version (elecrtoluminescent) i picked up decades ago. Not extremely functional, but it seemed like a good idea at the time and is still cool to look at. YES… batteries destroyed one of them. Regardless, its just a means to get me to a bigger light.
I have entire packages of 2- and 3-year-old Duracells: 9V, AAA, AA, C, and D…every effing one deader than canned tuna. Found that out last November. Glad it wasn’t an emergency or anything.
OTOH, I have 8-year-old lightsticks that fire up on command like they were new.
You get what you pay for.
Major battery companies have outsourced everything, and it’s now all pure chinesium horsesh*t, top to bottom.
Duracell? Ten years my ass. I use a LOT of batteries at work, they go in thermostats and switch-lights in customer’s homes with spares at each. Not a single set of the sealed spares made it a year without leaking. Energizers leaked. Rayovacs leaked. I think the only ones that DIDN’T leak were the Sunbeams, and they were completely dead. And don’t try the “well, which TYPE of Duracell/Energizer did you use” crap, because we tried them all. Alkaline, lithium, standard and industrial lines.
Rechargeable batteries don’t leak. You just need to check them every so often.
If they don’t leak, what are you checking them for? To see if theyre holding a charge?
I have found my Tenergy rechargeables, supposedly the “low self-discharge” type, need to be recharged again fairly often. So I check them every few weeks. Some just don’t cut the mustard. Not a big deal if I’m just watching dogs poop but I don’t want my flashlight winking out when I really need it.
Tip from a deputy some time ago. Attach a house key to one near a bedroom window. If you’re in a situation where you need a first responder to get access to your house without breaking down the door, you can pop the tube and drop it out the window. Easy for them to find in the dark.
“Both Equalizer and Duracell are guaranteeing a 10-year shelf life on their batteries now.” (from Survivorman)
Well, as cool as Duracell’s “warranty” is, I have been in frequent contact with their our-battery-leaked-and-now-your-(x $)-flashlight-is-toast department, over the past year or so. Multiple otherwise quality flashlights (minimag lights, headlamps, etcetera) have been sent to The Flashlight Corral In The Sky due to Duracells crapping out.
Myself? If somebody were to GIVE me a batch of Duracells, I would only hold on to them as long as required to place them in the trash, and no longer.
I have noticed that he more air or puffery the package the more likely it is to work verse a package that is flat. Also- the lighter color sticks seem to work better verse the darker colors like red and blue. My assumption is that is due to the light having to go through the colored plastic? Just my observations.
I pulled some old ones out of an ammo can stored in the truck for years. No light. Lucky for me it wasn’t an emergency. I guess heat kills them (100 degrees plus summers) or they were the cheap ones. Check on your stuff regularly.
I think that freezing is the bigger risk. The vial within the tube freezes and breaks, and since the tube is contained in a foil pouch you don’t notice the light. Then when you go to open the pouch, you get a dead lightstick.
A note on freezing…. many moons ago, i used to put them in the freezer after using them. I would get another few hours of dimmer light the next day sometimes. This only worked for the 12-hour ones, NOT the 1-hour, or 5 minute ultra bright ones. Original cyalume brand, that is.
Had an uncle that worked for the company that developed the Cyalume light sticks. I still remember getting some samples/testers with hand written lot numbers and test information.