There’s nothing that says you have to have battery-powered devices to help you get through the unexpected crisis, but they sure do make things easier.
When it comes to electronics, there’s a handful of things I keep in the Bag O’ Tricks ™ at all times…flashlights (plural), radio, USB charger, scanner. All of these devices run on batteries and if a crisis occurs, you are definitely going to want to have a spare reload (or three) for your devices.
You do what works for you, but here’s where I’ve landed after much thought and twenty years of practice.
First step is battery compatibility – its the BoT(tm), not a CostCo. I don’t have the room or the back muscles to carry several different battery types. I have zero interest in carrying around a handful AA batteries, 9v batteries, CR123 batteries, AAA batteries, and a couple coin batteries. Try to get all your gear singing from the same battery songbook. This is where your first value judgement, and possibly compromise, is going to have to take place. Let’s say your radios take AA but your flashlight takes CR123. You’ve got three choices at this point:
- Swap out the flashlight for one that takes AA
- Swap out the radio for one that takes CR123
- Carry two different types of batteries
It is entirely possible that, given three ‘Tier One’ pieces of gear, one of them might have to be swapped out for second tier in order to provide battery compatibility. How much are you willing to ‘step down’ in terms of utility in exchange for those streamlined logistics? Fortunately, almost everything has a functional, reliable, usable, quality alternative. Maybe you’re ‘perfect’ flashlight runs on CR123 but you need one that runs on AA…but you hate giving up all the awesome features of that particular CR123 flashlight. Well, look around, there is almost certainly an equivalent one out there that runs on AA.
And, just to be clear, I’m not advocating one type of battery over another. I’m just saying whatever battery you choose, try to stick with all your devices running off that one.
For my BoT(tm), I try to keep stuff as small as possible. Most small devices run on AA (or AAA) batteries and thats what I’ve decided to standardize on for my Bag O’ Tricks(tm). That doesnt mean my other gear doesn’t use other batteries…it just means that everything in my bag, which may be all I have in terms of resupply for the immediate time being, runs off the same battery – AA.
The battery devices I keep in my bag are pretty straightforward: AM/FM pocket radio with earphones, Icom R6 scanner (uses same headphones as AM/FM radio), a couple flashlights, and a USB charger.
The only exception to the ‘one battery’ rule is that sometimes I’ll have a rechargeable device (cell phone, flashlight) that can be recharged through USB. For those, I have a USB charger in my bag that runs off of…you guessed it…AA batteries.
I carry 16 AA batteries in a pair of Maxpedition battery pouches. There are other battery cases on Amazon and you’ll find no shortage of variations on this theme. I came into the Maxpedition ones years ago and never bothered looking for others. The plastic case is available from plenty of other makers, but the cordura pouch from Maxpedition does a nice job of keeping things handy and muffling any rattle. The most important thing is to get a case or carrier that completely isolates the battery from everything else around it and protects the contacts.
Don’t just think you can wrap your batteries with some tape over the contacts, throw them in your bag, and be fine. Bad juju, man. Same for sticking them in a cigar tube, or a cut length of PVC with duct tape over the ends. Your electronics (radio, light, gps, phone, etc.) are all critical pieces of gear. Don’t half-ass it by throwing your batteries in a bag where theyre going to short circuit against each other and be useless to you when you finally need them…assuming they don’t set your bag on fire first.
As for batteries themselves, we all know that at some point the batteries crap the bed and turn your gear into junk. I go with lithium AA batts. They are way more expensive than regular AA’s but a) they leak far far less than regular AA’s, and b) they don’t weaken over time or in temperature extremes the way regular AA’s do. Yup, theyre more expensive…but when I’m navigating my way out of the basement of a building during a blackout I will absolutely not care that they cost several times what the regular batteries cost…I’ll just be relieved they work and didnt puke in my flashlight.
And, by the way, when it comes to flashlights is there any reason not to have them use LED’s? They sip battery power and are far less delicate than the old krypton bulb lights. All my flashlights, except for legacy stuff, are LED these days. And for situations where you want to use batteries sparingly they are absolutely the better choice.
And although it isnt technically a battery, I always carry a USB plug in and one of those octopus-like multi-adaptor USB charging cables. This way, if there’s electricity, I can charge whatever USB device I or someone with me has. This really shines when traveling and need to charge up my phone at the airport so I can screw around on the internet while awaiting my flight.
I like to think that any crisis I get into where I have to rely on what’s in my BoT(tm) will be a short term one and that I’ll be back at my base of operations shortly. But life has a way of throwing curveballs and if I’m stuck living out of my bag, so to speak, for a couple days I have no doubt there will be at least one or two battery changes for some of my gear…so, I carry two 8-packs of AA lithium batteries.
There you go. A glance into the reasoning about whats in the BoT(tm) and why.
I’m happy to have narrowed my required batteries down to six different types. My optics alone take four separate sizes. The scopes will function without batteries, but the NODS, Thermals and Lasers won’t.
Side note on home battery storage. I have quite a few AA and AAA rechargeable for everyday stuff around the house. Store the AA in a Plano 50rd (MTM works too) flip top box. AAA go in 22-250. Pos up for charged, neg up for dead. Lithium and alki stay in factory pkg until needed.
AA goes in 308 50rd boxes
This is how I store my stash of emergency batteries. It works really well.
One is for the rechargeable batteries, the other is for the lithium batteries. The dumb side of me wrote the “NEG up = dead” to remind me which rechargeable are good/bad
Another point that hasn’t been mentioned yet about lithium batteries in the Bag O’ Tricks… weight.
In my experience, lithium batteries are substantially lighter than alkalines. When you’re looking to carry a good supply of them, remember that ounces make pounds, and pounds make pain. So when weight matters, lithium is my go to.
What brand lithium AA cells do you use? I don’t trust Energizer due to multiple costly leaks. I was looking for some lithium cells online and unless I missed something, I only saw Energizer and Chinese made ones that I trust even less. Appreciate your advice!
Project Farm YT channel just did a comparison/review of batteries, both regular and lithium. The best bet (cost/performance) were the PowerOwl lithums. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=efDTP5SEdlo
If you don’t need lithium, my Made In Japan Eneloops have been fantastic over the last 12 years of use. They were sold at CostCo and very inexpensive.
Love Eneloops. But not for full-power situations. We probably have about 50 in use at any one time in remotes, controllers, sensors, etc. where you can get away with low utilization. Not sure if it’s voltage or what, but they won’t drive the valves in the irrigation system; need alkaline or better for that.
But when you can get away with an Eneloop they will last/recharge for….decades? We’ve had some running 16 years now….
I currently use Ladda from Ikea. Allegedly they are rebadged Eneloops. Oldest are 4 years old and work fine. Price point has been climbing lately. so they are no longer the great bargain they once were. Thinking the next batch may come from Tenergy. Good online reviews, supposedly better then Eneloop. Anyone use them
I’ve transitioned over to rechargeables. My flashlights use 18650 li batteries as does my hand held thermal viewer. My thermal weapons sight uses proprietary li rechargeables. They can all be recharged from a hand held power bank or from
the usb port in my truck. I also have a foldable 100w solar charger with usb ports to recharge the power bank or devices. The portable tire inflator and jumpstarter both serve as backup power banks and can be recharged from either the usb port in my truck or the solar panel (slowly!) My phone can be recharged using any of the above methods. My portable am/fm shortwave radio and night vision device still use AA batteries, but a brick of ten lithium AAs will go a long way in those two devices.
I really am missing the flashlights that turn on and off. I don’t need several brightness’s and modes and for Pete’s sake – get rid of that stupid strobe feature on them. Most worthless feature ever put on a civilian flashlight. Ohhh it distracts bad guys – no no it doesn’t. The only thing that LED flashlights aren’t good are in are really smokey environments. The light just gets washed out in the smoke. When I did CERT training those who had LED flashlights and headlamps couldn’t see anything past arms reach inside the smokey rooms, but the old incandescent bulb MagLite 4 cell cut right through it. Heck, even the cheap junk 2 D cell flashlights worked better. Some of the higher end flashlights like the Streamlight 90540 Survivor are designed to cut through smoke. I still keep a old 4 cell maglite by the bed because it works in smoke, can be used easily as a device to break out windows or bust heads.
Having spent a good chunk of the 90’s in asia on business, my guess is some asshole over there got famous for “inventing” that strobe so everyone else copied it. I hate that shit. Clicking thru settings to get to on is such a waste, if someone sold a simple on/off I would buy the hell out of it.
Something nice about 18650 is that you can replace with 3 AAA’s in the little pack, although the AAAs are weaker. The fact that all my remotes use AAA so I have them on hand already, makes them better for me personally than AA’s.
Thanks for the heads up on smoke, have not had to deal with that much other than taking out the trash when california is burning, which I did not notice a problem with but the house to the curb is not far.
Standardizing is smart. No way around it. Wish manufacturers would realize that and build accordingly.
Dan:
What makes you think manufacturers WANT standardization?
They want you to have twelve different types of THEIR batteries at home.
Lets say you used – exclusively – size Z. You might carry 50-75 of them.
If you have twelve sets of 24 batteries, they have got you to spend far more on their products…
Spend smarter, not more.
Ceejay
Up until the mid-80’s military procurement revolution, it seems that ever battery powered device used a different, custom, and very, very expensive battery. My ‘survival’ kit had four different kinds of batteries: The strobe used a custom mercury battery, the survival radio used a custom battery, the seat beacon used a custom battery, and the flashlights used AA or D.
So, if I no longer needed the seat beacon but did need the strobe, I couldn’t swap batteries to make it work.
Grunt stuff was much the same.
Thanks to advice from CZ, I went with mostly AAA (Eneloop), initial cost is high but price per charging cycle is cheap compared to throw aways. Have a solar charger and with the inverter on the truck I can charge off of it too. The Milwaukee tools use the 18v and there is an adapter with a USB port, pretty handy and have a Milwaukee flashlight that will run off one of those batteries also. Just got one of the small Battery Daddy (Ontel brand) storage deals, keeps everything dry and isolated and holds 150 batteries! Not sure I’ll live long enough to use them all but a comfort to know that I will be able to see what I need to shoot plus have extras for family, friends and LMIs.
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0B4576YTZ?ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_fed_asin_title&th=1
Good article and good points. Whats your beleif on using regular batteries vs rechargeables?
Inerestingly, the stuff I see on the internet seems to suggest that rechargeables don’t puke their guts out as much as the non-rechargeables…however, most rechargeables self-discharge at a much higher rate. So, really, kind of a toss up. I will say that for my EDC flashlight I carry in my pocket, I use rechargeables in it and swap them for freshly charged ones every other week just on principle.
When I accompany my wife to garage sales, the going rate for a c or d cell mag lite is $1. I buy it, order a Temu led bulb, assemble, test, batteries out and into deep freeze. The kryptonite bulb goes in the spring for storage. The use probability is low but I do enjoy making something functional out of yesterday’s technology. Real work is AA with rechargeables for things that are used daily, important but not Defcon 1 important.
this guy does a good review of batteries from an engineer’s viewpoint and measures discharge rate, voltage under load, watt hours, etc. The Kirkland brand does very well and is made in the US. He agrees that lithium is the way to go. Skip to the end to see the recharge vs. one use.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=efDTP5SEdlo
BOT posts are always interesting reading. Thanks for all your writing & posts.
Add a 12V to USB car cigarette lighter adapter to your kit, and a pair of wires with crocodile clips. That wins you the ability to tap any 12V battery either through the vehicle’s cigarette lighter socket (if it has one) or directly off the battery. A deep discharge 12V SLA emergency light battery is neither large nor expensive and doesn’t leak or need maintenance.
Add a 12V to USB car cigarette lighter adapter to your kit, and a pair of wires with crocodile clips. That wins you the ability to tap any 12V battery either through the vehicle’s cigarette lighter socket (if it has one) or directly off the battery. A deep discharge 12V SLA emergency light battery is neither large nor expensive and doesn’t leak or need maintenance:
A very good idea! That’s going into my kit.
I’m an elementalist. I try to get the most basic device for my purposes.
For on the go battery storage, I use a plastic travel soap dish (the last ones I bought were under a buck at WalMart, no idea what they are now). AA’s, AAA’s, 123’s, and whatever else I might need in it. Keeps all the batteries standing up in the same direction, protects them, easy to find in the dark, etc. If I needed to, I could fit a couple of C’s in there as well.
Can you talk to us about how you silence your off-the-shelf value based alternative in your pack?
When I was carrying batteries around in a similar way I used cut pieces of bubble wrap or padded envelopes to keep things from rattling around.
Keep it full, or put some padding in – a microfiber towel piece works.
Oddly, I don’t see any mention here of using “battery adapters.” Am I overlooking something? With these plastic devices, AAA batteries can be converted to AA. AA can be adapted to C and D. Using these will simplify the types of batteries to have on hand.
Here’s an example: https://www.amazon.com/s?k=battery+adapters+aa+to+aaa+to+c+to+d&crid=29JPJPSEKT07U&sprefix=C+battery+adapters%2Caps%2C205&ref=nb_sb_ss_ts-doa-p_2_18
I have 3 flashlights and 2 lanterns that call for D batts but I use the 3-AA to D converters in all of them with good results and don’t have to stock but 2 sizes. I also have a variety of of AAA/AA adapters I’ve gotten with various batteries.
BTW, I use envelop for indoor items and lithiums for outdoor. Texas summers are rough on batteries.
The original Eneloop kit pops sent decades ago came with C and D adapters for the AA rechargeables.
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Good catch on such a simple, and overlooked (as far as I’ve seen in a decade of slumming prep sites/groups) piece of gear.
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Battery adapters are being added to prep lists for the fort and the BOL. As for in a BOB, I’d shade toward a different option.
CZ, you’ll forgive a multi-year casual reader’s miss on what exactly your BOT is. I assume something akin to a truck bag or a GHB, a fairly light, minimalist pack to carry your EDC items.
So I’m a little lost on why you would stock so many pounds/kilos/ounces/grams/tons/whatever of spare batteries regularly. I understand the desire to standardize electric requirements overall, but in bag I’m stuck humping, I want the best/right tool in my most important gear set. Wouldn’t coordinating a battery replacement schedule be easier/more practical? Schedule to rotate BOT batteries into household consumption where a failure would be inconvenient not devastating.
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Thanks.
https://www.commanderzero.com/?p=11616
Thanks much. I read that, and the drop-thru linked post on your bag. That looks a lot like its ancestor, the Blackhawk 3-day pack. I’ve got my 28 yo version somewhere around here. Still 100% serviceable.