Check

[hobo]

Had bonfire night at the allotment tonight. One of my u-tube lanterns failed me after 30 mins
Should have lasted 2 hours 30 mins on a full charge.
So....in future, rather than just regularly recharging I realise I need to actually check the lanterns are functioning properly! Ditto my other electrical gear.

Happily, we did have 4 other lanterns, baked potatoes, veggie hot dogs, cider toffee and, of course, sparklers!

[Arzosah]

I am bad, bad, bad at this I had a spell of 2 or 3 months when I bought low level kit constantly - solar phone recharger, solar garden lights, solar radio, wind up radio) and I haven't done nearly enough at checking them and charging them. Weekend job.

[Yorkshire Andy]

Had bonfire night at the allotment tonight. One of my u-tube lanterns failed me after 30 mins
Should have lasted 2 hours 30 mins on a full charge.
So....in future, rather than just regularly recharging I realise I need to actually check the lanterns are functioning properly! Ditto my other electrical gear.

Happily, we did have 4 other lanterns, baked potatoes, veggie hot dogs, cider toffee and, of course, sparklers!

If it's a sealed lead acid battery and its more than 2 to 3 years old its probably past it's best with a bit. Of electrical savvy they are not normally hard to replace same goes for nicad

[hobo]

Thanks Andy. I aim to replace the u-tube ones (as you mentioned - they are sealed lead acid batteries) with windup LED lanterns. Then only the rechargeable batteries will need replacing at the end of their lives.

[Yorkshire Andy]

Watch the cheap wind up ones with rechargeable lithium cells if they deep discharge through use or storage they are buggered I binned a wind up radio for this reason the other week

More expensive units (read better batteries ) have a discharge / overcharge protection Circuit but still must be charged regular and kept in a cool place to prevent discharge from damaging the cell

In the radio I binned it had a 3v li cell about the size of a £1 coin

[Alan7]

I have had a lot of battery's die through not recharging over the years, so I have made a list of all my rechargeable equipment and battery's in Excel with months for the year then printed it , I then recharge everything every month and just tick it off so I know everything is charged and ready for use.