Chemical emergency lights - unreliable?

i have known that they degrade with age for yrs, we used them a lot when i was in the army in the mid 80's and the older they got the fewer of them worked, i wouldnt carry them as my only lite source but if ya only keep them a yr or so they work pretty good i guess, a few yrs ago i found 8-10 of them from the mid 80's i had "put away" and not one of them worked, not suprisingly.
 
Can I still bring them to my X fueled raves? :rolleyes:
 
They are fun to play with.
You can cut them open and the glowing liquid makes great "alien blood" for halloween (make sure you use a cheesecloth to separate the glass from the liquid).
 
I used to buy them but had poor luck with them. Almost never worked. SInce that ime, as mnetioned I check the mfg date. It's harder to find fresh ones at a good price. With how far LED"s have come I don't bother anymore with'em.
 
I replace mine yearly. So far none of the ones i have disposed of have failed to work.

Bitching about 5yo cyalume's not working is like bitching about 5yo batteries not working.
 
I think degradation due to age is not the primary concern. From the article:

As it turned out, if you dropped the package 1.5 meters (4.5 feet), even securely housed in the conduit, the little glass vial inside the Cyalume would break. If you got the angles right, the vial would break from as little as 1 meter (3 feet).
Click to expand...
 
I change em yearly, restock on halloween sales(for about a buck each).

carry 5-6 chem, 3-4 electrical glowsticks(garrity fun-tastick), and a garrity LED light(with '700hrs' of batt life on 3 x aaa)... not to mention to stock of aa and a couple 123a in my bob...

if the chem lights don't work, no big loss.
 
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