Originally Posted by
ItsJustMe
Sure they will. Switch to Low Self Discharge NiMH AAs. Eneloops or any of the name brand or house brands that are labelled "pre-charged" - they hold something like 80% of their charge after a year on the shelf.
OP: I have no problems. I use UltraFire protected cells from DX. It's been about 3 years, no problems. I don't use them heavily, mainly my lighting is on an 18650 based pack for the Magicshine light. That I charge twice a week or so. Almost everything I own is now on LiIon of one kind or another. The only time I've had one blow up is when I intentionally shorted one out to see what would happen. It was impressive. I'm going to do it again soon and post the video.
I beg to differ. All my experience has shown that even the new rechargeable AA's won't hold a charge needed to power a strong bike light for more than about a week. 18650's will hold a charge over a span of months. I use both. The difference is quite apparent.