Alkaline battery drainage in "turned off" electronics?

Question

With regular alkaline AA or AAA batteries in electronics, do the batteries drain even when the device is off? I have a couple lights for my bike that run on AA and AAA's and I'm wondering if I should take them out when not using them. Thanks for any help!

Answer 1

Many electronics devices don't actually turn off.  It used to be when you turned something off you actually opened the circuit from the batteries.  Today, you just shut down the operation of the unit without necessarily removing the battery voltage from the unit.  This can cause a lot of "dead battery" syndrome.  I'm fairly sure that you actually open the circuit to the battery for your bike lights.  If the batteries don't tend to go dead too frequently, then there's no need to worry.  If you aren't going to use the lights for an extended period of time, then remove the batteries.  Never store something with the batteries in it.  This goes for everything, not just your bike lights.