Why doesn't my (battery-powered) light work in the cold? I've got a cheap LED lamp running on three AAA NiMH batteries which stops working when exposed to near-freezing temperatures; is there a likely reason for this? 




The lamp has been dropped a number of times due to my incorrigible clumsiness and the batteries are a year or two old; could either of these factors play a role?
Batteries, especially most types of rechargeables don't work well in cold conditions. The chemical reaction that powers the electric voltage does needs some temperature to perform as intended. If you then have a consumer load that requires a bigger amount of power, they tend to drain rather quickly since they cannot set free much energy when cold.

You could try with newer batteries, maybe yours are already a bit exhausted or you can try ones that are based on a different cell type.