Substitution battery for a coleman laNtern?

[Dave H]

Thanks for all the info. I picked up a couple of 4 AA battery holders at Radio Shack. Wiring was minimal. I put in 4 Energizer Ulitmate Lithium AAs. So far I have run time tested them at over 4 hours on high and still going strong. I will let you know the final results when the AAs finally give out. But even at 4+ hours I think I have my solution. These laterns will work for a whole evening and more on one set of batteries. Additional batteries can be stored without fear of losing charge even if its 5 years to the next power outage. I am also giving them a couple of extra LED laterns I had sitting around that have run times of up to a week. So they should be set. By the way a side note when I looked at the tech sheet I inadvertenetly looked at the advanced lithium not the ultimate, the ultimated are actually rated 2 AMP not 1.5.

 

[Lynx_Arc]

Thanks for all the info. I picked up a couple of 4 AA battery holders at Radio Shack. Wiring was minimal. I put in 4 Energizer Ulitmate Lithium AAs. So far I have run time tested them at over 4 hours on high and still going strong. I will let you know the final results when the AAs finally give out. But even at 4+ hours I think I have my solution. These laterns will work for a whole evening and more on one set of batteries. Additional batteries can be stored without fear of losing charge even if its 5 years to the next power outage. I am also giving them a couple of extra LED laterns I had sitting around that have run times of up to a week. So they should be set. By the way a side note when I looked at the tech sheet I inadvertenetly looked at the advanced lithium not the ultimate, the ultimated are actually rated 2 AMP not 1.5.

if it is a 6v CFL lantern I doubt it is drawing much over 900ma off the battery on both 6watt tubes. I would guess it is drawing about 400-500ma off one tube. If they use 2 of these I would be tempted to setup one for lithium AAs and the other for alkaline D cells and just leave the D cell one empty but have the D cells nearby in case of a long outage the D cells have 2-3 times the capacity of the lithium AAs and cost 2/3 as much so in effect you are getting 3-5 times the runtime for your dollar vs a chance of leakage that would be negated by keeping the batteries out of the lantern.

 

[Dave H]

Ok the AAs died at 6+ hours. These should serve the purpose. I can load the laterns with the lithium AAs and hand them over. They will be put away until the next outage could be 6 days or 6 years. I know they will be ready to go. As you mentioned there are lots of alternatives however they require more than turning the switch on. I am pretty sure my father in law can change the batteries but I can't guarantee he will have them on hand. Being that these are hardly ever used cost is not much of a factor. Thanks for everyone's input.

 

[zipplet]

Please make sure you disable the charging circuit. Even if you lecture him to not charge it people can be forgetful.

 

[Dave H]

The charger is gone completely.