Best Quality AA to D Cell Adapter?

CyberCT

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I have been using only Eneloop AAs in my flashlights the past year until I finally upgraded to 18650s. So now I have lots of eneloops lying around and some useful D cell powered lanterns like the Rayovac Sportsman Extreme.



I have found some AA to D cell adapters online but reviews are negative in that they are cheaply made and don't always work correctly. There are even some negative reviews of the fitment of the eneloop brand AA to D cell adapter, as the batteries don't always fit correctly. I don't like the idea of one AA in the adapter anyway.



From a little more research here, if the D adapter runs the AA cells in parallel (all +s together, all -s together), rather than in series (- of one cell to + of the next), the parallel config is more ideal correct? So series boosts voltage while parallel boosts capacity?



I would want a good reliable quality three AA to D cell adapter that would run the AAs in a parallel config (if I'm correct in the above). What should I get?
 

Lynx_Arc

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I would want a good reliable quality three AA to D cell adapter that would run the AAs in a parallel config (if I'm correct in the above). What should I get?
I'm sorry but you are out of luck unless you want to buy a custom made one for about ~$25 each in the marketplace. Nobody makes 3AA -> D parallel adapters. There was a company that made 4AA parallel adapters but they quit selling them years ago and they wouldn't fit in many lights because the diameter was larger than a D cell with 4 batteries in it. The best you can do is a cheap 2AA parallel one that can be had on ebay for about $1 each or less in quantity.
 

moderator007

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Lynx Arc, I:fail:
Sorry, they advertised it as 3aa to 1D. Didn't really say but assumed it was parallel. Now I see in one of the pics one battery is turned up side down (series). Glad you where paying attention. :thumbsup:

Good place to go for battery adapter's.
 
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Lynx_Arc

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Lynx Arc, I:fail:
Sorry, they advertised it as 3aa to 1D. Didn't really say but assumed it was paralel. Now I see in one of the pics one battery is turned up side down (series). Glad you where paying attention. :thumbsup:

Good place to go for battery adapter's.
I wish someone would redesign those adapters for parallel use it wouldn't be hard but the problem is no factory would go to that effort unless they would think they could sell 10,000 of them.
 

Lynx_Arc

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Parallel Black Battery Holders Used to be common for protected 14500 cells when there was no LSD cell.
I wouldn't say custom made would be considered "common". For the most part people that are wanting parallel adapters need a maximum of 2 amps of current and use them to replace alkaline D cells which typically cannot supply more than about 1.5 amps at decent runtimes. They could crank out 10,000 of these and get the price down to where they could sell them for less than $1 each in quantity.
 

fivemega

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space-cowboy

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OP was looking for 3AA to D adapters. These are only 2AA but maybe he could use them if he doesn't want to spend the cash for a custom adapter.

Yes, that was my point.

That is the reason I included price in my post.

Most importantly he mentioned that parallel connection will be the best - meaning 1.5V. Only with 3 in parallel (very rare adapter) he can get more capacity - voltage remains the same. So 2 batt. could be an option to consider too.

IMO
Better to buy bunch of cheap 2 batt. adapters, and change them more often then very expensive custom made adapter.

But that is just my opinion. People here spend 200-300 USD easy on flashlights, so paying for custom made adapter make sense as well.
 

moderator007

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Maybe if some one has connections in china they could talk them into making some quality 3 to 5 Amp versions. I feel that there is a high demand for these as alot of people like to stick with AA eneloop's for their builds and adapters for D cell flashlights plus other devices. I really think a thousand would go pretty fast if priced right. We flashaholics like to tell Our friends.
 

Lynx_Arc

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Maybe if some one has connections in china they could talk them into making some quality 3 to 5 Amp versions. I feel that there is a high demand for these as alot of people like to stick with AA eneloop's for their builds and adapters for D cell flashlights plus other devices. I really think a thousand would go pretty fast if priced right. We flashaholics like to tell Our friends.
High demand for manufacturers is in the thousands, I don't think there is such a demand in advance for them but if they would make them the demand would grow to dwarf that as people who get sticker shock on D cell alkalines would consider the adapters and AAs. I don't think 5 amps would be a good starting point but 2-3 amps should suffice as 90% of the people wanting these are using them in place of alkaline D cells which devices that use them rarely even draw 2 amps.
 

moderator007

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High demand for manufacturers is in the thousands, I don't think there is such a demand in advance for them but if they would make them the demand would grow to dwarf that as people who get sticker shock on D cell alkalines would consider the adapters and AAs. I don't think 5 amps would be a good starting point but 2-3 amps should suffice as 90% of the people wanting these are using them in place of alkaline D cells which devices that use them rarely even draw 2 amps.
I agree that the general public would probably never need a adapter to exceed 2 amps. And the majority of sales would probably come from that area. But us flasholics like to build D maglites with xml's that would need a minimum of 3 amps to drive a full current. Some like to build mags with sst-50's at 5 amps. Then there are others who like to fit three to five leds in one mag. To appeal to the flashaholic it would need to be able to handle at least 3 amps. :)
 

Lynx_Arc

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I agree that the general public would probably never need a adapter to exceed 2 amps. And the majority of sales would probably come from that area. But us flasholics like to build D maglites with xml's that would need a minimum of 3 amps to drive a full current. Some like to build mags with sst-50's at 5 amps. Then there are others who like to fit three to five leds in one mag. To appeal to the flashaholic it would need to be able to handle at least 3 amps. :)
I think that the 3AA series adapter sales must be somewhat sluggish and that probably greatly discourages any production of parallel adapters as nobody wants to get stuck with 10,000 of them in a warehouse after they sell about 500 of them and nobody wants them. I think that adapters putting more than 1 battery in parallel is just asking for trouble from ignorant consumers as they just fill them with any AAs putting a dead alkaline in with a freshly charged eneloop and having a meltdown or something.
 
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