3/6 D-cell LED camp lantern: lithium primary OK?

Hey folks, my housemate got one of the GE "Enbrighten" LED lanterns. I understand there are different generations of this nameplate - this would be I think the newest, takes 3 or 6 D-cell batteries, has a somewhat bulb-shaped plastic diffuser inside the lantern globe, but it doesn't look like there is a remote phosphor "bulb" inside of the diffuser.

She has six alkaline D-cells in the lantern now. Based on the amount of camping she does, I can't imagine she'll burn through the cells before the middle or end of next summer, given how long the thing is supposed to last with a full complement of cells. So, I'm concerned about leakage.

My question is whether it would be okay to use lithium primary cells in this lantern to prevent leakage. It is an LED lantern and I am concerned that the higher voltage could damage it.

BTW, the lantern itself is well constructed, but I personally do not like it for two reasons. First, the color temperature - it's billed right on the box as "super bright white" which I think means about 3500K. This is better than 5000K or 6500K in a camping lantern (ghastly!) but still cold and unpleasant in my opinion. Second, glare. The bulb-like diffuser is just not big enough to prevent glare, especially at the medium and high setting. I end up hiding the lantern behind 2.5 gallon plastic water containers or wrapping a paper towel around the globe to diffuse the light further.

I'm not aware of any D size lithium primaries from Energizer, or any quality maker, but that being said, alkalines are fine if they're new and why doesn't she just keep the batteries out of the lantern until needed?

If have the GE WeatherMatic (?) that uses either 3 D batteries, or 3 AA batteries in a pinch. I'm in the middle of hurricane season and just leave the batteries out, until I need the lanterns (have the Streamlight Siege 3D lantern, as well as a Coleman 6v SLA rechargeable jobbie).

Chris

Oh wow, guess I just assumed there were lithium primaries of all sizes.

It's definitely easy to keep the batteries out... if you remember to do it. I'm mainly asking because just with how things go around here, there's a definite chance it would be forgotten :sigh:

You can get D-sized NiMH, but the cost for the batteries and a charger is fairly steep.

Or you can use regular NiMH AA's and use D-sized spacers. Runtime will be significantly affected, and possibly also output on high if only using 3 batteries, but it should work.

"Bright white" is not a consistently defined term. Fluorescent bulb manufacturers usually use the term for a color temperature in between daylight (natural white, cool white) and incandescent (soft white), so about 4000K. That doesn't mean everybody does, and I could definitely see a manufacturer using the term for a light that seems piercingly bright, which cool white tints usually do.

Your Alkaline D cells sound perfect for this lantern. Try using some Glad Wrap Press and Seal over the lantern envelope, or some other wrap.

Bill

Just for curiosity, how big is this lantern, if it can hold 6 D cells?

I wouldn't store anything long term with alkalines installed.....best to store alkalines separately. If you really need to keep some cells in it, I would suggest some Energizer L91 ultimate lithiums in AA to D apapters. The L91's won't leak and have a super long shelf life. AA to D adapters also give you the option of using AA Eneloops; I use my rayovac indestructible lantern with enellops in 3AA to D parallel adapters and get pretty good run time with 3 AA's in each adapter (you can also run them with 1 or 2 cells in each if you want).

xxo said:

I wouldn't store anything long term with alkalines installed.....best to store alkalines separately. If you really need to keep some cells in it, I would suggest some Energizer L91 ultimate lithiums in AA to D apapters. The L91's won't leak and have a super long shelf life. AA to D adapters also give you the option of using AA Eneloops; I use my rayovac indestructible lantern with enellops in 3AA to D parallel adapters and get pretty good run time with 3 AA's in each adapter (you can also run them with 1 or 2 cells in each if you want).

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That's the advantage of parallel AA to D adapters. In a case like this where the lantern will mainly be in storage, a single AA in each of three adapters will be enough to light up the lantern for a shorter period of time. That will give one time to get the other cells out of storage and ready to place into the lantern to obtain the benefit of the longer run time the D cells provide. It also points up why one should have an EDC with one all the time. For the time it takes to change the cells in the lantern, another light would make it possible to see what one was doing and speed up the process. Even a Nitecore Tube or a fauxton fastened to the lantern or stored with the D cells so it is always available would be sufficient.

How are the cells wired? Is it two sets of three cells in series or three sets of two cells in series? If it is 3S2P, then one could put one Li-FePO4 cell in each of two adapters and a dummy cell in the third. The slight over voltage from fresh LiFePO4 cells should not be big enough to damage the LED(s) even if they are direct drive. I'm not sure I would do that with regular Li-Ion cells though.