For the low price of $399 (in 1973) one could have a really bright lantern. And if you didn't mind carrying a motorcycle battery over your shoulder that costed $299 you could be mobile.
6V "Lantern" Battery Lights - History? Anything good?
- Thread starter GarageBoy
- Start date
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Before the LED era I used to have a cheap incandescent 6v lantern in each car, with an alkaline battery (still readily available but cost more than the light). Build quality was uneven so I just threw out the lights that were flakey or became so. It worked.
The carbon-zinc batteries they come with perform poorly in cold weather and have more problems with leakage than the alkaline ones. I would keep the alkaline ones for several years before tossing them and never had a problem with leakage.
I would say that overall it was a more reliable solution than the crap aluminum 3aaa led lights that seem to have saturated the market. Brighter, too.
I got rid of the last of the cheap 6v lanterns when I switched to using Eneloops in everything. Sure, you can use adapters inside adapters but there are better ways.
The carbon-zinc batteries they come with perform poorly in cold weather and have more problems with leakage than the alkaline ones. I would keep the alkaline ones for several years before tossing them and never had a problem with leakage.
I would say that overall it was a more reliable solution than the crap aluminum 3aaa led lights that seem to have saturated the market. Brighter, too.
I got rid of the last of the cheap 6v lanterns when I switched to using Eneloops in everything. Sure, you can use adapters inside adapters but there are better ways.
Geeking out on etsy this evening and came across this fairly typical example of the two-6v-lantern-battery lights I mentioned.
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GarageBoy
Flashlight Enthusiast
Yeah I always saw these 6v lanterns touted for use in emergencies, but the production date and the expiration date on the bottom of them only give you about two-three years
I guess that's why I don't see them on shelves at Home Depot etc anymore
I guess that's why I don't see them on shelves at Home Depot etc anymore
I have one of these but never used it mainly because I rarely use my 6v lantern and when I did need this battery for a project it had self discharged and I didn't have a charger for it. Lead acid batteries are a pain just as nicads and a lot of normal (non LSD) nimh batteries for self discharging. That is why I have 4D alkaleaks in my only remaining 6v lantern and I almost never use it but it is in the garage with a 2AA LED flashlight I just bought (Energizer floating) in case I need them in an outage
Yes the AGM wouldn't make a good long term standby battery but if you where actively using a lantern then the cost of 2 disposable batteries would cover the cost of the AGM quickly.
As for charging 7.2volt "wall wart" AC/DC transformers are easy to find. Put a silicon diode in series and that should drop you really close to but just under the float voltage of 6.8volts.
I used a variable power supply to charge it a few times. I also used it to power a Isotip soldering iron for a short while but pretty much never got use in my only remaining 6V lantern.
For the cost I would rather invest in 18650s instead, gone are the days of needing these batteries in devices. Even C/D cells are more and more being replaced by lithium ion rechargeables.
alpg88
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i used to play around and moded those, i tried most of those 6v lanterns. the best one was dorcy lantern with like 7 in reflector. one time i gutted 6v battery and put 6 nicd subc cells into the 6v case, then i used ROP hO bulb. it was a thrower like i've never seen before. it was outthrowing 35hid, like it was nothing. but it only lasted for about a minute or two. the heat destroyed the reflector.
the only real advantage of those 6v lights, at least most of those, they float.
the only real advantage of those 6v lights, at least most of those, they float.
Floating is nice, sort of why I replaced my 6V lantern with a $10 2AA Energizer floating light that puts out about the same amount of light as it does so when the batteries in it finally die I have a backup light already. I sort of like the light as it has a decent clicky switch in it and uses a chip LED with a deep reflector for decent throw and spill.
alpg88
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i once opened a Duracell 6v battery that had a 2013 date on it, inside there were 4 Duracell D cells dated 2015
http://forum.fonarevka.ru/showpost.php?p=55198&postcount=1
There are essentially 2 6v alkaline battery designs out there the first has 4 D cells the second has 4 F cells. The F cells I believe are essentially the same height as the 6V battery while D cells are considerably shorter and the F cell batteries have larger capacity which makes the battery containing them last considerably longer. Certain brands have the F cells but you would have to research that as to which brands contain them. IMO for the cost of the better batteries a 4D adapter for 6V lantern batteries is a better investment if you plan on using the light a lot as even though there is less capacity in 4D it is more economical and a lot easier to source D cells than 6V batteries these days.
As LEDs got more and more brighter and efficient we see from history they went to 3D cells pretty much skipping the 6V lantern battery format altogether and then second generation lanterns went to 3 or 4AAs even but IMO best to skip these and try and invest in 18650 based lanterns IMO as the greater output, ease of use and longer runtimes plus lighter than 3-4 nimh cells is a win win situation.
Been trying to find out which 6 volt lanterns have the F cells. I know the RAYOVAC 6 v does, but do not believe they are being manufactured by energizer. The 808 c Rayovacs are available on E bay and some vendors but not sure if they are old stock .
The Energizer 529 maybe but not sure .
Does anyone know?
The Energizer 529 maybe but not sure .
Does anyone know?
You could look online to find battery specs and focus on the capacity and weight as F cell 6V types should weigh more I would think and also have more capacity too. I'm not sure why you need the F cell ones vs the D cell ones and as these batteries are getting harder to find in stores most folks are essentially abandoning devices that use them.
You could look online to find battery specs and focus on the capacity and weight as F cell 6V types should weigh more I would think and also have more capacity too. I'm not sure why you need the F cell ones vs the D cell ones and as these batteries are getting harder to find in stores most folks are essentially abandoning devices that use them.
I have tried to get data on the typical alkaline batteries from several sources but have not found specific data about the energizer or Duracell lantern batteries configuration. I even did some run time tests.
I have an old lamp similar to the RAYOVAC lamp in the beginning of this thread and have replaced the bulb with an LED Bayonet socket 6V warm white LED . With this lamp and the new LED bulb he initial current draw is 200ma and the bulb is advertised as 240 lumens. It has been running for 3 days with a HD Eveready carbon Zinc battery and then I switched to a RAVOVAc 808c (F cell) and its been going for 6 days now . Output is about 20% of initial brightness (measured with a Lux meter. and current is 55ma . ( still running today 150 hours).
I ran it earlier with 4 D cells (akaline) and it ran about 3 days and I stopped (output unmeasured). While I could stick with D cells I am wanted to have a several equivalent F cell batteries for backup for extended run time
BTW the RAOVAC 808c battery is 2 lbs , the Energizer and Duracell quite a bit less in weight. I I will at some point run a Energizer lantern battery to see how it compares to the RAYOVAC 808
I have tried to get data on the typical alkaline batteries from several sources but have not found specific data about the energizer or Duracell lantern batteries configuration. I even did some run time tests.
I have an old lamp similar to the RAYOVAC lamp in the beginning of this thread and have replaced the bulb with an LED Bayonet socket 6V warm white LED . With this lamp and the new LED bulb he initial current draw is 200ma and the bulb is advertised as 240 lumens. It has been running for 3 days with a HD Eveready carbon Zinc battery and then I switched to a RAVOVAc 808c (F cell) and its been going for 6 days now . Output is about 20% of initial brightness (measured with a Lux meter. and current is 55ma . ( still running today 150 hours).
I ran it earlier with 4 D cells (akaline) and it ran about 3 days and I stopped (output unmeasured). While I could stick with D cells I am wanted to have a several equivalent F cell batteries for backup for extended run time
BTW the RAOVAC 808c battery is 2 lbs , the Energizer and Duracell quite a bit less in weight. I I will at some point run a Energizer lantern battery to see how it compares to the RAYOVAC 808
Got Lumens?
Flashlight Enthusiast
Wiki lists the lantern spring battery capacities are between 14-26 Ah.
They do list 908AC/C and 908CD/D in the NEDA numbers with seven different Manufacturer designations.
I run a 4 D cell converter using the new rechargeable Lion 1.5V cells.
I'll get some pics together.
They do list 908AC/C and 908CD/D in the NEDA numbers with seven different Manufacturer designations.
I run a 4 D cell converter using the new rechargeable Lion 1.5V cells.
I'll get some pics together.
Thanks will check Wiki
I did get some info from energizer today for Rayovac 808 and energizer 529 lantern battery
Run time with 110 ohm load to 4 volts @50% DC 456 hours rayovac 808 vs 340Hr for the 529 energizer.
TurkishCoffee
Newly Enlightened
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I used to use a Rayovac floating LED lantern with a heavy duty 6V battery in my garage. It was nice to have an absolute beater light, not worried about it falling off my tool bench or getting covered in oil. It lasted me about 2 years of regular use (I'm not sure how many hours but it had to be several dozen). But when the battery finally died it turned out to be more expensive to buy a battery than a new light+battery combo.
A lot of people were doing the same many years ago buying these lanterns with the included heavy duty battery for about $3.50 from walmart. I've seen LED lanterns similarly made that take D cells out there. When I was growing up the 6V lantern was a favorite of my fathers but since too often people left the light on and killed the expensive batteries he ended up going to 2D cell plastic lights overall. I still have one of these large lanterns in use using a 4D adapter and I bought a cheap ebay 6V LED bulb for it warm white tint the beam is brighter now as the batteries in it are about half used up when they finally quit I likely will keep the bulb and switch and toss the lantern itself. I've bought a floating 2AA LED Energizer light for about $8. It is only one mode about 30 lumens just about the same amount of light as the original 6V lantern. One thing you could do if you want to keep using the lantern is invest in a 3V PR base LED bulb for it and buy a 2 cell adapter or several of them and parallel them and hook them up in place of the 6V battery. With LED you don't need such a large battery as the LED bulb can be twice as bright using about 20% of the power so you could get by with 4AA in a 2x2 setup or 4AA using a 6V LED if you wanted to.
alpg88
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idk, those 6v lanterns that use leds instead of bulbs, are actually worse than bulbs, they are not much brighter, since they are sealed, they are driven by relatively low current, and they do not throw as well as bulbs, and blue tint is pretty bad. they may have runtime advantage, but i'm not even sure they do overall, most led 6v lanterns have no regulated drivers, most of the time they only have resistors. so it uses few watts of energy just to heat up a resistor. But unlike bulbs, leds draw becomes smaller and smaller as batteries drain. with bulbs not so much. so leds will run longer but at reduced output
