NiMH D cells

Mike Painter

Flashlight Enthusiast
Joined
Sep 16, 2002
Messages
1,863
I've found 10,000 and 12000 Mah NiMH D cells.
I want a 12 volt battery pack that can be belt mounted.
I've also found 2 and 4 cell holders.
Does anyone have any experience with the quality of these batteries or know of another source?
 
Silverfox is currently testing the CTA D cells. The Titanium AA cells that Amondotech sells perform very well, so their 11000 mAh D cells might perform well also.

Sigbjoern
 
Thanks. Their priceing is good but a bit strange. It's cheaper to buy 20 5000 MaH C cells then to buy ten 9000 MaH D cells. The idea of having a spare is very appealing to me.
I wonder if I'm missing something?
 
You're always going to pay a premium for those bleeding edge capacity NiMH cells.

The last NiMH Ds I bought were in a package deal that worked out close to $5 per cell for an 8-pack of 9500mAH Powerizer Ds about 6 months ago. Pretty reasonable.

You'll definately do better by looking around for a mAH to $ sweet spot in a package (bulk) deal. That's been my experience -- unless you absolutely must have the max capacity -- then be prepared to pay.
 
[ QUOTE ]
Lurveleven said:
Whoes pricing are you talking about?

Sigbjoern

[/ QUOTE ]
Amondotech for example $8.50 for the 9000, 3.25 for the 4500. same brand etc. Two sets @ 4500 each for less than one set at 9000.
If this was milk two pints would cost more than one quart.
 
IMO Amondotech does have a very good deal on C cells in general. The price on D cells are not bad either. I remember Amondotech wrote in a forum that the new cells with blue wrapping was of much better quality than the old in silver wrapping, so I would have chosen those instead.

Sigbjoern
 
[ QUOTE ]
BatteryCharger said:
You might be able to get a bunch of AA cells for cheaper than Ds. Often the best deals are on AAs, especially in bulk...(usually well under a dollar each)

[/ QUOTE ]

The price is not the only thing that matters. Depending on your usage, those cheap cells might be wortless. Internal resistance, voltage sag under load, real capacity (not the bogus one from the manufacturer) and percent of bad cells are factors that should count more than the price. Find your intended use and then find a cell that test out good under those conditions.

[ranting]
It is people that do not care about quality, but only goes after the lowest price, that keep Wal Mart alive and get jobs shipped to China.
[/ranting]

Sigbjoern
 
[ranting]
Price matters to most everyone. There are a lot of reasons for shipping jobs to China. The jackboots in all those government agencies, EEOC, OSHA, Dept. of Labor, EPA, IRS, etc. has a lot to do with this. Not to mention high taxes.

If you ever ran your own business, the thought would cross your mind that if you were sane, you would shut it down, and go on welfare. Most people can't imagine the red tape, uncountable forms to fill out monthly, lawsuit threats, etc. that scream out "don't try to earn your own living. Go on welfare and we will take care of you and stop making your life miserable".

The sad fact is businessmen are treated like criminals. The average ignorant foolish envious voter wants it that way, and those awful politicians they vote for are happy to oblige.
[/ranting]
 
I've made two orders in the last twelve months with BatterySpace totaling five different sizes/chemistries. I really like them. Good selection. They have a wide variety of package/bulk deals. The products perform as expected with higher mAh ratings at about half the price of CCrane, where I used to get my cells before I found CPF. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif They also drop-ship without a whole lot of hassle.

EDIT:

I just went to BatterySpace and found that at this time they seem to have no bulk deals on NiMH Ds. That's a first. It may be worth an email to them.
Sorry.
 
[ QUOTE ]
Lurveleven said:
[ QUOTE ]
The price is not the only thing that matters. Depending on your usage, those cheap cells might be wortless. Internal resistance, voltage sag under load, real capacity (not the bogus one from the manufacturer) and percent of bad cells are factors that should count more than the price. Find your intended use and then find a cell that test out good under those conditions.


[/ QUOTE ]

The same is true for D batteries. It's not hard to find quality name brand AAs for very cheap. I bought 30 Duracell NiMh AAs for 60 something cents each about two years ago. I imagine you can find them even cheaper now...
 
The prices are good and the quality seems high from the reviews. It is just *very* unusual in any industry to charge less per unit in smaller volumes for the same thing.

MY concern is, am I missing something?

Am I wrong in assuming that if I can run something for 4 hours on a single large battery can I run it for 2 hours on a battery with 1/2 the capacity?
 
Hello Mike,

D cells seem to be a bit overrated by the manufacturer. I am testing some for Sigbjoern. His Powerex 11000's are coming in at about 9100 mAh and the CTA 12000 are at about 10800 mAh. This is at a 1 amp draw.

I have been playing with the AA to D adapter that came with my La Crosse charger (Jon Burly has these). If your demand is not enough to cause voltage lag on your AA cells, this is a lightweight alternative. Of course the run time is reduced. If you had a light that draws 1 amp, you could put a 2000 mAh AA cell in it and get 1 3/4 hours of run time, or you could go for a 12000 mAh D cell and get 10 hours run time.

Tom
 
Thanks. I'm looking at the LightForce which has 20 - 100 watt bulbs but there is little reason to think I'd use anything but their 30 watt which would draw 2.5 amps.
I've been playing with some C cells and the small size is tempting. Five of them fit into a cell phone case I have like the case was designed for them. Two cases would be used and they have a metal clip as well as both a vertical and horizontal loop.
 
[ QUOTE ]

I just went to BatterySpace and found that at this time they seem to have no bulk deals on NiMH Ds. That's a first. It may be worth an email to them.
Sorry.

[/ QUOTE ]

I noticed Batterspace does offer quantity discount for 8-50 for $6.39 each, which is a pretty good break on their $7.99 price. I have had good luck with their brand AA's and C's.
 
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