Rechargeable D Cells In 2024

@Sarratt Nice radio. I may be wrong here, however I think it's the following (and I am not a mathematician).

mAh per cell X number of cells in each parallel adapter = total mAh per adapter. Divide that by current draw in mA.

In my case, I'm using single AA to D adapters and Eneloops. Supposedly those have 2000 mAh capacity. My radio draws 40 to 50 mA.

2000 / 50 = 40 hours (in a perfect world)

In your case and I do not know what your radio's power consumption is so I'm just using 50 mA.

2450 x 3 = 7350 mAh per adapter
7350 / 50 = 147 hours (in a perfect world)

From C.Crane's website under General Features: "Runs on included 6V AC Adapter or (4) D batteries. Runs for approx. 175 hours at moderate volume with display light off."
 
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Thanks very much kilogulf59. Your math is far better than mine.
I must have confused the 300 hours with another when I was shopping for the radio.
140 hours (roughly) is far more than I was hoping.
I did see your post about the difficulty in recharging 12 cells ... but I have so many rechargeable AA's that I couldn't justify buying 4 D cell rechargeables just for one device.
Thanks again
 
Aside from cells previously mentioned, has anyone any experience with EBL D cells? These have a claimed 10000 mAh run time and seem reasonably priced.
Yes, I have about equal Tenergy Centura and EBL D (and C) plus some Amazon green & black.

It has been about 5 years and they're all working fine. None have developed high self discharge.
Initial tests, the 10Ah maybe more like 9, and none exceeded their ratings, but all were fairly close to each other and no duds.

I also have a bunch of 3AA parallel adapters, and a couple of 2AA ones. They're fine but there's something nice about actual D cells. At least with a radio you don't have to worry about a little extra contact resistance in the adapters. Sometimes they don't fit as well - more likely to want to pop out on you. I forget which radios, I have a handful of Sangeans with D & C, the Sony ICF-19, plus some no-known-name portables.
 
@WC8KCY my electronics/battery knowledge is limited so I have to ask, why NiCd instead on NiMH?

I did some research and, if I'm interpreting this correctly, it would seem that, aside from cost, NiMH would be better for our use. Both are 1.2 v but the NiMH has double the mAh. Thus my confusion.

To add; I do have a NITECORE New i2 charger that would handle NiCd D cells, now you have me thinking (THAT is a dangerous thing🤔)
Apologies for the belated response...

I went with NiCd due to having several NiCd cells in service that are over 20 years old and still function as-new. I don't have any issues at all with self-discharge, memory, reliability or flaky voltages. With proper care, they just work.

With the exception of a remarkable 25-year-old set of Epson AA NiMH cells, I find that NiMH cells generally don't stand the test of time and start becoming compromised at around 10 years. I'm expecting my recent eneloop acquisitions to last a lot longer, but they don't make D cells, and I've had continuity issues using AA-to-D adapters with this radio. The measured 4200 mAh capacity of the Tenergy D cells is also more than double what a white eneloop AA can store.

I am looking forward to many years of service from the Tenergy NiCd D cells in the radio and my vintage Eveready Commander 2D flashlight.
 
@radellaf thanks for the info. I hear you on the actual correct cell size. If I ever do switch, I'd probably go with Tenergy, though which type (Premium, Centura, the Blue Wrapper, or Lite) I'm not sure of yet. You'd think they'd explain the differences and best applications on their website. If they do, I haven't found it yet.
My old Eneloop AA and AAA cells (at least 10 years old) are going on me, little by little. I firgured it might be age, it happens to us all. I am slowly replacing them. I did try some Amazon (green with black band) cells, back in '18, and they seem to be fine. I believe these are made by Eneloop.

@WC8KCY no problem on the reply, we're just BSin' any-who. I can see your point regarding NiCd over NiMH. As I stated above, my old Eneloop AA and AAA cells (at least 10 years old) are going on me, little by little.
Is that Eveready Commander 2D flashlight stock? I have a couple of old incan lights. One is my Dad's old Eveready Captain 2D. It's in very good condition and I don't leave the batteries in it.
 
[@WC8KCY no problem on the reply, we're just BSin' any-who. I can see your point regarding NiCd over NiMH. As I stated above, my old Eneloop AA and AAA cells (at least 10 years old) are going on me, little by little.
Is that Eveready Commander 2D flashlight stock? I have a couple of old incan lights. One is my Dad's old Eveready Captain 2D. It's in very good condition and I don't leave the batteries in it.
My Commander is a NOS unit, came new-in-box from an eBay seller a couple of years ago, and is all original. With the red-glow lens hood, I like it for walking around town after dark. It fits in hand very nicely and has perfect balance. A great old light, for sure...
 
@WC8KCY sound like a nice light. I've gotten so spoiled with the high powered LED lights that I can't believe we survived using the old incan types.

FWIW, I contacted Tenergy asking if they had a web page explaining the differences between their various battery lines and such. They sent me a link to this video. I thought I'd share it JIC anyone's interested.

 
I still have good 20 year old nicads in service.
They are saft f cells i put in gutted 6v springtops.
They float on solar,and get used heavily camping season.
Often get left on overnight and run to zero.
7 ah and test around 6.7ah@1a
Just the float would destroy nimh.
 
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