Rechargeable Size C and D Batteries

[Exolo]

Hello, it's been a long time since I was last active in these forums (almost 10 years now IIRC) but given what I do remember of the community then, I need some assistance in sourcing the following:

Rechargeable Size C Batteries
Rechargeable Size D Batteries
And a moderately intelligent charger that will charge the above batteries as needed

Alternatively, I'd be open to other forms of cell adapters (AA to C or D) as well if those would likely work better.

My use case here is my son's Nerf guns - he has several that absolutely chew threw batteries and rather than spending countless $$$ of money on batteries, I'd rather default to some rechargeable options that I could also utilize in my various Maglites.

Thank you in advance for any assistance.

 

[archimedes]

Hello and welcome to CPF

Your post above has been approved, but thread was moved to the Battery subforum

 

[TwiceFuzed]

I'm ordering these D-cell adapters (3xAA) to use in my maglites along with rechargeable AA eneloops. For C-cells, these look good, they take 4xAAA .

 

[BarryNYC]

Hello and welcome to CPF

Your post above has been approved, but thread was moved to the Battery subforum

Call me confused. I want to follow this thread, but I have no clue where the Battery subforum is. A url would have made life really easy, but even a reference to where the Battery subforum resides would help.

Thanks,

 

[Exolo]

@BarryNYC - I'm guessing it is the Flashlight Electronics Subforum - http://www.candlepowerforums.com/vb/forumdisplay.php?9-Flashlight-Electronics-Batteries-Included

I missed this before as well when I was searching.

 

[Bullzeyebill]

Call me confused. I want to follow this thread, but I have no clue where the Battery subforum is. A url would have made life really easy, but even a reference to where the Battery subforum resides would help.

Thanks,

Go to the Forum index and scroll down to that forum. You are already in that forum. It's called Flashlight Electronics, Batteries Included.

Bill

 

[archimedes]

Glad you were able to find it ... a bit of browsing can sometimes be serendipitous

For future reference, all "top level" forums are listed in bold, here ...

http://www.candlepowerforums.com/vb/forum.php

... and all "subforums" are listed there, as well (in the smaller regular weight font)

 

[fivemega]

Whatever you buy, make sure they are LSD (Low Self Discharge) NiMH batteries. Sometimes they call pre charged. Here are some samples and you can always search elsewhere for better prices.

AA Eneloop

AA Eneloop PRO

Tenergy "C" size

Tenergy "D" size

Maha AA, C, D, Charger

 

[Exolo]

@fivemega - thank you! Do you have a charger to recommend recharging the Tenergys? Those look to be the best option thus far battery wise for what I am looking for.

 

[fmc1]

If you are a Costco member or know someone who is a member check out this thread. It has everything you need to get started and at a great price.


http://www.candlepowerforums.com/vb/showthread.php?439873-eneloop-with-charger-adapter-(Costco)-package

 

[Timothybil]

I like the multiple AA/AAA adapters. One can start with a single cell in each, with the recognized lower capacity. Then, if the concept works in the needed device, multiple cells can be added to each adapter to increase the total capacity.

I have seen mention here in the forums that NiMH rechargeable 'C' and 'D' cells are more likely to just have multiple AA cells inside.

Just to be heretical, given the simple needs of a nerf gun, one could pair a 'C' or 'D' sized Li=Ion cell with an appropriate dummy cell in pairs. Since it is more than likely that the innards of said nerf guns are electromechanical in nature, the slight additional voltage should not cause a problem. Of course, this should only be tried were the cell requirements are for two cells in series. Any more than two, or cells in parallel, and I think the voltage mismatch would be to drastic.

 

[Exolo]

@timothybil - That idea has actually been floated around elsewhere in the Nerf forums (2x Li-Ion cells in series followed by 2x dummy cells in series to complete the circuit) but with many warnings related to not go over the normal/standard voltages (from what I gather, the Nerf motors are not that forgiving when it comes to voltages exceeding the norm).

I'm not certain I want to go that route just yet, wanted to try NiMH rechargeables first (as I have other other uses for them than just the Nerf guns).

Though, in looking at the recommendation, do you have an preferred Li-Ion + dummy cells that I could look into further?

 

[Timothybil]

@timothybil - That idea has actually been floated around elsewhere in the Nerf forums (2x Li-Ion cells in series followed by 2x dummy cells in series to complete the circuit) but with many warnings related to not go over the normal/standard voltages (from what I gather, the Nerf motors are not that forgiving when it comes to voltages exceeding the norm).

I'm not certain I want to go that route just yet, wanted to try NiMH rechargeables first (as I have other other uses for them than just the Nerf guns).

Though, in looking at the recommendation, do you have an preferred Li-Ion + dummy cells that I could look into further?

I have done it with a 10440 and dummy cell in one of my AAA lights, and it seemed to work ok. Also with 14500+dummy in an AA penlight.

You can probably get by with a 3.7 cell in a two cell device, but I don't think I would want to try doing it with a four cell in serial setup. 7.4v is just too far away form 6v for me to be comfortable. I got my dummy cells, both AA and AAA from Ebay and they; seem to work just fine. I mean, how hard is it to make a dummy cell? I just make sure the vendor has a high positive rating and number of sales. So far that has worked for me.

 

[Kurt_Woloch]

I have seen mention here in the forums that NiMH rechargeable 'C' and 'D' cells are more likely to just have multiple AA cells inside.

This would be new to me. As far as I know, the only cells that were made like this were Eneloops which internally had 3 AA's in a D cell and 4 AAA's in a C cell. But those are discontinued as far as I know The other manufacturers either have full-size NiMh cells or stick one smaller cell in each.

Back in the days of NiCd batteries, it was common to see consumer C and D cells which internally were sub-C cells (1.2 to 1.4 Ah) with a plastic shell to bring them up to the required size. Some D NiMh cells might still be like this (this might apply if you see a capacity of 3.5 to 4 Ah for a D cell) while some internally might actually contain a single AA cell (typical capacity of 2.5 Ah). However, I'm not sure about that last one.

 

[MidnightDistortions]

@fivemega - thank you! Do you have a charger to recommend recharging the Tenergys? Those look to be the best option thus far battery wise for what I am looking for.

I use the PowerEx MH-C808M. Pretty expensive but so far it's doing quite well with my D batteries. I also use the C9000 with C/D adapters, but it'll only recharge them at 4,000mA in normal charging mode. My cells take 10,000mAh.

 

[Guitar Guy]

+1 on the PowerEx. I ordered one and just received it today. I haven't used it yet, but I did read lots of reviews and checked out several chargers. Not many do D cells it seems. Glad to hear that yours is performing well, Midnight.

Tenergy makes some different variations of NiMH, depending on your needs. I just ordered Tenergy Centuras for Maglites, because they are LSD (low self discharge), and other Maglite users have spoken highly of them. They also make a slightly higher capacity cell that may be better for some needs.

JT