*grumbles about cheap battery holders*

:scowl: Really, no one needs to read this... I just wanted to vent about cheap plastic battery holders. I have a 3D cell Maglite I modded on the cheap a while back, with a P7, direct drive with alkaline cells... (using their internal resistance to give me about a 1.3A drive current...) Well, I had also bought a cheap driver from DX (which actually works pretty well) but it needs 3.7 to 8.2 volts to work. I decided to (again, on the cheap) build a battery adaptor pack out of three two-AA-cell battery holders, in series, with NIMH to give me 6 NIMH AAs in series, fully charged at just over 7 volts, then I could throw in the driver and really crank up the P7. Everything went together pretty well, after some fitting frustrations. Then came the test. I loaded it up with cells, measured it with my DVOM, and... nothing. No voltage. I tested the rig over and over, at different points, and all I seem to be able to determine is that the springs on the Gnd side of the holders don't have a good connection to the crimped-in grommets that hold them down. I will probably just order some of those 3AA to 1D adaptors from KD, and use a dummy cell in back...



But, seriously. Thats not nearly as fun as building something from scratch. I dont know if these things were damaged from me soldering onto the specifically provided-for, and labeled,solder tabs (I was barely able to hold an iron on them long enough to flow solder before beginning to melt the plastic below...) but it really gripes me. I wish I had a complement of better tools, and funds, that would certainly make it easier for me to engage in this hobby... ugh.



This is really the only hobby I have at the moment, and having it flop on me just gets under my skin. I'll probably have another fresh go at it tomorrow, but I just had to blow off some steam tonight. Please feel free to disregard this post.



-Whitehouse