4AA - 1D @ Big Lots for $3 (Dorcy Frostbrite)

I just picked up a couple of "Dorcy FrostBrite" at Big Lots for $2.99 each. They come with 4 Neverready Heavy Duty batteries, but the real draw was that they use a battery holder that works as a 4AA to 1D adapter.

Doesn't fit in my M*G, but a nice fit in my Kohler-Bright Star 2D and my 70's Chrome RayOVac 3D. I'm running 8 NIMH AA's with a K18 Krypton 7.2V bulb in my 2D KBS and it's pretty cool (or hot as the case may be. Quick check with an amneter says I'm pushing about 9 watts.

I'll bet these holders have more resistance than the custom jobs, but at $3 each, they come with 2 more bodies dying for mods as well as decent (plastic) reflectors and kpr13 bulbs. I've already instaflashed a couple of bulbs by accident, but that's the price of progress.....

is the holder in series or parallel? IE does it have 1.5v or 6v?

6v. check out the dorcy websight for more info, nice light with kpr113? bulb, but nicer with 2 driving a k18 (9.6 v w/ nimh)

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6v.

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Gee, I am glad that I didn't waste my time going to a Big Lots thinking that I was going to get a 4AA - 1D adapter.

I picked up two closeout lights at walmart that were mossy oak by garrity with 4AA-D adapters in them for $2 each. Probably the same adapter.

David Campen - not sure if you're joking or if that's a sarcastic remark, but these are in fact the type of 4AA - 1D adapters that let you run "Super" bulbs.

whats the point of that anyway?...LOL.....who wants to run 4AA's to get 1.5v

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whats the point of that anyway?...LOL.....who wants to run 4AA's to get 1.5v

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Someone who wants to minmize the weight he carries in his pack. My headlamp, hand lamps, radio and GPS all use AA cells. It would be nice to be able to carry a strobe beacon that also operated on AA cells, in this way the AA cells in the strobe could perform double duty as spares for my other equipment.

It's trivial to find adapters that let you use AA's ilo D's, but trickier to find serial adapters which let you use high watt bulbs in ordinary "D" cell lights, hence this posting.

Current draw and runtime limitations aside, there really aren't any advantages to running more than 1 AA as a D.

Actually parallel AA adapters have more uses also. You can put 4 2500 mah AAs in one and have a 10,000mah D cell if your device can hold the size of it, with a fast charger you can charge the batteries in 1 hour or less vs try charging a D nimh cell that fast without an expensive triton charger.
You can also use one or two AAs instead of filling all spaces making the item lighter. Until they make $20 1hr D cell chargers that is about the only way to go.

I would also like to find a cheap source of 4AA to D parallel adapters. I have over 100 nimh AAs and would love to be able to use them in place of D cells. I just orders a few of these http://www.aventrade.com/baad.html, but the price is higher than I like.

I would also like to hear how these cheap series adapters from the Dorcy light work in a high current hot wire application.

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It's trivial to find adapters that let you use AA's ilo D's,

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I would appreciate pointers to parallel 4AA to D cell adapters.

David, see my link above for aventrade. I just ordered from them last week, and they are on the way. Will let you know my impressions when they arrive.

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David, see my link above for aventrade.

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Thanks. The price is fine with me - I only want a few. Actually, I seem to remember seeing that link before around here but I can't remember why I didn't order from them; I think there might have been some negative comments about either fit or workmanship. I look forward to hearing your opinion.

Lynx - agree with your commments, that's why I qualified my statement with "current limitations and runtime aside"

Austin, all you do is throw a couple of these in your 2 D cell flashlight and voila, you're packing 9.6 volts. I replaced the stock kpr2 bulb with a kpr18, going from maybe 1 watt (500 ma @ 2.4v) to about 9 (800 ma @ 9.6v)

Here's another source of 4xaa parallel to 1D
http://www.teamdigital.net/store/customer/product.php?productid=649&cat=187&page=1
It's a little cheaper.

Here's a pile of 1AA to 1D:

http://www.geeks.com/details.asp?invtid=MW2181D-4&cat=GDT

http://shop.store.yahoo.com/greenbatteries-store/battery-adapter.html

http://www.thomas-distributing.com/nc-d-adapters.htm

http://www.starbatteries.com/dsibaadforaa.html


http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=1186996&sku=D135-2112


Cheers

The major problem with 4AA to D of any type is you have tight fit problems with the carriers and batteries in many lights.
You may be better suited with a 3AA to D adapter if you are not sure about your lights diameter. There are a few threads discussing 4AA to D adapter fitting in mag D cell lights.

I received some of the 4AA to D adapters from Aventrade yesterday. My initial impression is not very good. The plastic frame has 4 holes in the top through which the positive battery terminals contact a metal plate. The problem is the holes are small and the plastic frame is too thick to allow a good contact between the battery teminal and the plate. The first battery I inserted didn't make contact at all. I did get it to make contact just by removing and reinserting a few times. I don't know of an easy way to test for contact with all 4 cells loaded. I might try cramming some foil in the holes for a quick and dirty fix. Even if that works, I won't be buying any more of these.

Austin, when I saw your post of purchasing the Aventrade I /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/jpshakehead.gif because I did the same thing 4 months back.

I actually purchased 6x of them to convert from parallel to serial for my Mini FlexMag. I got 1 to work right and 2 scrapped after 5hr of frustration /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/Christo_pull_hair.gif.

I think it's easier building your own adapter than modding these piece of junk.

As for testing resistance, check out the GB thread for the various ways to test them.

Remember using rubbing alcohol to clean the contacts. It might help.

Don't throw them away, they are good as a AA->D adapter for those mods where you just need an extra voltage boost /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif

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It's trivial to find adapters that let you use AA's ilo D's, but trickier to find serial adapters

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OK, so where are these trivial to find parallel 4AA adapters? We know that the aventrade adapters are junk and the teamdigital adapters look to be the same make plus they are shipped from Asia.

Please reread my post. I didn't say "Trivial to find 4AA to 1D parallel adapters with great quality and a killer price that works with any AA cells to fit in any "D" body you choose."

1AA to 1D are everywhere and whether you like them or not, the 4AA-1D parallel are still easier to find if you bother to DAGS. For your purposes it sounds like you'll have to suck it up with the aventrade, or swap out cells more often.

I CHALLENGE YOU TO FIND A 3AA OR 4AA SERIAL ADAPTER OUTSIDE CPF. Far more CPF'ers are looking for serial than parallel adapters and if you'd read the original post all the way through you'd know they were serial. Perhaps I assume too much, so I'll do the math here - 8 nimh in 2 4AA parallel gives me 2.4V. In series it's 9.6V. If I'm running a 7.2V bulb, why would I bother undervolting it by a factor of 3?

30% overvolt? Now that's a spicy meatball.