I’m not saying it can’t as its clearly in their description. But a single alkaline D cell will probably only allow about 1 amp of discharge at best. Comfychair tested this way back when someone was considering a 4D maglite with a 7135 driver.
For a 1D to work it would have to have a boost driver. Roughly if the cell could give 2 amps you would only see 1 amp or less at the led.
Switch to a 3D or 4D then it becomes more possible to have a usable flashlight.
Also when you ask a Alkaline cell to work hard its capacity drops considerably.
Wow! That was Richard, only a month after joining here! He was once a newb like me! Now, he’s everybody’s favorite source (in USA anyway) for flashlights and parts.
I can’t think of too many 1-D designs. The closest would be one of the single 32650 models, but even then they are not designed primarily to be run at voltages this low. If they have low voltage protection, they flat out won’t run off a single D alkaline. Furthermore, Alkaline resistance, voltage sag, current draw limitations will severely limit performance. Alkaline leaks are a big problem as well, which can increase occurrence in high-draw applications.
I am not sure why, but the 32650 cell size never really caught on. But I would start your search with that, and hopefully you can find one with low voltage capabilities.
Maybe they only states the size of the cell but not the type. It would be good if someone confirmed that and could tell us what output was obtained if án alkaline was used.
A standard alkaline D cell is what capacity? Isn’t it over 10,000 mAH? It’s not like a single AA cell. I know that should be obvious, but whenever we’re talking about single-cell alkaline, we are usually thinking about those small cells that can’t push much. I’m not sure if a single D cell can do 1000 lumens, but I bet with a good driver it can get into the several hundred lumens range.
Edit: just looked and found this test on HKJ site where he tested a NimH D cell and found it could do 10A draw easily. Converting to voltage, you’d have enough to get the 3A needed for 1000lm output from a XPL HI.
I bought a sd4a with xp-l hi in mid-January. It should arrive next month. If you want I’ll make a movie which shows how it works on one D battery. And how long.
The description says D cell and not which type. As I stated before , I dont think its gonna pull more than about a 1 amp from a new alkaline D cell. Thats maybe in the 500ma range to the led. Now a Nimh D cell is a whole different ball game (zebralight sc5 comes to mind). The OP ask about a flashlight that uses D alkaline cells. I for one would love to see the output with a alkaline cell. I have a few 2AA maglite mini’s I cut down on the lathe and made them in to a single cell mini. I used a boost driver and there only pushing about about maybe 100 lumens at best with a AA alkaline. With a Eneloop i’d guess 200 lumen’s or slightly more.
For anyone wondering, the Lumintop SD4A also works with alkaline D cells. To my eyes there seems no difference between output on new alkaline D cell versus fully charged NiMH D cell (output on turbo for the first 30 seconds or so). No surprise, turbo output on 1xD cell is lower than on 4XAA cells. Measuring tailcap current was not easy, my DMM read 2.0-2.7A on turbo with a NiMH D cell.
What a trip down memory lane - I have four of these mil-spec L-shaped flashlights packed away that I've had for 30 - 40 years. Back in the day, I used them extensively to do inspections using the red filter after my eyes were adjusted to darkness. Per your suggestion, I am ordering a LED replacement bulb for one of them and will put it back into service for nostalgia sake!