Not a common question but where’s the best place (price) to get these and any charger that can do 12 (yes twelve as I plan to get a boombox that runs off 12 D) :party:
You realize a decent NiMH D cell will set you back $15-$20 ea…
Not even! Tenergy D batteries are some of the best you can get. And they only cost around $16 for two at all-battery.com. At this price, why bother with Eneloops in adaptors?
On the other hand, the charger is going to be a little more problematic. I’ve not heard of a 12 bay charger for D cells. Most are four bay. And I think I’ve heard of a charger or two that have eight bays. But for 12 bays, you might have to go with multiple chargers.
Use a bench PSU to charge the batteries. Put all 12 batteries in series and use the constant current setting of the PSU. You will need manually overlook the charging process.
Keep in mind that, not only will you have to monitor the entire charging process. But a good power supply isn’t cheap. Plus, charging NiMH batteries together in parallel or series is NEVER a good idea, as it will ALWAYS overcharge some of your batteries (thus shortening the life). On the other hand, you can buy a decent, budget charger that has everything you need (like independent charging channels) for under $30. Even if you buy two or three, you will probably be doing better than if you buy a good power supply.
A good charger to consider would be the Tenergy TN190. It certainly is ’t the fanciest charger out there. It won’t tell you the capacity of your batteries. But it has all the basics covered, including -dV smart charging, independent channels, and a discharge function for conditioning batteries. And it WILL charge D’s. The cost? About $27.
Plug it in to the wall.
It would be a lot more practical to add a connector to allow the boom box to run off a 4s or 5s LiPo, and use a hobby charger. The battery should easily fit in the space for the 12 D cells, and would be considerably lighter, too.
How often will you go through the batteries? I may pay to buy twice as many batteries and one charger that way you can have a reserve set already charged while you are charging the other set. Otherwise, getting 3 chargers is probably your best bet.
Just run it on alkalines! :)
-Garry
Ive read here on BLF, that those super-cheap Tenergy cells come from warehouse that was ruined during fire, many Tenergy cheapo-cell owners have reported that they dont last long and are hit/miss quality.
12xD questionable quality cells will set you back huge amount of money compared to using 2AA-D/3AA-D adaptors with 2000/2400/2500 LSD NiMh batteries in them.
My 2c.
I use these in my radio. You can get them on ebay cheap. There's room for 2 Eneloops (in parallel) I think I paid less than $5.00 for 8
Veer said,
Where do you find those?
atbglenn said,
2AA-D adaptors on ebay, who has the best deal?
Thanks!
Yeah, these are the cheapest ones, buy them in bulk and they will cost VERY cheap.
They will give you voltage of 1xNiMh and capacity that of those two cells combined.
3AA-> D adapter that is sold by Kaidomain will give you capacity of single cell and voltage that of all three cells combined(1xNiMh x3)
I bought mine well over a year ago from a chinese seller who I can't remember. I'll see if I can find the same or similar deal again
Use “AA D adapter 10” in Ebay search, first results will be for 1AA adapters, then some 2AA adapters will come:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/10pcs-2A-AA-to-D-Size-Cell-Battery-Adaptor-Holder-Case-Converter-Switcher-EP98-/121046974407
Looks like its the cheapest 2AA->D adapter listing if you count per-piece price.
Mixed colors, two sets of 5 items per set:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/2-AA-to-D-Cell-Battery-Plastic-Adaptor-Converter-Holder-Case-2A-Size-5-Color-lot-/360554408235
Those are the same as mine. Great deal!
Added some additional info to the end of my post :D!
First link I posted if the cheapest per-piece offer on Ebay, second link is for two sets, 5 pieces per set, 5 mixed colors:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/2-AA-to-D-Cell-Battery-Plastic-Adaptor-Converter-Holder-Case-2A-Size-5-Color-lot-/360554408235
This one also looks to be cheapest offer per-unit price for colorful adapters.
One thing to consider. If you're using 12 D cells in series. That's 18 volts vs 14.4 volts on eneloops. Just a thought
Heh, good thought :D!
What about using few 3AA Kaidomain adapters to equal the voltage?
Then there would be unequal current draw, right? The 2 paralleled eneloops would provide 4 amps vs 2 amps in the 3 aa D (series) adaptor (thats if you try to mix the 2)