Hello budgetlightforum,
I am on the lookout for where I can get some good quality D cell batteries for a 2D cell LED maglite.
Alkaline right?.
Nothing much on the bay!.
Amazon?.
I’m in the UK presently.
Appreciated and thanks lots, good day.
Tenergy NiMH cells have a good rep. I have their Centura low self-discharge brand in C size and they perform and hold a charge well. If you don’t need low self discharge cells, their regular NiMH cells are good and a bit cheaper I believe.
Hello and thanks lots,…
I think alkalines would do.
I don’t have a charger for those d cells,
And the light is for an elderly friend.
Thanks again though.
Most brand alkaline D-cells are fine. They are heavy > so expensive to ship.
Just go to whatever is a hardware or dept. store for you and get some Energizer/Ray-O-Vac/Duracell, or UK equivalent. I think you are over thinking this one.
No problem.
There is an alkaline cell ‘shootout’ over on CPF. It’s the better part of a decade old, though, and thus the performance of each brand may no longer be relevant. Here’s the link .
I would go with a name brand that will make it right in the event that they leak and ruin his light (just in case).
Thanks
Are Duracell good?,…as on amazon some complaints of leakages and it’s a known fault in maglites on the web!.
Thanks again
All alkaline cells will leak given enough time sitting. Sometimes they’ll bulge before leaking, but they can, in my experience, leak with no warning. For instance, I have checked the battery in a light only to discover the cells leaked two weeks later. Nowadays I don’t keep alkaline cells in my Mag 2D/3D lights but store them nearby.
I would recommend US-made Duracell over US-made Energizer but since you’d be buying in the UK that may not apply.
I hope I’ve helped you at least somewhat.
Agree, any of them can leak.
Difficult to determine which brand since they are ubiquitous and there are so many different people with different knowledge levels, use levels, and devices they are in it’s about impossible to accurately sort that out.
The advent of LSD NiMh has been a boon. I just about don’t use alkaline cells at all for about anything anymore.
> the light is for an elderly friend.
Then you should buy two sets of <a href=“”NiMH D-cell”“\ - Google Search>slow-discharge NiMH cells
and go by every four or five months and swap in the freshly charged set.
OR, go buy a few cheap plastic D-cell flashlights, with alkalines, which you can throw out when alkaline cells leak.
OR, buy AA-cell flashlights, and use Energizer Lithium primary cells, which last just about forever and never leak.
I’d suggest you go with the AA and Energizer Lithiums — nobody needs a D-cell LED light these days.
And you can still find PR2-type replacement flashlight bulbs with LEDs to replace the incandescents in old flashlights,
these for 2-cells: Dorcy 41-1643 3V Replacement Bulb | Dorcy
these for 3- to 4-cell lights: Dorcy 41-1644 4.5V - 6V LED Replacement Bulb | Dorcy
See, with the old M@gs, incandescent bulbs would go dim yellow fairly quickly as the voltage in the alkaline battery diminished.
That meant that — if the user bothered to check by swiching the light on — they’d notice and change batteries.
With LEDs, the light stays brilliant bright white much, much longer while the alkaline cells degrade — and they degrade by consuming the metal shell from the inside, eating it away. That’s how the battery chemistry works.
I’ve had several LED lights that were still plenty bright — but the alkaline cells inside had already started to leak.
That almost never happens with the old incandescents — they’d light up dim yellow by that point or not at all, when cells leaked.
You’ll pay close to $10 per cell for NiMH D low slow discharge type cells.
I personally have had more leakage problems with Duracell than Energizer alkaline batteries but they can all leak. Pretty well converted to NiMH though except for AA and AAA where I mostly use Ultimate Lithiums in my one and two cell lights.
If you can recharge AA cells, get some AA to D adapters and Ni-MH cells. These will provide good capacity using 2 AA cells per adapter. You can even use primary lithium cells.
http://www.fasttech.com/products/1425/10002008/1143900-2-aa-to-d-size-battery-converters-2-pack
Some chemistry about why alkalines eventually leak:
Many thanks everyone ,
Thing is I don’t have own a NiMh charger and the person is not as fussed.
They told me alkalines are fine with them and I left it at that .
I did try to convert this 93 year old into a flashaholic but she wasn’t having any of it, lol.
So, I think we’re sorted on this one here.
I wanted to get them a zebralight sc600 but she takes quite long to press down on the switch I was thinking this light would always then turn on at low rather than high what she wanted.
Thanks for inputs everyone .
If you give another light.. dont give a zebralight.. (I dont own any though)
but I would suggest just a clicky.. (maybe 2 modes at most....)
on off
(I think the maglite is just a perfect light for him)
maybe there could be a way to put something around the battery? to prevent damaging thelight on the inside?
I have actually though about putting some tape on the inner tube, and some aluminum foil near to positive contact point where the positive side of the front battery touches. So if it leaks, it won`t ruin as much.
Thanks chibiM,…
A good idea ,
Might find a way to do that.
Thanks ,….
I doubt if that would help much, often the cells bulge to the point of jamming themselves in the tube. Putting tape in the tube will just make it jam tighter sooner. Maybe someone could develop a cardboard liner impregnated with a buffering compound to neutralize the corrosive alkaline leakage.
I thought the leakage would "glue" itself to the tube. Didn't think about the cells becoming g bigger.
I have some Kirkland and Duracell cells that are over a decade old that never leaked and I have newer Kirkland and Duracell cells that all leak after a couple years. I think the quality went down sometime in the last 10 or 20 years. I much prefer NiMH and Li-ion.
Trust me your wrong on that, as poor as the light output is on a D cell maglight, at 3am when you have just heard a prowler in your garage or house, there’s nothing more reassuring than having a 6D cell maglight in your hand as you go to investigate
an AA cell torch just does not cut it and unfortunately we have very strict rules on how and what you can use to defend yourself if attacked on your own property
D cells are pretty much available anywhere here in the uk, super markets,newsagents, sweet shops, hardware shops
I coat the inside of mine with silicone paste after I had one leak, now if they leak I can still get the batteries out and it doesn’t eat into the aluminium
> nothing more reassuring than having a 6D cell maglight
This isn’t about you.
You probably want this: Baseball Bat Flashlight | DudeIWantThat.com
But this question thread is about a flashlight for an elderly person, remember?
Once alkalines leak, any light, including your big heavy D-cell light, is just a club.
And you still need a flashlight.
You wouldn’t advise that elderly person to attack some stranger with a club.