I have been feeling kind of out of sorts when it comes to preparedness and the blog for awhile now. Just kinda in a funk if you will. I think it has shown in my writing too. I have been doing this whole blogging thing for awhile and this happens sometimes. If it goes on for a short period I just plod forward (even hobbies aren't constantly fun in every way, they just have to even out to be a majority of fun) in the normal fashion. If it goes past that stage which I think it did a couple weeks ago I have to break out of that stagnation by getting back to concrete preparedness. Often for me somehow these stagnation's correspond with getting away from concrete preparedness and towards more conceptual type stuff.
I seem to do best all around when I do stuff and write about it or what I think about it. Of course I enjoy writing about work stuff which interests you guys and analyzing news and fun debates but those are really more of side dishes.
Anyway I felt the need to do something. As it is late and I wasn't feeling THAT motivated it had to be something already lying around the house. I remembered a box full of Eneloop batteries that have been doing nothing. I went and dumped it out on the bed. My intent was to discharge some of the batteries (they come already charged) and then when it gets sunny use my also untested Bruton solar charger to recharge them.
I got to thinking about what stuff I have around that would discharge batteries the fastest. I figured my big d cell Mag Light would be it. That was also a happy coincidence because I also wanted to fiddle with the AA-D spacer/ adapter things I got. In past talks people suggested I just get AA's and spacers/ adapter thingies instead of D sized rechargeable batteries. It made sense as well as being logistically simple and cheap so I went that route. Tossed some AA's into the thingies and put them into the Mag Light and got nothing.
Fiddled with it some more and still nada. The Mag Light would run with 2 normal D batteries and one of these AA's in a spacer but now 2 AA's with spacers and one normal D battery. I thought this was peculiar but not a big deal. I grabbed one of the LED lanterns we keep near the bed for when the power goes out. These things are energy sippers and last about a million hours on 3 D batteries. Put them in and NADA.
I got curious if these batteries were charged at all. Grabbed my electric electric shaver and threw a pair of AA's in. It ran fine which confirmed that they were charged.
This leaves me a bit confused and perturbed. I am confused because I don't understand what the problem is. Honestly I know essentially nothing about electricity or batteries. Am I doing something wrong or does the whole using a spacer/ adapter to have AA's in a D cell item idea just not work? Also about half of our significant battery powered stuff runs on D cells so this is not cool.
Ideas or suggestions?
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9 comments:
Without pictures of the adapter would have to say to check the wiring and metal post placement for good metal to metal contact with the AAs. Is it every adapter or just certain one(s).
Lweson, I will try swapping them out. I am using the Eneloop adapters with their batteries so I would think they'd work. Thanks.
good thing you tried it now, before you neeeded to. one of your spacers is possibly bad, or maybe one of the cells. you need a "battery tester" to find out.
in the mean time, try each battery in the shaver to make sure you don't have a couple of "duds". likewise rotate each spacer, with a "known good" battery through a device in which some of them have worked. (one bad contact can break the whole chain)
by "battery tester" what i really mean is "multimeter". you can get a "digital" one for about four bucks on sale at harbor freight, which will do you fine, until you need something fancier. (keep a spare in your faraday cage) they are not especially difficult to use, and very helpful in trouble-shooting most electrical problems.
these devices have a "display", a function selecting knob, and two "test prods". (one red, one black test lead, each with pointy metal ends).
they test: polarity, "resistance", "current" and "voltage". (which i can explain if you want to know...)
(un-solicited explanation begins here)
in any circuit you need "continuity": a complete path, all the way through,and you need an energy source which is adequate for driving the "load" you wish to operate.
resistance, measured in "ohms", is an indication of how clear the path through your circuit is.
also you need to test your energy sources(batteries, etc.) with a load, in order to know if they can deliver what they should. some battery testers do not adequately load the battery under test, so they are measuring "potential" energy, when what you need is for it to deliver kinetic energy. with a little reworking of your test leads, you can test the battery voltage in the circuit, while it's operating. "voltage" is a measure of potential energy. "current", measured in "ampere(s)", is a measurement of the kinetic energy in an operating circuit.
a source of one "volt" will deliver a current of one "ampere" through a load one "ohm" in resistance.
(end of un-solicited electricity lesson)
No problem. It may be just batteries, but I always test on arrival any new gear or item that I get(my wife calls it playing with my new toy). That way is something does not work right I can return right away. I know you probably thought about this already but what if you needed to use them in an emergency. Just goes to show. there are multiple lessons to be learned from any situation.
Did you tweak the bottom spring on the maglite? If you look it is made for the large bottom of the D batteries not the bottom of the AA battery. Since I use the Eneloops I'm familiar with the spring tweak mod. Some also use a copper penny.
http://www.candlepowerforums.com/vb/showpost.php?p=2937343&postcount=13
The Big LED's need a 4.5 volts to come on (3 * 1.5 volt D cells). As do various multiples of small LED's.
Rechargeable batteries are only 1.25 volts rather than the 1.5 volts of normal batteries, so 3*1.25 = 3.75 = not enough.
Your shaver works in a similar way to normal torch bulbs, less power = slightly slower/dimmer.
LED's are (almost) always either on or off, if there isn't enough power they are off. You can't really dim them like normal bulbs, you get dimming by flashing them on and off faster than your eye can perceive.
You need to be careful with LED torches and rechargeable batteries, as not all of them are compatible.
I think Joseph may be on to something. I have the eneloops and adapters, and I also notice that in some devices without much give in the contacts or spring that the eneloops are longer than the C or D I'm replacing and won't even squeeze into the device length-wise.
Thats what i meant when i said good metal to metal contact :)
...and another thing: most of your D size "rechargables" use a smaller cell(usually a "sub C") inside a plastic case, just like your "spacers" do.
Joseph 11:01, Lweson 10:01 are right about the small bases on the negative terminal causing a problem. (been there, forgot about that)
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