Why no rechargable "C" or "D"?

Meadmaker

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Meadmaker
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What is it with rechargable batteries? I love rechargeables, but they are only available in AA and AAA sizes.

I just got back from a camping trip, and we burned through a lot of C and D cells from flashlights and lanterns. I wish I could pop them in the charger and reuse them, but no. Into the landfill with them.

I'm guessing that there is a real reason having to do with crystallization or something that makes it uneconomical to push that amount of current through a rechargable battery. Is there? I can't imagine that there is no consumer preference for those batteries.
 
Well that's just weird. I've never seen them on shelves. They aren't outrageously expensive, but I guess most people just don't need that many batteries. Toys and cameras run on AA and AAA, and I guess that's what people use them for.

Still, I've been in stores with huge racks of all sorts of batteries, and have never seen a "C" or "D" rechargeable.
 
The outfit from which I've bought my AA and AAA NiMH batteries also sells C and D sizes of NiMH: Thomas Distributing.

They have other stuff, too, such as 9 V size (but 9.6 V) NiMH units. I've never had an application that would have benefited from a rechargeable 9V, but hey, it's there if I ever do.
 
While in China they were giving away adapters to convert AA to C and D size, so I only buy AA and AAA bateries.

A quick Google found these:





There are probably more and cheaper ones if you have a look. (The Chinese ones were just a clear plastic shell that clipped together. Works fine)

.
 
Meadmaker said:
I'm guessing that there is a real reason having to do with crystallization or something that makes it uneconomical to push that amount of current through a rechargable battery. Is there? I can't imagine that there is no consumer preference for those batteries.
Click to expand...

Actually, I think "no consumer preference" is pretty spot-on. Sales of large batteries (C/D) have been declining for years, since modern electronics is getting sufficiently power-efficient. The real market for C/D batteries twenty years ago was the boombox/ghetto blaster portable stereo, which often took 8-10 batteries to drive. Today everyone has MP3 players that run off watch batteries....
 
???

Radio Shack stores have carried rechargable batteries for decades, in sizes ranging from AAA to D (plus 9v rectangular). Sometimes you can find 6v lantern batteries too. Been using the same four high-cap NiCd Ds for my flashlight for many many years, with excellent results. [edit] And heaps more of all sizes; since the late 1970s I've not bought many primary cells.
 
I just got back from a camping trip, which is what prompted my battery question. Before leaving, I put disposable D's in all the lanterns, and figured that the stores would sell the rechargeables if they existed and worked well.
After posting the thread, and seeing that they are available, I've had the chance to look in several camp stores. No D or C chargers. No D or C rechargeables.

I guess other campers don't use as much lantern light as I do. I'll be buying some by mail before next season.
 
By mail? There are no Radio Shacks in Detroit? Or are their prices too steep? You might be able to find them cheaper. I recommend NiMH cells. They cost more than NiCd but they contain no cadmium.

[edit] Note that battery adapters will let you physically fit a smaller cell into the space meant for a bigger one, but you get far less charge capacity from a AAA or AA than a C or D.
 
I used to have a number of rechargeable D's and C's. Twenty years ago or so they were quite common. I had a charger permanently plugged in and swapped flashlight batteries regularly. Rechargeables are at their best in high current applications that don't require long storage in charged state. Electronic toys that go through a set of batteries in a day cry out for them. When my kids were little and had remote control cars and the like, we also had a whole bunch of C cells for that. Flashlights are a less suitable use if the flashlight isn't in daily use, because the batteries never seem to be charged up when you need them.

Coincidentally, about an hour before spotting this thread, I was cleaning out a shelf in my basement and threw out a little cache of long-dead Nicad D cells that I don't use any more. Some of the decline probably is consumer preference. Recharging is a nuisance, people forget to do it, the chargers can go awry and spoil a bunch of batteries, and while there's a good argument for doing it anyway, disposability is more convenient, especially now that the market seems to be flooded with off-brand alkalines. But some may also depend on what kinds of batteries are needed these days. Things have gotten smaller and more efficient.

The first cost of larger rechargeables was pretty high, too, and I suspect that most people are unwilling to spend that much on flashlight batteries, especially now that cheap LED flashlights have become abundant.
 
Ryan O'Dine said:
If you REALLY want to go green, you might try solar chargers.

Some even do C and D sizes.
Click to expand...

Admittedly, they've probably improved in the 8 years or so since I tried them, but my experience with solar chargers is that they take days to charge anything larger than AA's. Not useful for the camping trip I was on.
 
I was at the dollar store today and they had self-powered LED flashlights for a buck. Shake it for ten seconds and it stays lit for something like 15 minutes. The days of big batteries are numbered, I think.

I passed on those but could not resist for $1.79 a combination flexible LED penlight and laser pointer, complete with button cells. I mean, for $1.79, a pocket laser that makes a point you can see a quarter mile away! Gee Whiz!
 
Lithium cells are nominally 3.6 or 3.7 volts per cell rather than the 1.2 volts of nickle based cells (and 1.5 for alkaline). There aren't many consumer items (yet) that take such cells and if they were readily available in the same package sizes as the 1.2 volt sort, then people would be destroying their electronic gadgets all the time by inserting the wrong voltage cells.

Lithium cells are ruined if discharged below 3 volts per cell, and require a special charger to safely recharge them; when mishandled, they pose a significant fire risk.
 
Meadmaker said:
I'm guessing that there is a real reason having to do with crystallization or something that makes it uneconomical to push that amount of current through a rechargable battery. Is there? I can't imagine that there is no consumer preference for those batteries.
Click to expand...
There are rechargeable cells available for items which run on D cells, but they're "rechargeable battery packs" which come in the size and shape of multiple D cells, fit a specific device, and are usually manufactured by, or under contract for, the manufacturer of that particular device. One example is the Maglites used by just about every police force in North America; they look like standard 5 D cell Maglites, but they contain a rechargeable battery pack (the size and shape of 5 D cells), which can be recharged either by placing the flashlight into a cradle charger, or plugging a charger into the flashlight itself. The pack is removable, but really only to allow it to be replaced when it loses its capacity to hold a charge.

bruto said:
I was at the dollar store today and they had self-powered LED flashlights for a buck. Shake it for ten seconds and it stays lit for something like 15 minutes. The days of big batteries are numbered, I think.
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I'm not so sure. I have a Nightstar CS, and though it indisputably rocks for most purposes for which you might ordinarily need a flashlight, it just can't put out the searchlight-like beam a heavy Maglite can, no matter how much you shake it.
 
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ceptimus said:
Lithium cells are nominally 3.6 or 3.7 volts per cell rather than the 1.2 volts of nickle based cells (and 1.5 for alkaline). There aren't many consumer items (yet) that take such cells and if they were readily available in the same package sizes as the 1.2 volt sort, then people would be destroying their electronic gadgets all the time by inserting the wrong voltage cells.

Lithium cells are ruined if discharged below 3 volts per cell, and require a special charger to safely recharge them; when mishandled, they pose a significant fire risk.
Click to expand...

But most cellphones have Li-Ion batteries, while most wireless phones have NiMH. You'd think they'd unify the technology.
 
Inquisitive Raven said:
Admittedly, they've probably improved in the 8 years or so since I tried them, but my experience with solar chargers is that they take days to charge anything larger than AA's. Not useful for the camping trip I was on.
Click to expand...

I had a solar charger just recently. In a week in the south of France in the middle of summer I never managed to get more than a couple of minutes of very weak light from a torch. If they have improved then I'm obviously looking in the wrong place.
 
Cuddles said:
Inquisitive Raven said:
Admittedly, they've probably improved in the 8 years or so since I tried them, but my experience with solar chargers is that they take days to charge anything larger than AA's. Not useful for the camping trip I was on.
Click to expand...
I had a solar charger just recently. In a week in the south of France in the middle of summer I never managed to get more than a couple of minutes of very weak light from a torch. If they have improved then I'm obviously looking in the wrong place.
Click to expand...

Maybe you shouldn't be looking in "A magical land full of pink fluffy sheeps and bunnies" ;)

Actually, I'll admit I never tried the solar chargers I linked to (I'm an alkaline man mostly, and the chargers only do NIMH and NiCad). They apparently require a full 10 hours of light. So, yeah, it could take several days.

Still, disappointing to hear they don't work better.
 
I think the main reason that rechargeable C and D cells haven't caught on is that they simply don't have the power capacity and longevity of the better disposables. Electronics devices that use AA batteries are typically low-power-drain, so rechargeables will last a useful amount of time. Things like lanterns/flashlights are high-power-drain and will chew through rechargeables at a much higher rate than disposables. Not to mention that rechargeables leak current much more quickly over time than disposables degrade, so are unsuitable for emergency devices.
 
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