Why are Energizer “D” batteries so weak? To find out the answer, I decided to take one apart and see what was inside. As this picture reveals, inside the “D” battery is a much smaller battery! The Energizer “D” battery is actually just a cheap plastic shell surrounding a much smaller, low-capacity battery similar in size and capacity to an “AA” battery (2500 mAh).
This explains why the Energizer “D” rechargeable battery has such low power capacity to begin with. The company doesn’t even try to make it a high-capacity “D” battery, it seems. They’re filling part of the inside of the battery body with nothing more than cheap plastic and useless air. And how much does Energizer charge for this “D” battery? More than $12 each!
It’s true: These inferior “D” batteries cost around $25 for a pack of two. These are known as “Energizer E2 Rechargeable Batteries, Size D,” rated at 2500 mAh each. (mAh is a measure of how much power is contained in the battery. It’s sort of like the fuel tank in your car. The bigger the number, the more power the battery delivers.)
By comparison, an Energizer AA battery rated at the exact same capacity — 2500 mAh — costs about THREE dollars!
Found by ECA.
All these rechareable batteries act basically the same. No matter how they redesigned them. The newer makes (E2 or NiMH) may charge up a bit faster. Or not discharge so quickly, not even being used. But the rest of their curves pretty much match NiCds. What would be great, especially for this era of digital electronics, is if they had a built-in voltage regulator, in place of the missing battery goop. So those D cells ran at exactly 1.5v, until the very last minute when they shut down cold.
Problem is, most gear that’s super touchy about the voltage level, only use AA and AAA cells. Pretty tough to get a regulator chip inside their cases. And devices like phones, that are designed to use a rechargeable battery pack, already have the regulator. So these weak rechargeable D cells are pretty much a fool’s choice.
Rechargeable cells only put out 1.2 volts because that’s what the chemistry allows. Believe me, if they could make a 1.5v rechargeable cell, they would.
This is a deceptive practice — not everyone has the time or patience to closely examine the mAH ratings of every battery they buy, especially if there are some impatient kids standing by screaming, wanting their toys to work again.
The _real_ D-size cells are rated at over _11000_ mAH, by the way, more than four times the capacity of the fakes. If you’re grabbing some batteries for your flashlight (torch) or lantern for your weekend caving trip, you want to be SURE you get the right ones!
“This is Flight Control to Major Tom, your signal is getting weak!”
There is no explanation necessary. You will continue to buy our products after your protests.
If not, buy the superior Duracell products and recycle.
#27
“Ho boy – if we dissect dvorak.org, what do we find inside? Chris Pirillo?”
Maybe Chris Pirillo on downers or, more likely, half-caff lattes (with a surly twist) from Peet’s.
That guy is Leo Laporte charged on “caffeine”. Hell, they BOTH appear on camera 24/7 and both have small dogs that occasionally enter the office. Wicket and Ozzy are THE SAME DOG.
Mpg, Divx, XviD and the practice that different codecs are put into different containers. Like the batteries, you have to have the right players even though the “thing” inside is the same.
Last week someone “really needed” a “C” battery to run some diagnostic equipment. The local stores were out. I took an AAA battery and wrapped it in masking tape until it would fit in the battery holder. Same thing.
This guy is paying a lot for batteries. $3 for a AA battery? Is he living on a Caribbean island with huge tariffs?
Well Duh! That’s why these adapters are so popular!
http://starbatteries.com/dsibaadforaa.html
Stop buying cheap ass Energizer’s and get yerself some GP’s, last I saw they had D cells at 9000 mAh!
Standard alkaline batteries are much cheaper than NiCd or NiMH and can apparently be recharged up to 10 times. Go to Hammacher Schlemmer’s website and search for “alkaline battery recharger.”
http://www.hammacher.com
Has anyone here tried recharging alkaline batteries?
ALSO, dont use those CHEAP BATTERY CHARGERS, they ruin your batteries. get a SMART charger and you can make them last YEARS AND YEARS..
#41, ‘dro,
I give him 20 years to learn that AA can be had cheaper
And I give you at least that long before you discover you know nothing about batteries, electronics, or physics. Well, you might know enough to turn your DELL Laptop off if the flames from the battery start scorching your legs.
FYI, sometimes size matters for a reason.
# 46 pedro, you are just too funny. I am not sure why, but rampant stupidity in one person is just hilarious.
I know, must people feel sorry for you, but; me, I think your hilarious.
Please post more often, please.
#48, ‘dro,
You still have no idea of the difference between a “D” and “AA” sized batteries and why a designer might choose one over the other. Hell, why not just use a “SR44” to power your little toys?
Energizer NiMH are designed to internally deplet their power over a period of shelf life. The engineer I spoke with said they were designed to be kept on charge. If your going back country camping, better have a solar battery charger or use a different brand. Radio Shack will hold their charge for three months.
Thats a common thing. Even the cheap chinese batteries sold at Harbor Freight are merely AA batteries in a C and D plastic shell. You can feel them just by heft, they weigh as much as a AA.
If they used the whole battery size it would be about 6000Mah.
If you want NiMh batteries that don’t discharge so quickly, look at Sanyo Eneloops.