Help with buying a battery charger/battery?

Solar chargers are OK, if you have batteries you can leave in the sun for several days to receive a good charge. Most only hold two batteries, so for what your needing, I don't think solar is the way to go. It might work for the flashlight and games, if you have a couple of chargers, and don't need to change batteries in games and lights everyday. Solar charges really slow, it would take days to charge a set of 2 D batteries. As for fans, it won't work. Either stock regular batteries, or buy a couple of 12 auto fans, and hook them up to car batteries. Using the car to recharge them. And solar uses Ni-cad batteries, not niMH, so make sure you get the correct ones.

Well, my post is a bit premature because I am going to test my fan operation today. If it doesn't work, it all goes back. I ffinally found a10" Batttery operated Indoor/Outdoor Fan. Name is O2 Cool. They were $14 each at WalMart.They run on 4 D batteries (not included) and an AC Adapter (included). I had an idea that since 4 D batteries rin it for 72 hours (it has 2 speeds) I should get 8 rechargeable D batteries and a recharger that recharges batteries from size AAA to 9V. The recharger was $20 dollars. The big shock (and they were hard to find and maybe I got ripped off) was that 2 rechargeacle D batteries cost over $12. So now i have spent over $50 for the batteries alone.

I shall let you know whether this is going to work. I realize I won't be recharging batteries on a solor recharger, but we plan to run our generator about 4 hours a day, so I am hoping that will do the trick. Wish me luck.
Rocky

OK, here is my second installment. I tried out one of the fans with the AC adapter. Worked great. Then I found 4 good D betteries and inserted them. Didn't work. Came back in a few minutes, opened the battery case and the 4 batteroes were gone. I couldn't believe it. I thought I was really "loosing it" Too much prepping, not enough $, no room to put the stuff. Came back one again and noticed there were two 4 battery compartments, one on either end of the fan. Sure enough, in 1 compartment were the 4 D batteries, but I needed 4 more. Found them and fan worked great. My my next test was to see if it worked with (gasp) 8 rechargeable D batteries. I tested out the 8 I had bought for my TWO fans (now need all 8 for one fan). Found some needed recharging, so I am doing that. So each fan will require over $50 worth of recyclable batteries (if they even work on this type battery. Guess I will know tomorrow. Next installment coming tomorrow. Probably would be cheaper to buy tons of D batteries and just replace them. If we do use the one fan in each tent 4 hours a day, each set of 8 would give 18 days of fan action. Can't remember what I paid for a pack of 12 D batteries at Costco. If one doesn't factor in the harm to the environment getting rid of all those D batteries, it would probably be a lot cheaper to just use throw away D's.
In bewilderment. Rocky

Rocky, OT: the collapsible toilet you're selling - how stable is it? I've been considering buying one if one of us gets too sick to make it to the bathroom, but am wondering how easy ot would tip over when somebody has the shakes?! Would not look forward to that, especially on carpet. TIA

When I next get to Seattle (6 hours away) I will look for some doller stores in the area. In our little burgs we don't have such a thing. No Costco either, I just go there when I visit family in Seattle.

You are correct I believe. $100 for 16 rechargeable D batteries. About $20 for the recharger.

Good question as to how many times batteries can be re-charged. Would surely have to figure that into my decision to keep the rechargeable system or just for D batteries and toss them (or save for recycling) when they go dead. Anyone have any ideas as to how many times a D Energizer, 2500mAh, 1.2C NiMh battery can be recharged? The manufacturer somehow neglected to give this info on the package.Rocky

Femvet wrote: rocky, am reading this installment with much interest. the batteries at Costco give you only about 10% longer power but cost a whole lot more. I buy mine at Dollar General (4 for $1) or at Big Lots (4 for $.88). If I'm following you correctly, you will have to spend $120 total to run 2 fans. How many times can the batteries be re-charged? I know there is a limit, but am not up to snuff on the details.

    

You might look into rechargables again. They make different types, and the NiMH last much longer than alkaline batteries.  You also should check out the prices at the links I posted above.

Came back one again and noticed there were two 4 battery compartments, one on either end of the fan. Sure enough, in 1 compartment were the 4 D batteries, but I needed 4 more.. . Rocky[/QUOTE wrote: ]     IOMAROTF   You are two funny

Cygnet wrote: I really do not want to not have a radio ... I NEED to know what's going on inthe outside world. Nearby riots? Bad weather coming? Vaccine released? New wave of flu? Food distribution? New laws good or bad? Important stuff I need to know ...

    
Cygnet, have you considered buying one of those crank radios, that doesn't need batteries. I know it might mean an added expense, but it sounds like you mind want to have the peace of mind. We have a small Grundig one, and it works great.

OK, who said we preppers were perfect. Maybe a little compulsive, ya think?. I will admit to that. I have had a few "dear relatives" gently suggest I get checked out for manic-depressive disorder. They think I have gone a little over the top with this. Who knows? I sure as h*(*)*)(*)(*ll don't know.

But thanks to the shelving in our 'carport' I am now able to start sorting, dating, organizing. DH claims he won't eat my practice 2 meals a week (he is a gourmet cook and does all the cooking and shopping around here, lucky me). But I was brought up with & spent most of my married, child-rearing days making the same ground beef casseroles and crock pot stuff my mom did. And we all loved it. I don't think DH has met a casserole he could look at and smile, much less eat.l But I have to practice, esp. since I will be using some different kinds of ingredients. But I wander...back to the fans.

It takes 16.5 hours for 4 D rechargeable cells to charge. Ahem, that is 4 days worth of generator time. Great fans, I will have to admit. But maybe I will throw in the towel, try to get the store to take back my megabucks 8 recyclable D batteries. I had to take all out their packages and try them out, & when they didn't work, start recharging them. Hmm just dawned on me. Would have to buy another $50 worth of batteries and perhaps another charger so I could charrge both fans worth of batteries at the same time. If not, it would take, lets see, 16 days of our 4 hours a day generator time to recharge all 16. Maybe I should have taken the hint when I found rech.D batteries so hard to find, and then so expensive.


In the meantime, as I root through the wall of stuff in my living room that
will soon be sorted, stacked, dated, cataloged, I find 2 Coleman tent fans DH had purchased that work for 16 hours on 1 regular D battery. Remeber, I had only purchased the 8 recyclable batteries (which as we all now painfully realize), runs only 1 fan. Nice fan, BUT. Maybe I try to take back the rec. D's and keep the fans because they were not expensive and just use them when we have juice, with the AD adapter. One will also run nicely on 8 regular D batteries for 72 hours, and it gives a very nice air circulation (it outta!)

Then i can use the Coleman fans in the 2 tents where my DC will or will not be staying. You guys help keep me sane. I feel I am prepping for something that will definitely happen and be awful. I feel I am prepping for something that will never happen and we had better get used to eating a little differently.   

Thanks for listening. I think I will take a nap. Rocky

HappyCamper wrote: Came back one again and noticed there were two 4 battery compartments, one on either end of the fan. Sure enough, in 1 compartment were the 4 D batteries, but I needed 4 more.. . Rocky     IOMAROTF   You are two funny[IMG wrote: ]height=17 alt=Tongue src="http://www.avianflutalk.com/smileys/smiley17.gif" width=17 align=absMiddle>...I can't believe you admitted that to us...Thank you so much for the laugh...I'll have to remember that when I open my fans.  I think I bought the same fan you did at walmart.

    I have a small grundig. It works great. However, I'm dubious about the lifespan of the brushes in the generator and the lifespan of the battery it comes with. I suspect if I was winding it up every day, it'd wear out in a hurry.

Whereas the charger & batteries have no moving parts -- eventually the batteries will wear out, but I suspect the lifespan on them will be a LOT longer than the lifespan on a windup radio. Particularly if I have several sets.

Sam's Club has the best price on rechargeables that I've found, BTW, though they don't seem to have "D" cells.

grace wrote: Cygnet wrote: I really do not want to not have a radio ... I NEED to know what's going on inthe outside world. Nearby riots? Bad weather coming? Vaccine released? New wave of flu? Food distribution? New laws good or bad? Important stuff I need to know ...      Cygnet, have you considered buying one of those crank radios, that doesn't need batteries. I know it might mean an added expense, but it sounds like you mind want to have the peace of mind. We have a small Grundig one, and it works great.

    

Remember, small solar panels, under 1 amp, are just trickle chargers. To charge car type batteries, you need at least 3 amps, which is still a very slow process. To do much of anything, you need at least 10 amps, or 120 watts of power.

Sorry, I wrote my first message and when I tried to get the address for the sites where I purchased the solar charger and the batteries, I lost all the text. 

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