10 AA Battery Holder....

Dudes,

Before Elk I took that power supply idea a step further by soldering the 10 AA's in series and shrink-wrapping them, (like a radio controlled car battery pack).

It works GREAT.

Just another idea for those of you who are handy with a soldering iron, (or have wives with skillz).  Those battery holders don't hold up over time and sometimes a battery will pop out, etc.

What are you guys using for chargers?

Eric's setup would be ideal (and very compact) if the plastidip coating makes it totally waterproof alone without having to put it in another container.

One advantage with using the holders is you can use rechargeables or regular AA batteries.

Both setups have their pros and cons.

http://www.thomasdistributingshop.com/10-Cell-AA-Battery-Holder_p_380-943.html
this one has 6"wire leads.

That is where I purchased mine.  Thanks for posting FindThatFish, I couldn't remember the name of the place to save my life.

Mine didn't come with leads, they had little 9-volt knobby dealies on them - sorry for the lack of technical terms, not my area of expertise.  I then purchased connectors with leads.  I'm happy as it allows me to disconnect the holder from everything else.  I'll post a pic.

Michael

Abdiver, where dis you get that lil container?

Here's the grocery list of the different items I used and places I purchased from.

$20    Batteries (20-2200 Mah @ Fry's) 10 for second set if the first go dead.
$16    Panasonic Battery charger (Fry's)
$4      Battery Holders ( 8 cell & a 2 cell @ Fry's)
$1.66  Loc-n-loc Container (Wallmart 3 pack for $5)
$1      Wire and connectors
$.35    Rubber grommets (Ace hardware) (Applied w/ a dab of marine goop)
$3      Trailer style outside waterproof connection (Autozone)
$2.50  Waterproof In-line fuse Holder (W/ new blade style fuse)(Autozone)

One advantage with using the holders is you can use rechargeables or regular AA batteries.

ChuckE, you could use the battery holder in my setup if you wanted to...  Just solder a trailer connector onto the battery box instead of using those 9volt connectors that always break or corrode.

I made myself a backup pac but haven't had to use it yet.  One 10aa pac lasts two weekends on one charge, easy.  I've never run it out.

For charging I'm using an MRC Superbrain 959 charger, about $50 on ebay I think.  There are probably cheaper charging solutions, but this thing tests the cells and seems really solid, and works off a cigarette lighter too...  charges them in about 10 minutes.  Makes charging a snap.

I am heavily into rc cars so i have tons of batteries laying around. Ill have to solder a 12 pack of sub c batteries up. Ive got a few 4500 mah 7 cell packs that i am going to pull apart.

Now you're talking!  I'm curious to see what you come up with because I know there are some badass, tiny batteries in the RC world.

Keep us posted, ok?

Since im doing this on a budget, here is what i have for now just for test reasons before i buy matched cells. I pulled apart two packs for 13 good 4500 mah 1.2v sub c cells. Which puts me at 15.6 volts. Im going to give them a top off charge on my way to the delta today then record voltage at the end of my trip. I also have a 10 battery pack of aa.s for backup. All connected by dean plugs.

 So I have my new FF, the Hummingbird 565 and need to install a battery system. Seems like the popular set-up is 10 AA's. Would there be a problem using 12 AA's? I went to radio shack and all they had was the 8 and 4 battery trays. I have  every thing I need to put the battery box togehter but don't want to possible burn my FF if I give it to much juice.
 
 Miguel

We use 10 because rechargables only make 1.2V not 1.5V per cell like regular batteries.