AA Maglite - Rechargeable Energizer Batteries Stuck!

[allingeneral]

I am posting this story for a customer, as she told it. When she contacted us for a new switch, we sent her one for free so that she could fix her AA Maglite.


I own a forest green Mini-Maglite, an old friend that has come along on countless camping trips. But I was getting tired of having spent batteries to dispose of, so I decided to try some rechargeable batteries made by Energizer. Used to sliding AA batteries in and out of the Maglite’s barrel, I shoved in one of the new rechargeables, only to realize--a second too late--that the rechargeable battery was just a hair too big for the Maglite's barrel. Stuck! Very stuck. I tried every way I could think of (needlenose pliers, duct tape) to pull the battery out, but I'd shoved it in just a little too far, with not enough of the battery left to grip. I asked my husband to help me, and he proceeded to take the flashlight apart, then poke the switch assembly out with a chopstick so he could push the battery out from inside. Nice try, but in the process he broke the little metal side plate off the switch assembly, and the flashlight no longer worked.

Wondering if any kind of repair kit existed, I went to the http://MagliteSales.com website and was thrilled to find a replacement switch assembly repair kit. After receiving a new switch assembly along with instructions and an installation tool, my husband redeemed himself by installing the new replacement for me. (The instructions, though very detailed, daunted me, but it took him just a couple minutes to replace the switch--he says after destroying the flashlight the first time, it was a lot easier to fix it!)

It’s great to have my flashlight back in business again--even though I can’t use my rechargeable batteries, at least not those made by Energizer. I no longer have the packaging, but what I can make out (with a magnifying glass) on the side of the battery is: Energizer Rechargeable 2500 mAh, NH 15-AA, 12V NiMH, HR8. The batteries are silver with green and black printing. I would definitely advise anyone wanting to use rechargeable AA batteries in their Maglite to avoid using this make of battery, and to check very carefully to make sure the batteries will fit easily before jamming them down the barrel!â€

[allingeneral]

It so happens that I have one of these exact same batteries in my hand, and I just tried to put it in a mini maglite and it fit just fine. I took a regular Duracell battery and the Energizer rechargeable and measured them with a digital caliper. Here are the measurements:

Duracell - .553" (553 100ths of an inch diameter)
Energizer NiMH Rechargeable - .560" (560 hundredths of an inch)

From this test, it seems that Maglite has slightly increased the barrel diameter on the mini maglites to accomodate the new larger diameter rechargeable batteries on the market today. The flashlight in the above story is an older model flashlight and therefore would not accomodate the larger battery size.

This hypothesis is exactly that...a hypothesis. I don't have an old model Mini Maglite to measure the internal diameter of the older vs. the newer. I'll do some looking around to see if I can find an answer.