>Unfortunately, the 'typical' Ni-Cd D-cell it only rated at 1.25
>volts (not 1.5) and about 1.5 to 2 amp-hrs. A 'heavy-duty' Ni-Cd
>D-cell might be rated for about 4 or 5 amp-hrs at 1.25 volts.
>These 'heavy-duty' cell usually cost as much as eight to 10
>dollars EACH and your dew heaters alone will probably suck up
>that much energy in a short time.
>
Just thought I'd throw in my $.02 -
You did say that you planned on using _ALKALINE_ rechargeables. These differ from NiCads in that they approach the 1.5 volts of a standard alkaline much closer. But, if your thinking of the Eveready type, they can only be recharged about 25 times according to their ads, and the charger/batteries are expensive. Herbach & Rademan list commercial d-cell NiCads with a capacity of 3.2 amp hours and soldering tabs for $5.95 ea 1-9 or $5.50 each 10+. This is about double what a normal NiCad or rechargeable alkaline costs, but can be recharged many hundreds of times. If you don't know about them, call at 215-788-5583 for a catalog. And the biggest thing to know about NiCads is to discharge them as completely as possible before recharging otherwise they develop a "memory" and hardly last any time at all before needing to be replaced.
Steve