DIY – AA and D Sized Dummy Batteries

I’ve had a few people ask me recently about dummy batteries and this got me thinking. I’ve been told since forever that you shouldn’t mix different type of batteries (say lithium 14500’s with your standard alkaline batteries), but I’d never bothered actually sourcing out dummy batteries to take their place. However, I’ve been doing a few commissions on electronic blasters over the past few weeks and while I don’t mind doing the dodgy on mine, I want the work I do for others to be top notch. I therefore went looking for some dummy batteries.

Unfortunately, I couldn’t find any a price even close to reasonable. So what’s the simple solution? Make my own of course! Today we’ll be making both some AA and D sized dummy batteries.

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Tools/Materials needed…

Solder and Iron
Drill and an assortment of bits
AA-D convertor/AAA-AA convertor
Small length of wire
Wire strippers
12.7/9.5mm dowell
Something flat and metal (I used the blade of a knife but just about anything would work here)
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The materials in question

Mark the dowel at the length of a battery.

Then cut.

Drill a small hole through the centre of the dowel, then counter sink a small recess in each end.

Feed some wire through the dowel and cut it to length. We want a little over on each end.

Strip the end of the wire back.

Place a large blob of solder in the small counter suck recess we made earlier, making sure it has a good connection with the stripped end of wire.

While the solder is still hot, flatten it out with your flat metal object.

Insert the dowel into the adaptor case and we’re done! You now have your very own AA dummy battery and D dummy battery.