[mikethedruid]

To rebuild the guts of the battery I decided to use 41 alkaline AA cells and 6 alkaline D cells. The assembly is pretty straight forward. We will begin with the B battery section. We need to connect the cells in series, so they need to alternate polarity. I used a hot glue gun to attach the batteries to each other.

[Image: https://38.media.tumblr.com/fe4389d64fe2...4_1280.jpg]

Fortunately, I have a straight edge to the base of the shelves on my workbench. This made gluing up the batteries straight and true much easier.

[Image: https://38.media.tumblr.com/f8742d926754...3_1280.jpg]

Now, begin to glue up pairs of batteries going the same direction, and then glue these pairs so that they alternate in direction as shown below, forming the first two rows of the B battery.

[Image: https://38.media.tumblr.com/d98b0c3404cb...2_1280.jpg]

Continue gluing the pairs together until you have 13 pairs, then add the 14th to the top row, reversed from the one before it. Glue on the last row as shown in the following picture, so that one can continue the series connection easily.

[Image: https://38.media.tumblr.com/f4131c70087d...1_1280.jpg]

Next, glue 3 D cells together, all in the same direction as shown below. Make 2 of these.

[Image: https://33.media.tumblr.com/0a6892204c14...0_1280.jpg]

This shows the new inside battery packs in front of the old packs that go inside the A-B battery pack. They are in front of the old packs. Note how much more compact the new B battery section is.

[Image: https://38.media.tumblr.com/3d452deadce2...9_1280.jpg]

Next I wrapped each of these packs with cardboard cut from a cereal box. This helps to isolate and insulate them. It aqlso provides some support to the glued packs because the cardboard is wrapped tightly and hot glued to itself.

[Image: https://38.media.tumblr.com/6026a3ff6e20...8_1280.jpg]

Next wire the B battery so all the cells are in series.

[Image: https://33.media.tumblr.com/502a830e5306...7_1280.jpg]

Wire the A battery packs in parallel.

[Image: https://33.media.tumblr.com/20272ce9c3a5...6_1280.jpg]

I made a tray of thin white cardboard. One could use cereal box cardboard for this too if you have a big enough box. I made it 1/16 inch smaller in each dimension than the inside of the original case so it could slip in easily. Note the cut out on one side for the wires to go through to the connector. The connector can be left on its original cardboard mounting if it is still in good condition like mine was, and the cardboard reused. It will be outside the tray when the final assembly takes place. After soldering the battery sub-packs to the proper terminals of the connector, arrange the packs in the tray as shown here.

[Image: https://38.media.tumblr.com/a5715707f7ef...4_1280.jpg]

Fill the areas all around the packs carefully with pieces of corrugated cardboard so that they are firm, but not so tight as to make the tray bulge. You don't want the finished unit to be too big for the original case.

Below is a picture of the finished guts, with the wires taped in place on top of the padding of corrugated laid atop the B battery pack.

[Image: https://31.media.tumblr.com/e61930444726...3_1280.jpg]

Male a final piece of thin cardboard the exact size as the top of the tray, and tape it in place. then, slip the whole unit back into the original battery case, and you're done.

[Image: https://31.media.tumblr.com/2d4a0f50c542...1_1280.jpg]