We've all experienced that painful moment when you're one AA battery short while you have a stockpile of AAA batteries going to waste. Now, you can convert a AAA battery to a AA battery - safely and simply.

This is design classifies under the access to energy framework for the Off The Grid theme. This product would not only help millions of people across the globe, but it would allow us to help people who are disadvantaged to energy capabilities making it a perfect candidate for the "Off The Grid" theme.

IKEA's Democratic Design principles:

Form: This is a simple yet elegant design that features a clean snap in feature. Since it is two parts with easy printing, you can customize the colors. Maybe that beautiful iconic yellow and blue?

Function: We've all been in that situation when you're out of AA batteries (I counted in the last week...it happened 5 times for me personally) but you have plenty of AAA batteries to use. This can not only save a trip to the store but it gives another purpose to an AAA battery. It's a simple solution to a vexatious problem.

Quality: This product will last forever if handled correctly. You can simply twist then pull off the two parts and insert a new AAA battery when you're done.

Sustainability: I really believe that this can have a great impact on people. While also putting to use batteries that take up wasteless space on many occasions. This product could provide heat, light, and power to individuals that struggle to obtain it.

Low Price: On a desktop 3D printer, with an average spool of PLA filament, the two parts will cost around $0.10 combined! A small piece of tinfoil is not even $0.01. If this were to become a product then there would be a better substitute for the tinfoil. Regardless, this is a very low priced product that forms a myriad of benefits. PRinting this out would save a whole day out to the store for batteries.

Both AAA and AA carry 1.5 volts, it's just the amount of "juice" it carries. This is the safest approach to do this. The only downside is the shorter time that the battery will last because a AAA does carry less" juice" than a AA battery.

I created this in Fusion 360 and after countless iterations, I finally made the right one! Thanks to Myminifactory and IKEA for making this possible, I always enjoy these design challenges and I especially enjoyed this one.

For the IKEA Off The Grid challenge.

Sam Suchin

Sam Suchin