Determining Battery holder wiring?

Question

I'm looking for a battery holder for 3-4 AA or AAA batteries in series (I'm targeting an output voltage of 4.5~6V).

I found a variety of options on Mouser, but the problem is I can't tell if they batteries are wired up in parallel or in series. What part of the datasheet should I be looking for to determine the output voltage? Or is there a given standard somewhere which describes what the wiring is for each holder type?

Option 1: 2x2 AAA battery holder

Option 2: 4x1 AA battery holder

Option 3: 2x2 AA battery holder

Option 4: Any other recommendations you know will work

Answer 1

They'll be in series. Placing power supplies (batteries or otherwise) directly in parallel is always a Bad Idea™. Voltages are never quite the same, and the batteries' relatively low internal resistance will cause a large current from one battery to the other, which isn't fun for either of them.

Answer 2

It is curious that they don't explicitly say, but you can probably count on 99% of them connecting the cells in series. If a holder connects the cells in parallel, they'll probably state that, because it's relatively rare. It's more likely that you'll find holders that bring out all of the cell connections separately, which gives you the flexibility to connect them any way you want.

Answer 3

Note that in all cases the positive and negative terminals of the batteries are placed next to each other so that short jumpers on the sides of the holder will connect them in series. If they were designed for parallel operation (extremely unlikely), the battery configuration would be different to simplify the holder wiring.