Battery Life In Digital Devices

I can't yet speak for their quality but ...

Aldi Stores have various "Coin Cell Batteries" [sic] on offer at £1.29 per 3-pack.

including TC357/SR44 Silver oxide

branded Activ Energy, they are marked as LGA Tested Quality

MichaelG.

Have a look at www.lightinthebox.com they have a assorty of cells.

Harrie

Something I noticed a while ago is that the plastic housing on some of the cheaper digital calipers and LED lights etc is quite conductive, very low resistance. This may be due to using carbon fill in the plastic, or metallic fillers. In any case these devices would go through batteries many times faster than any other better quality digital calipers and LED devices I have. It appears the housings are allowing battery charge to leak away. Sometimes cells would only last a week or two.

The fix I came up with for cheap devices is a few coats of plain nail varnish over the battery cover inside face, or a strip of a known insulating plastic if there is room. If any areas of the battery touch the housings, I insulate these areas too. No more leakage and the cells last much longer, usually months.

The other factor of course is the cells themselves. I was buying cells from a major hardware/tire store here. They consistently had short life, a month or less. I noticed our grocery store started carrying the 44 size cells and started buying them there. They last significantly longer, usually several months in cheap calipers, a year or more in better calipers. I don't know if the big hardware /tire place is buying lower quality cells or keeping them too long or what the problem is, but the grocery store ones are observed to be a lot better. The message is, cell quality does vary and you may have to shop and compare a bit before finding a good brand and place to buy them.

With good cells in my better quality calipers (one is a Mitutoyo) I get a year or more on a cell, operating them several times a day for a few minutes each time. On weekends they get even more use.

Just my $0.02 from the armchair I occupy at the moment. JD

> the plastic housing on some of the cheaper digital calipers and LED lights etc is quite conductive, very low resistance.

>FACEPALM<

Great design there by someone...

Neil

Mitutoyo Solar caliper. What a brilliant idea.

BUT price in UK around £140 sterling, US around $200 US.

That buys a lot of batteries from ebay!

Duracells from Babz Media -

**LINK**

Is where mine come from -

Steve

G'day.

My phone and camera have a mini-USB port on the side for recharging and data transfer.

Now what if digital calipers and micrometers had a decent hi-tech battery and the same feature? This could be a useful selling point for an enterprising manufacturer.

Regards from the land of the kangaroo (97° today)

* Danny M *

Danny, you can power DROs and calipers via the 4-pin plug, and the Arc ones use micro-USB (but the same protocol as the old style, not USB data format). If you arrange for a smart current & voltage limited supply there is no reason why you couldn't fit NIMH button cells and charge them this way.

I'm sure that son you will be able to have a cutting-mat like pad for the workshop that, when you place small devices on it, gradually recharges them, just like a rechargeable toothbrush. For items like calipers the charge current would be tiny so low efficiency is not an issue.

Expect to pay £££ for the extra features of a small coil and a few pence worth of extra components, plus they will make them a little bigger.

Neil

Edited By Stub Mandrel on 17/12/2013 09:11:31

Hi Neil,
I don't think the calipers will work with the lower voltage of 1.2 V to 1.3 V provided by NIMH or NiCD cells. I think is a good idea and would probably work with the calipers that lithium cells as the rechargeable ones have a similar voltage to the non rechargeable ones. This type of caliper seem to have much better life anyway.

Les.

PS. let me know if you would like a copy of the Android DRO interface code and schematic now it is working in a very basic form. (I think I am now an AVR convert !)

.

That's certainly feasible, Neil

My Car Key has a rechargeable battery built in; which is charged wirelessly when the key is in the ignition switch, with the engine running.

[not wishing to tempt providence by writing this] ... it has worked perfectly for more than ten years.

MichaelG.

Edited By Michael Gilligan on 17/12/2013 11:10:05

Clarification

Edited By Michael Gilligan on 17/12/2013 11:12:57