Cheap silver oxide batteries.

I need to stock up on SR44 bateries used by my measuring devices. Major brands seem to be around £2 per piece but eBay have multipacks of "Pound Max" or "Eunicell" much cheaper. I imagine they are lower capacity but has anyone tried them?

I would imagine the cheap cells are new to their shelf life, I may be being generous there.

regards Martin

Be aware EBay is awash with fake/counterfeit/copies of batteries & many other products, it's going to be a gamble whatever you buy.

Tony

Do Internet search for brand and type you want eg Renata SR44, and you should find you can get a pack of 10 at an acceptable price. Indeed be wary of ebay, but it is possible to buy genuine cheaply there.

Edited By Macolm on 08/03/2022 14:56:09

LR44s are an acceptable substitute though will not last as long.

I have bought LR44 and CR2032 off Amazon. LR44 were a no name and the CR2032 were Panasonic, both only tens of pence each, can't remember how much but I do have 30 LRs on my shelf. Not got any complaints of either from a life point of view, wouldn't pay the ridiculous prices at Wilkos or anywhere else.

I get them from CPC/Farnell along with lithium AA, AAA and alkaline C and D cells.

As noted in other threads, LR44 don't like cold workshops.

And genuine batteries much too close to their use-by date! Inferior batteries contain less chemicals and/or impure chemicals, and cases that are more likely to leak. Cheap batteries can be an expensive way of buying electricity.

Trouble with ebay is it's a market-place. What you get depends on the actual seller, who might not be reputable. Although ebay has a complaints scheme I'm not sure it's effective on cheap stuff like batteries, or if you discover the goods are dud after a delay.

Dunno about Pound Max but Eunicell batteries are good enough to be faked!

My experience with ebay has mostly been OK. There are plenty of genuine bargains to be had. Unfortunately no-one can guarantee that everything bought that way will always be a perfect bargain! I take the line ebay is a shade risky and don't get upset when it goes wrong. There are always a few dishonest people about...

The only way to find out for sure if the batteries are good is to buy some.

Dave

Spot on SOD, the one thing I bought from EBay which I am 99.99% sure was fake were Gilette disposable blades, they were blunt before I started. I now stump up decent money & buy direct from Gillette. As they say buy cheap cry twice.

Tony

I buy the multi pack coin cells that include 44's, 2025's & 2032's & several others from Poundland. They include many usefull batteries for watches etc in the packs. They last a reasonably good length of time & for the cost are very good value maybe not in the leauge of the top brands but plenty good enough for me. I have had one in my Mitutoyo vernier caliper for about 2 years and still going strong. Also have 2032's in my Bluetooth hands free and they last at least 6 months. All in all pretty good value.

regards

If you are worried about the provenance of the batteries, Machine DRO sell them cheaply under their own brand name. They are a top recommended firm.

I have an order for 10 SR44's from them, £8.39 including postage paid by PayPal.

Edited By old mart on 08/03/2022 18:04:20

Plus one for SOD and Tony’s comments in particular about leakage!

Whats the cost (difference in cost) of a known brand from a known and trusted vendor compared to the cost of your precious tool ? I have had a cheapo calliper destroyed by cheap batteries no way would I put them in my Mitutoyo etc. However most by far of my tools are old fashioned analog no batteries needed !

John

I must admit that I bought a Mitutoyo vernier height gauge second hand from Myfords about 25 years back. It hasn't needed a battery yet. Hasn't even got a space for one.

obviously 'near to their shelf life'

no idea where new came from.

regards Martin

... now if only someone could find a source for 312 Silver-Zinc hearing-aid batteries (at a price that allows me to keep a straight face).

Edited By Peter Greene 🇨🇦 on 08/03/2022 22:52:09

One thing that never seems to be mentioned is that SR44 cells, being silver something or other have a slightly higher voltage than do the LR44 range. Now, I know it's only milli-Volts, but it does mean that certain devices, my digital calipers for one, do last longer. I would also point out that the instructions for my digital calipers, do recommend SR44 cells only.

One final point that I have learned through bitter experience is that high street shopkeepers don't know the difference and will try to palm you off with LR44 units, and can get "upset" when you reject them having asked for SR44 cells.

In respect of Type 312 hearing aid cells, I use these and get them supplied F.O.C in packs of 6 by either the nearest NHS Audiology centres 14 or 27 miles away, or, more conveniently, by either Age Concern or the local library in my nearest town, still F.O.C. I can't be certain, but I suspect there may be other places as well, but have had no need to look for them. The downside, which may be a bit awkward for Peter if he uses non-NHS supplied hearing aids, is that I have had to show that I am a registered NHS hearing aid user, or to say who my GP is.

Peter G. Shaw

Thanks for all the replies. Interesting that noone seems to have tried the cheapos but I can see the reasons for being suspicious. Further searches through my stores have turned up one machine-dro and two dubious unbranded so I will hold off until these are used.

I bought a multi-pack of LR44s from Machine-DRO last year and when I opened one of the bubbles the cell was leaking! I checked the rest and they were the same. To their credit I got an instant refund but vigilance is needed.

I bought a large pack of Duracell AAA batteries from Costco a couple of years ago. They still had 3 years left on their expiry date when I opened the pack 6 months later. They too were all leaking a white puss. Got my money back for those.

regards