Hi Danny,

I use silver oxide batteries (SR44) in my calipers, and they last for over a year. Other types of battery may have a shorter life expectancy.

Regards

Thor

Hi Danny ,

I know what you mean !

I have 4 digital calipers and i get varying battery life from a few months to over a year .

As Thor mentioned Silver oxide will last longer but cost a little more and you could probably pick up some on Ebay cheaply – probably out of Hong Kong etc and usually with free shipping .

I have one set of calipers that is over 10 yrs old that tends to chew batteries and it does not have auto power off which is very annoying especially when you open the case to find the damned thing is still on 2 days later !

A recent purchase has a power off feature but when you press the power button it zeros itelf so no memory function – usually not an issue but ….

Now waiting for a new set of Mitutoyo to arrive as all the others are only cheapies but good for general work .
Once they arrive i will have a play and compare the quality , accuracy etc then relegate each one to where i need it most .

I would have thought by now that the manufacturers of these tools would have looked at different options for batteries as i don't think it would be difficult to make them use AAAA or AAA which could be rechergeable or at least a small slide switch to disconnect the battery .

Imagine having the case set up as a charging dock and the tool using a lithium ion battery or similar !

I had a set of Hafco DROs on my X2 mill that used batteries and converted it to run from a powerpack as it chewed batteries like nothing i have ever seen before ! The auto off feature really gave me hell especially the Zaxis unit from measumax – it did not like using anything other than the supplied NiCad on the display which eventually died .

I ended up buying the newer version that comes with a power pack and can run on batteries or the supplied power pack . I found that the display flickered using the power pack so i had a think about it and ended up testing the switchmode power pack with an oscilliscope which showed some noise .
I tried everything to smooth that ripple out and just could not get it right so i tried an old transformer type power supply – Bingo ! the flicker was gone ! My guess is the display has an internal clock or oscillator that is close to or a harmonic of the frequency of the ripple in the switchmode supply and the old transformer type had one at 50HZ so too low to affect anything .

Ian

I use Energizer 357/303 Silver Oxide in my Mitutoyo caliper.

… Long shelf life, and excellent performance. [*]

Using cheap Alkaline cells in good equipment is a false economy.

MichaelG.

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[*]

if your instrument drains these quickly, then it's a bad design [or faulty]

Edit: Here is one of many suppliers

Edited By Michael Gilligan on 27/09/2013 09:28:26

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… which is fine IF you can do it whilst holding only one terminal

… it's rather like working on overhead power lines

But: never underestimate the stupidity of "tradesmen"

MichaelG.

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Hence the use of quotation marks around the word

MichaelG.

My experience is certainly that it is unwise to buy cheap cells. Even if you work on the principal that buy cheap and change often saves money in the long run how frustrating is to to find your tool not working when you have no spare battery!

Ian that's an idea but it's a bit of a faff surely ? – and you would need that set up for all your digital measuring stuff.

There is a lot to be said for the old mechanical means of measurement but, of course, the digital display somehow (quite wrongly!) has more authority.

Norman

Edited By NJH on 27/09/2013 12:29:43

7Dayshop.com have packs of 5 x SR44 cells for £0.99 delivered & the price drops if you buy multiple packs. I have been using them for a while now & they last much longer than the cheap LR44s I used previously.

I bought a cheap unnamed digital caliper about three years ago, the seller thru' in a spare battery, SR44. Still on the original batt.. Don't use it much, I prefer my old vernier, but must be more than only the display switching off.

Try switching it off, moving the slider, and switching it on again. If it still reads correctly then everything but the display has been working. They don't have absolute position sensing, they rely on counting pulses continuously.

Russell.

Temperature is all. We could all have longer life calipers if we accept larger cells (Arc do some with lithium 2032s in) or even AAAs.

One alternative is rechargeable button NIMH cells, but of course these self-discharge faster than the silver ones wear out.

Neil

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

Harrie

> 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