1. Home
  2. Electronic Components
  3. Memory backup batteries

Memory backup batteries

I have various bits of 20-year-old equipment with memory backup batteries. These are all NiCd, and are quite capable of keeping the memory contents for years. But they've all started crystal growth, and need to be replaced.

For example, one takes the obsolete Varta V280H, 280mAh 1.2V. The suggested replacement for this is a NiMH, the CP300H. But the self-discharge is poor:

90% of capacity retained after a month. That means it takes 7 months for charge to decay to 50%. Given the old batteries could retain memory for 10 years (memory supply current typ 2uA), that's a bit poor. Apparently also the memory chip (PCF8583) has a habit of not reviving if it's been unpowered for a long time (not sure if that's charge buildup on unterminated pins or something else).

So:

Is that the best I'm going to get with a NiMH? Are there any better types?

If I use an alkaline button cell plus Schottky diode instead (to disable the charging circuit), are there any pitfalls? Electrolyte leakage? Will the Schottky behave sensibly at such low series current? The RAM chip is specced up to 6V so a higher voltage won't harm it, but when I look up the datasheet of a possible Schottky (ST's BAT41) all my currents are off the scale. Reverse leakage doesn't look like it's a problem, but I'm a bit worried about the Schottky not conducting at all in the forward direction with such low currents.

For battery I'm thinking something like an good quality SR44 (one of the locations is a very confined space, and originally used an 11mAh NiCd - I might need something even smaller than an LR44/SR44). Renata's SR44 has a self-discharge of 5% per year:

formatting link

Any other ideas?

Thanks! Theo

Reply to
Theo Markettos
Loading thread data ...

Theo Markettos wrote in news:SSr* snipped-for-privacy@news.chiark.greenend.org.uk:

Uniross now sell a 'hybrio' variant of NiMH in AA and AAA cells. Basically it has a better separator for its electrolyte, or some such. I read that much, the blurb wasn't very forthcoming. Anyway, the result is a much lower self discharge rate (retains 90% after a year), and for memory backup purposes this is obviously useful, so I imagine that industrial batteries (OEM purposes) are now made this way too. Try asking Uniross directly. They might take several days to respond, but you'll get good info when they do. And if they make them, others will too.

You might also use 3.7V Li-ion types but you'd have to regulate strictly for

4.0V at a very low charge current unless you want to take serious risks with them.
Reply to
Lostgallifreyan

Theo Markettos wrote in news:SSr* snipped-for-privacy@news.chiark.greenend.org.uk:

I mentioned a Li-ion battery in the other post, though I now realise you need a lower voltage. You can still do it this way. ust use a couple of extra series diodes to drop the excess. You can use bigger batteries if there's room to improvise a bit. In 20-year-old gear there often is. Find the best battery you can fit in there, and use whatever wire length you need, and a small string of silicon diodes in insulating sleeving, etc.. The lithium thionyl chloride batteries (if you can justify the cost) are an excellent primary cell for memory backup. They should guarantee you ten years easily. The currents are so low that there's no great losses in the voltage drop on those series diodes. Standard practise was to use at least one, just for safety purposes.

Reply to
Lostgallifreyan

Lostgallifreyan wrote in news:Xns9DFC639F83560zoodlewurdle@216.196.109.145:

Another safety feature I saw for lithium primary cells was a series 1K resistor. If your circuit works with that added, use it.

Reply to
Lostgallifreyan

Yes, those are available from a number of manufacturers. I have some AAs (from Vapextech), and they still do self-discharge, but over maybe a year not a month.

And that's what I'd assumed would be used in memory backup batteries. But, looking at Varta's datasheets, the self discharge isn't much better than a generic AA bought at the corner shop (I assume, most battery manufacturers aren't good at quoting self-discharge on their datasheets).

Uniross' website only deals with 'consumer' (phones, cameras, AAs) or 'industrial', which appears to be about bespoke batteries. Saft and Panasonic do a few, but they're quite expensive and have too high voltage (2.4/3V). Sanyo have some NiCds for memory retention, but far too large (1200mAh). So it appears Varta is the only manufacturer I can find of PCB-mount memory retention cells, and those have poor self-discharge.

Hmm, I think I'll pass on those. Simple is better. Silver oxide seems like the way to go, but I can't seem to find any suitable button cell holders (in the UK).

Theo

Reply to
Theo Markettos

ElectronDepot website is not affiliated with any of the manufacturers or service providers discussed here. All logos and trade names are the property of their respective owners.