UK battery suppiles

I have no information, but maybe people are using primary batteries less than they used to? A lot of new stuff is coming with internal lithium cells rechargeable via USB, so they're not going through primary cells as quickly. That means reduced demand, reduced sales volumes and less shelf space.

Meanwhile the 'brands' are now owned by private equity holding companies intent on milking them for licensing fees, rather than having factories which actually make their own batteries.

I'm tending to buy secondary brand cells such as GP and Procell (from Farnell/CPC, whenever I'm next putting in an order anyway) which work well enough. If I had anything that went through a lot of batteries I'd be looking at lithium ion replacements (either the AAs with integral USB ports or making a lithium pack. The only place primary cells are still really good for is very low drain applications run off a coin cell or whatever, where lithium ion is not a good replacement.

I understand Amazon and Ikea and similar have own brand batteries. I've only used Ikea CR2032s and those have been fine.

Theo

In Spain, I can say that Carrefour has increased the battery types of their own brand. Energizer, Duracell, and maybe Varta are also available.

On the other hand, Mercadona has stopped offering rechargeable batteries.

I don't use PP9s any more as they've become far too expensive with reduced production. In any case, my Hacker radio gobbled the damn things up two at a time far too quickly, so I've changed it over to run from the mains instead. Pretty soon they won't be available at all.

Could be the usual sort of supply-chain lockup. That happens randomly with all sorts of things. A real or perceived shorage causes hoarding at various levels. That usually self-corrects.

We had a similar problem recently with half-and-half, the stuff you put into coffee. Some delayed shipment caused panic buying etc etc.

Amazon has tons of 9v batteries available here, including their cheap and bad house brand. There's a 5:1 price range.

John Larkin Highland Tech Glen Canyon Design Center Lunatic Fringe Electronics

I guess that with the near-demise of places like Poundland cheaper ZnC (ZnCl) and Alkaline-Mn batteries are becoming less available. Even when they are available as brands such as "Kodak" that's just a name being used. I'm less sure about "Panasonic" though; would they want their name associated with possibly inferior batteries?

I'd also noticed that PP9s haven't been around for some time. Even PP3s have been conspicuous by their near-absence in the past few months. As they were (are?) often used as the power for the beep sounder in smoke alarms, it might mean that some alarms are no longer functional even though still within their "replace-by" date.

If you really needed a 9V battery of PP3 size, you could do it with two AAAs and a converter (I checked and two AAs wouldn't fit into a PP3-sized space). I suppose it might save money if you used rechargeable NiMH AAAs, but perhaps an Li-ion battery could be used instead.

On a related point, you used to be able to buy a pack of 40 or 50 button cells of varying sizes for a pound, Nowadays you might get half-a-dozen for the same money!

The only time I've gotten interested in primary dry batteries was when we put in a bunch of smoke alarms which ran off PP3 cells.

Alkaline batteries lasted about a year, then the smoke alarm would start squealing.

I realised that I could buy lithium iron phosphate batteries in the PP3 format which wouldn't need to be replaced for about a decade. They were more expensive, and I had to buy them from Farnell (now element-14), but it struck me as worth it.

There's brand name - Ultralife - that plays on that.

When we moved back to Australia, the Australian branch of element-14 only sold them in bigger packs, and I was thinking of giving most of a pack to my relatives at Christmas, but my wife declared it to be too extravagant - as in showing off.

There doesn't seem to ba a shortage of them but the prices have shot up. It is still possible to buy something as specialised as a 3R12 on eBay at a sensible price - but it is decades since I last saw one of those in the shops.

Buying a battery at Safeway or a corner mom-and-pop store is insanely expensive, multiples of the Amazon price.

John Larkin Highland Tech Glen Canyon Design Center Lunatic Fringe Electronics

The smoke detectors sold here in California are 10-year lithium battery powered with CO detectors, by law I think.

That makes sense; the CO detectors don't last 10 years anyhow.

One of our pluigin CO detectors died this morning around 2AM and screeched really loud.

John Larkin Highland Tech Glen Canyon Design Center Lunatic Fringe Electronics

I don't think I have ever seen a PP9, just the standard 9 volt battery which apparently is "6LR61"

You can think of a PP9 as maybe 6x PP3s in parallel. They were very commonly used in large portable VHF/MW/LW high quality domestic radios about 50 or 60 years ago. Those radios had relatively high audio outputs and drank quite a bit of current, so these radios (in the UK typically made by companies like Roberts or Hawker) would use either one or two PP9s. The larger Hawkers would use them in series to get

There was a 67 volt battery for tube portable radios. I recall it being expensive and short-lived.

John Larkin Highland Tech Glen Canyon Design Center Lunatic Fringe Electronics

Long ago, my big brother tested one of those the way you test 9-volts, i.e. by touching it to his tongue.

Only once.

Cheers

Phil Hobbs

I can just about recall that 90V batteries existed for these:

Here we are

My experience with smoke alarms goes back about forty years. I bought the lithium iron phosphate batteries in the PP3 format in England and the Netherlands. When did California write a requirement for long-life lithium cells into law?

Our smoke alarms detected smoke and relied on some radioactive material exciting a detector diode - the smoke blocked the emitted particles.

If it could screech it wasn't really dead - merely dying.

It's possible to buy (ebay etc) converters from 6x AAs to the PP9 form factor. Given the energy density of an alkaline AA is a lot better than a typical zinc-carbon (that the PP9 would typically use) that seems like a better option to get decent runtime.

You could also make something with lithium cells (eg LFP) although need to be careful about max/min voltages.

Theo

That takes me back. Anyone remember the old tube testers you'd find at drug stores back in the day? They'd test your tubes for you if you suspected they were faulty. God I'm so old!

I wasn't aware there were caddies available for making up PP9s from AAs, but I shouldn't be surprised, as they also make (3D-printed these days) caddies for changing button cells into the 15V batteries the old analogue AVO meters needed for their resistance ranges. I think they were LR15 type but can't be sure now.