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Button Cell Frenzy

I bought a couple of the key fob blinkies that have three LEDs, red, green adn blue, and you push the button and it plays a rainbow, or blinks different colors, flashes, etc. Like about ten bucks on some website. Well one disadvantage is they use four LR44 button cells, which don't last very long when kids _of_all_ages_ start playing with the blinkies. The minute they see one of these, they say, hey, that's cool, I want one of these! I've already had to part with one because of this. So I decided to stock up on some LR44 button cells.

I got onto cheapbatteries.com and they sell them cheap, but the best deal is when you buy 200, at $.15 each. With shipping, they're probably only a few cents more than that. But I doubt that I'll be able to use up 200 cells before the expiration dates on the batteries.

So I stopped by Fry's the other day, and they sell A76 which subs for LR44s, for a dollar each. Sure is a lot more expensive than the ones on cheapbatteries.com. And they didn't have very many of them on the shelf. Maybe only 5 or 6, and I was figuring on getting at least 8, or two sets.

Then on the way home yesterday I decided to stop by Radio Shaft. They have a generic sub called 76 which doesn't say it subs for LR44 but some other numbers including SR44, which I don't know what the diff is between that and LR44. But they were moving the stuff around on the shelves, and there were no prices. So I asked the salesdroid how much they cost, so he scanned one in and up popped $3.19! Yikes!! 21 times the price of what cheapbatteries.com wants. And like I'm gonna pay over $13 for just the 4 batteries, when I can get the whole blinkie for less, even including shipping and handling? No Way! I don't think so!!

So I ended up doing a search on Ebay for LR44 button cells, and I got a bunch of auctions. Some of them were for a hundred cells for $4.95, but they're from a Hong Kong seller and with the five bucks shipping, the cost is about $11, so they're not all that cheap. And they take a couple weeks to get here. So I chose another seller from Mississippi, selling 50 cells for $7, with a dollar shipping. I had to do the "Em, Eye, crooked letter, crooked letter eye," etc, ditty to get that one right!

In a few days or a week, I'll get a more reasonable quantity for about the same price each as from cheapbatteries.com. And shopping around paid off very well for me - I learned that there is such a thing as a free lunch.

-- @@F@r@o@m@@O@r@a@n@g@e@@C@o@u@n@t@y@,@@C@a@l@,@@w@h@e@r@e@@ ###Got a Question about ELECTRONICS? Check HERE First:###

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My email address is whitelisted. *All* email sent to it goes directly to the trash unless you add NOSPAM in the Subject: line with other stuff. alondra101 hotmail.com Don't be ripped off by the big book dealers. Go to the URL that will give you a choice and save you money(up to half).
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You'll be glad you did! Just when you thought you had all this figured out, the gov't changed it:
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Reply to
Watson A.Name - "Watt Sun, th
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Chemsitry.

LR44 is alkaline, 1.5V. SR44 is Silver Oxide, 1.55V. A lot of things don't care, but older cameras where the exact voltage affects the meter may require recalibration when changing battery types. From what I hear, apparently there are some other devices to which it matters as well, such as digital calipers.

Reply to
Terran Melconian

Right. SR44 is necessary for cameras. But #357 (like SR44 but with lower resistance) is better yet, at about the same price. My Olympus OM-2S doesn't like SR44s but is very happy with 357s. They last about 3 times longer in it.

Reply to
Michael A. Covington

"Watson A.Name - \"Watt Sun, the Dark Remover\""

Speaking of which, I've got a pocket laser that uses Renata 392 cells, what would be the longest life battery chemistry to use, what's the equivalent part number, and where can I buy them in decent-sized lots? Radio Shack batteries cost more than the original laser!

Thanks!

--
William Smith
ComputerSmiths Consulting, Inc.    www.compusmiths.com
Reply to
William P.N. Smith

Funny you should mention that.

The cheapest source of batteries for those cheap laser pointers eem to be other cheap laser pointers.

At least one place here sells them for $1.99, complete with the batteries. That tends to make the pointers "disposable". More important, I've bought $1.99 laser pointers for the batteries. The size they use actually fits other things I have around, and the pointers are the cheapest local source of the batteries.

Michael

Reply to
Michael Black

What a bizarre world this is.

Reply to
Mjolinor

You have to be a touch careful when you try substituting cells in cheapy laser pointers. The cheap laser pointers often drive the laser like it was an LED. They include the cell's internal resistance in the "design". If you replace a cell that had fairly high internal resistance with one that has a lower value, it can burn out the laser in a blink.

The better laser pointers user the internal photo diode in a feedback loop to control the laser driver current to an optimal value. In these pointers, you can use a fairly wide range of supply voltage without affecting the laser's output.

-Chuck Harris

Reply to
Chuck Harris

The LR44H battery is used in a couple LED lights I have, as well as in my laser pointer and an alarm clock. I buy them at the local "dollar store" here in Kitchener Ontario for a dollar for a card of 4. Canadian dollar too - so roughly seventy five cents to you americans.

Reply to
nospam.clare.nce

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EVEREADY MAXELL # 1,000 + 100 + 10 + 2 + BATTERIES 392 SR41W 25¢ ea 30¢ ea 40¢ ea $1.00 ea

Looks like 10 for $4 is a good deal.

-- @@F@r@o@m@@O@r@a@n@g@e@@C@o@u@n@t@y@,@@C@a@l@,@@w@h@e@r@e@@ ###Got a Question about ELECTRONICS? Check HERE First:###

formatting link
My email address is whitelisted. *All* email sent to it goes directly to the trash unless you add NOSPAM in the Subject: line with other stuff. alondra101 hotmail.com Don't be ripped off by the big book dealers. Go to the URL that will give you a choice and save you money(up to half).
formatting link
You'll be glad you did! Just when you thought you had all this figured out, the gov't changed it:
formatting link

Reply to
Watson A.Name - "Watt Sun, th

Leave it to Rat Snake to foul up and add cornfusion. I know that for low current purposes such as watches and SLR cameras, the silver oxide cells last a whole lot longer, and alkalines shouldn't be used because they may leak after several years.

On another note, I had the impression that zinc air cells were to be used for hearing aids and other things that have a steady current flow, lasting for shorter periods, like a few days. I was at Rat Snack and I saw a package of zinc air cells for a pager. I thought that if you put these cells into a pager, they would soon go bad because the air causes the cells to be "used up" soon after the tab is peeled off. The pagers I used to have all used a single AAA or AA cell, and lasted a couple months on a single cell. So how do they get a zinc air cell to last so long?

Reply to
Watson A.Name "Watt Sun - the

Well, how many cells do you get for 2 bucks? The Sauce Micro LightWand uses four LR44s, and they're ridiculously expensive at Rat Snack: $3.19 apiece! For that price, I can get the whole lightwand, including shipping!

I just bought 50 LR44 / A76 / 357 /whatevers for $8 on ebay. There are other ones that are cheaper, but the shipping often sneaks in an added profit for the sellers. Some want five bucks to ship a five dollar item! Sheesh!

Reply to
Watson A.Name "Watt Sun - the

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