Thread: Digital Batteries

Originally Posted by wheelinround

Suggestions yes put downs no and thats what it became as I saw it. It was not aimed at you or anyone in particular other than I quoted Stu's post.

Yes it got my dander up and quite rightly so.

I'll double check tomorrow re-brand of my first digital vernier which wasn't exy but not cheap either Stena?? I think, its the one which is ARPIA. If I recall bought at Agquip during the 90's. This vernier may have originally had decent batteries in them as life of was over 5 years.

The 2nd one is ALDI and yep $20 it lasts longer has turn off etc.


As I said its still engineers who design and make them we just buy them.

No mate, you quoted MY post

Apparently the earlier versions of Aldi calipers weren't too bad, but I can assure you the later ones are a disgrace. To the extent that if I recall correctly it was the topic of considerable discussion on the board at the time. Based on the earlier good reviews I asked some to be put aside, as mentioned, and was going to use them on machinery. Just how bad could they be I thought? They were so bad as to be laughable, poorly made, but the worst was they skip readings without notice. One can only presume they'd changed suppliers from the earlier versions, possibly to buy them even cheaper, who knows. However if you are intent to hold Aldi calipers in such high esteem I have 3 here and they're yours for the cost of postage. PM me if you want them and I'll send them to you Monday. They'll come with a note which will read "Good luck!"

Peter so I did then no I didn't see the smilie.

No matter where tools are bought from it seems there is good and bad even in what is supposed to be quality at top price. I know from past experience, as well as my daughter was in sale of and a son is now in a similar but better position. Both different companies.

Daughter had horror stories of tools and quality from top line to cheap as well as abuse horror stories of users trying to claim average use or daily normal use.

I have an Aldi workzone digital caliper. I have no problem with it. but battery does go flat quickly. I checked the replacement batteries I got from Dick Smith, they are alkaline. I will ensure that I'll get SO next time.

Originally Posted by wheelinround

Peter so I did then no I didn't see the smilie.

No matter where tools are bought from it seems there is good and bad even in what is supposed to be quality at top price. I know from past experience, as well as my daughter was in sale of and a son is now in a similar but better position. Both different companies.

Daughter had horror stories of tools and quality from top line to cheap as well as abuse horror stories of users trying to claim average use or daily normal use.

Well that being the case, and seeing as your blood pressure seems to be back under control, I don't actually understand what your original question was all about. ... Or even if it was a question or simply a rant!

Ray had some good advice regarding batteries, but other than that there's not much you can do about the situation other than choosing tools that are known to have good battery life if that's what is important to you. Electronics progresses at an extraordinary pace, and drawing conclusions based on experiences of the past is fraught with danger. My first calculator, an RPN beauty and unusual for that in its day, I recall very well using a 9v battery and the red LED display would ensure it lasted only a few weeks, less in hard use. But I can assure you I don't roll up to engineering exams these days with slide rules and a mechanical adding machine ranting about engineers who design electronics! Well actually I do still use a slide rule at work, believe it or not, but that's another story.

The point is that not all modern portable electronic instruments drain batteries like they're powering the national grid. Engineering is invariably about compromise, rather than taking a swipe at the engineers who design the stuff, maybe consider what those compromises may have been. Perhaps they didn't have access to certain technology so needed the device to remain in a dormant state with the screen off, but the rest powered? Perhaps they wanted the device to wake up quickly, or not have an actual "off" button, perhaps battery life was super important to them so they made them solar powered, or, or or, mostly as customers we don't ever know what those compromises were. The solutions meanwhile may not be ideal in your own mind, where battery life is evidentially the number one priority, but that then becomes up to you to do your homework when purchasing to find tools that do fit your priorities. You've been offered several here, at both ends of the price range, after all, we all know cheap tools are just as good as expensive ones However blaming others because they didn't understand your own priorities is like someone ranting that a Bugatti Veyron is rubbish, and therefore all cars are rubbish, because a Veyron only has 2 seats and you wanted 4 seats!

Meanwhile here's one solution ABSOLUTE Solar Caliper Series 500

Originally Posted by RayG

Hi Ray,

Battery life is mostly function of design, I spend a significant part of my working life designing electronics and trying to find ways to reduce power consumption on electronic gizmos... The other significant factor that might not be obvious is the quality of the battery, generally the cheaper battery brands don't last as long. This has been discussed before.. https://www.woodworkforums.com/169374...e/#post1636670

Stick with Silver Oxide and good brands. Batteries self discharge, different rates depending on construction and chemistry, but don't get conned into buying hundreds of batteries, the shelf life is a factor, good quality silver oxide, you might get 5 years shelf life, probably less for alkaline manganese. (LR44 types)

One other thing to consider, is when the battery contacts start to corrode and make poor contact with the battery, don't start scratching away at the contacts with wet and dry, you'll ruin the plating, which then oxidizes twice as fast and before you know it, you'll have bad contacts and it starts acting up again... use a contact cleaner like de-oxit. (I think Jaycar have it... I use the pen type ..

MG Chemicals 801B P Super Contact Cleaner PEN Clean Lubricates Protects 10ml | eBay

Once you've ruined the contacts by scraping, it's hard to get back.

For torches and such, I've pretty much moved to Lithium Poly, and rechargeable alkaline for things that need AAA or AA batteries.. I don't like the NiMh or NiCad, the voltage is too low.. 1.2 vs 1.5

Ray

PS... I like Mahr calipers.. batteries last 2-3 years (so far), never turned off.

Thank you Ray.

It is good to find out that there is something better than the wet and dry, the needles files and the pocket knife blades I've been using for most of my life. The only batteries in my shed are in the Coolpix, rechargeable AAs.

Bob.

Originally Posted by Anorak Bob

Thank you Ray.

It is good to find out that there is something better than the wet and dry, the needles files and the pocket knife blades I've been using for most of my life. The only batteries in my shed are in the Coolpix, rechargeable AAs.

Bob.

That coolpix camera is legendary! Any searches I do on this forum invariably bring up some reference to your bloody coolpix camera!

I wonder if Donna Hay uses a coolpix?

Simon

No time in the shed lately so I decided to take my LCD vernier calliper apart to clean. It had been playing up, giving erroneous readings rendering it unusable. Changing to silver oxide (SR44) batteries from Alkaline (LR44) has helped (thanks to this thread) but it still played up, some.

I carefully cleaned all metal parts with a toothbrush and turps. Plastic parts were cleaned with cotton wool and metho, including the capacitive reading parts. I put it back together and now doesn't work at all!!!

I have disassembled and reassembled about a dozen times and it's still a flat line. I think I have killed it with love. Currently looking at prices for new callipers. Moore and Wright seem to be the best price for half decent callipers….

Simon

Apart from the displays, whats the difference between these two models?

Moore & Wright 0-8"/0-200mm Digitronic Caliper MW110-20DBL
Moore & Wright 0-8"/0-200mm/fraction Digitronic Caliper MW110-20DFC

Would rather spend much less than $100 but how do you know if the quality is any good?

Simon

Originally Posted by simonl

I carefully cleaned all metal parts with a toothbrush and turps. Plastic parts were cleaned with cotton wool and metho, including the capacitive reading parts. I put it back together and now doesn't work at all!!!

Simon

Why did you turps? You should get some rubbing alcohol and clean it thoroughly carefully remove all residue that turps left behind. let it all dry out and try again. You could be lucky.

Originally Posted by justonething

Why did you turps? You should get some rubbing alcohol and clean it thoroughly carefully remove all residue that turps left behind. let it all dry out and try again. You could be lucky.

I originally used metho but when I removed the electronics part, there was a fair amount of grime which did not want to come off to well with the metho. So I resorted to turps which, in hind site may have been a bad idea. Actually, I'm only telling part of the story. When I cleaned and put it back together, it worked all OK except the button to choose between metric and imperial did not work. So I decided to take it apart (again) and disassemble the circuit board. I cleaned the tactile switch and the PCB where it touches with metho and a cotton bud and when I put it back together it was cactus! No wonder people at work call me cock fingers….

Simon

Originally Posted by simonl

Apart from the displays, whats the difference between these two models?

Moore & Wright 0-8"/0-200mm Digitronic Caliper MW110-20DBL
Moore & Wright 0-8"/0-200mm/fraction Digitronic Caliper MW110-20DFC

Would rather spend much less than $100 but how do you know if the quality is any good?

Simon

Information is a bit sketchy on their official site, but this link may be a start, and you can navigate around their site to find other calipers in their catalogue, and more detailed info on any item.
http://www.moore-and-wright.com/products/show/9689?lang=English

As to quality, it's all a bit of a pig in a poke I would say, although having said that I imagine that M&W while maybe not top shelf equipment, they should still be pretty servicable and do what you need. If you can afford/justify them I would go the IP67 rated lots if there is any chance of coolant or other liquid ingress, and the ones with the CR2032 ?? batteries should last longer per battery than the those using the much smaller Silver oxide cells, unless of course they also have heavier current demands from microprocessor circuitry. Even the fraction displaying variant might use more power doing the computations. It might be worth your while shooting an e-mail to M&W to get their answers on that. Pass on any info you get, not that I needed to say that as I'm sure that you would have done that anyway
Oh and make sure that all turps and metho has dried out of your old set before writing them off, good luck,
Rob.
Edit A bit too slow typing the response!!

Originally Posted by simonl

Apart from the displays, whats the difference between these two models?

Moore & Wright 0-8"/0-200mm Digitronic Caliper MW110-20DBL
Moore & Wright 0-8"/0-200mm/fraction Digitronic Caliper MW110-20DFC

Would rather spend much less than $100 but how do you know if the quality is any good?

Simon

The dbl model has a smaller display and can show only metric and decimal imperial.
The doc model has the larger display and can additionally show fractional imperial.
Note both are re badged Chinese calipers. You can find them cheaper without branding.
Both models use a lithium coin cell and have 1 year batter life.

Thanks guys.

While I don't tend to use fractional inch in measurement (mainly metric but if in inch then decimal inch) and my eyesight is still good so I don't need the larger display. Although I do like the look of the larger display. So, they are rebadged Chinese callipers you reckon CBA? Why would I want to spend that amount of money on Chinese callipers? Are they considered "good" Chinese?

What other "good Chinese" callipers can be had for similar or less money?

Simon

Originally Posted by simonl

What other "good Chinese" callipers can be had for similar or less money?

Trick question - I think most calipers are made in China these days (there are some exceptions but I don't think M&W are one of them)

Originally Posted by simonl

I originally used metho but when I removed the electronics part, there was a fair amount of grime which did not want to come off to well with the metho. So I resorted to turps which, in hind site may have been a bad idea. When I cleaned and put it back together, it worked all OK except the button to choose between metric and imperial did not work. So I decided to take it apart (again) and disassemble the circuit board. I cleaned the tactile switch and the PCB where it touches with metho and a cotton bud and when I put it back together it was cactus!

Those tacile switches are buggers. If you clean them too much you remove the conductive carbon film, not enough and you leave a non-conductive film on them. You might be lucky and they are not working because of the oily residue that turps can have. rubbing alcohol or meths (or iso-prop if you have it) is usually best for that job.
As it is now cactus, at least you can experiment - if it doesn't come good after another clean or two, check the function by manually bridging the two pads - if that works, perhaps a piece of Al foil glued to the back of the switch?

Michael