How to assess coin cell quality?

General discussion about calculators, SwissMicros or otherwise
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Walter
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How to assess coin cell quality?

Post by Walter »

There are many different battery brands on the market.
Alas, most of them leave significant space for quality improvement. This is particularly important if you power your device with one cell only.

Assume you have got a set of CR2032 cells and a simple multimeter. Does this suffice for assessing cell quality? Maybe by comparison? Or what more do you need?

(I did search the fora but to no avail.)
WP43 SN00000, 34S, and 31S for obvious reasons; HP-35, 45, ..., 35S, 15CE, DM16L S/N# 00093, DM42β SN:00041
Panchdara
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Re: How to assess coin cell quality?

Post by Panchdara »

Try this... not perfect, but should be a start.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mf_FckHxqcE
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Calambres
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Re: How to assess coin cell quality?

Post by Calambres »

I use to test coin batteries with an old 10000 Ohm/volt analog multimeter. Modern digital multimeters (DMM) have such a great input impedance (~10 MegaOhm) that won't load the batteries at all. For instance, you can read 3V with a DMM for a lithium battery (big coin) and it may be pretty flat, specially if it is one of those big-name fakes that you can get for peanuts on ebay, etc. On the other hand, a 2.8V DMM reading can lead to a battery with enough juice to run most appliances if there's enough current in it, i.e.: a legit good battery brand.

Old analog multimeters with such a crappy input impedance (for today's standards) put some load in the battery and thus the resulting reading is more accurate.

[edit = typo]
Last edited by Calambres on Wed Sep 21, 2022 6:20 am, edited 1 time in total.
Dave Britten
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Re: How to assess coin cell quality?

Post by Dave Britten »

I use one of these resistance substitution boxes for testing coin cells:

https://www.amazon.com/Elenco-Resistor- ... B00R6SOXLG

Clip it to both leads of your multimeter to create a load on the battery, and see how the voltage fares in the 220-1000 Ohm range (3-14 mA current).
Panchdara
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Re: How to assess coin cell quality?

Post by Panchdara »

Dave Britten wrote:
Tue Sep 20, 2022 5:58 pm
I use one of these resistance substitution boxes for testing coin cells:

https://www.amazon.com/Elenco-Resistor- ... B00R6SOXLG

Clip it to both leads of your multimeter to create a load on the battery, and see how the voltage fares in the 220-1000 Ohm range (3-14 mA current).
Just a frustrated comment here.... anytime anyone places an Amazon link to any product, and/or any product on any forum, that that Amazon product is "Currently Unavailable"????

https://uk.farnell.com/elenco/k-37/subs ... dp/2819438
rprosperi
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Re: How to assess coin cell quality?

Post by rprosperi »

Panchdara wrote:
Tue Sep 20, 2022 9:54 pm
Just a frustrated comment here.... anytime anyone places an Amazon link to any product, and/or any product on any forum, that that Amazon product is "Currently Unavailable"????

https://uk.farnell.com/elenco/k-37/subs ... dp/2819438
I just clicked the link and it's available for me (in USA) for $22.97 w/free delivery. Just FYI
--bob p

DM42: β00071 & 00282, DM41X: β00071 & 00656, DM10L: 071/100
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Walter
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Re: How to assess coin cell quality?

Post by Walter »

Looks like a common supply chain problem: it's not available in Germany either. But luckily Amazon is not a monopolist yet ...
WP43 SN00000, 34S, and 31S for obvious reasons; HP-35, 45, ..., 35S, 15CE, DM16L S/N# 00093, DM42β SN:00041
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Walter
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Re: How to assess coin cell quality?

Post by Walter »

Calambres wrote:
Tue Sep 20, 2022 12:57 pm
I use to test coin batteries with an old 10000 Ohm/volt analog multimeter. ...
Old analog multimeters with such a crappy input impedance (for today's standards) put some load in the battery and thus the resulting reading is more accurate.
Thank you! You saved my 196x Kosmos Ultron from the bin. :D
WP43 SN00000, 34S, and 31S for obvious reasons; HP-35, 45, ..., 35S, 15CE, DM16L S/N# 00093, DM42β SN:00041
redglyph
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Re: How to assess coin cell quality?

Post by redglyph »

Panchdara wrote:
Tue Sep 20, 2022 9:54 pm
Just a frustrated comment here.... anytime anyone places an Amazon link to any product, and/or any product on any forum, that that Amazon product is "Currently Unavailable"????
Most of what is available on Amazon now is coming from China unfortunately :( At least for hardware. I'm avoiding this reseller as much as possible except for "local" products when there is no viable alternative.
Panchdara
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Re: How to assess coin cell quality?

Post by Panchdara »

Well, I did find one at Farnell. Yeah, I don't know why I seem to be the only one with this dilema. But no worries - I can buy alot, alot of 2032 batteries for £28. :roll:

(Perhaps it's my ip address???? But I do stand by my "frustration" of items being unavailable. A cat's got a lotta skins 8-) )

Battening down the hatches as I await hurricane Fiona ...
Best
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