Cheap button cells

[Max Demian]

I sometimes need LR44 button cells. You can buy Boots own brand for £2.99 for one, or two Duracell (from Boots) for £4.30.

These are obviously ridiculous prices, so I would order 10 from (or through) Amazon for £6 or so.

Recently I bought a card of 10 Suncom brand from a local hardware store for £1.99.

I fitted a couple into two analogue clocks; the first one has just failed after three months, which is the time the Duracell ones last.

So, *sometimes* cheap, unknown brands are good value.

Here endeth the lesson.

[Algernon Goss-Custard]

Max Demian <max [e-mail] posted

I buy cards of button batteries from Poundsaver etc. Typically 30 of mixed types for £2 or something. Variable lifetime (I assume they are manufacturers' rejects or old stock) but useful for things like watches and car remote locking keys (CR2032).

[Theo]

I bought a strip of 10x Maxell brand CR2032s from ebay... I got Chinese 'daVinci' brand ones instead (seller 'three-eagle'; ebay refunded). They appeared to have fingerprints on them in the sealed packaging. Put one of them in an Ikea smart bulb controller and it failed before I managed to pair the controller with the bulb. I suspect they're dead cells that have been 'recycled'.

Also, it turns out fake Maxell batteries are a thing. I think I'll be buying from Amazon themselves (not Marketplace) in future...

Theo

[alan_m]

Too many fake or poor quality Maxwell branded batteries out there.

I no longer buy Duracell - they no longer last like they used to do and will always leak when nearly dead.

[AnthonyL]

[Max Demian]

Most of the button cells on those cards are sizes I never need. I buy the cards of coin cells from so-called pound shops (which, nowadays sell things for all sorts of prices), as they have CR2032s and CR2016s. They also have CR2025s but I don't use them.

[Martin Brown]

Duracell have been trading on their brand name for about a decade.

Their batteries are something I avoid like the plague - overpriced and under performing frequently found to have leaked in kit and in date too.

Even Everyready and Panasonic make better batteries now. (those two are my favourites)

You can often get exotic rare button cells in ones or twos on market stalls that will offer to fit them in a watch for £3 or £4 all in. Battery on its own is cheaper and they have some rare ones!

If you do a lot of watch repair the ~24 for £1 in Poundshop don't last as long but at that price do you really care. Still good for a year or more provided that you use them fairly quickly. Shelf life is less good.

[SteveW]

Yes. I have had a number of Duracell batteries leak. Didn't they used to advertise them as leakproof?

Ever-ready have been good for me recently.

I've not tried Panasonic for a while, but do remember them as being very good - however, that was decades ago. As a teenager, I bought a game for my sister. It was very like Simon, but had 12 coloured buttons and came from Tandy. It was quite heavily used over a few years and then left in a cupboard. Over 12 years later, I found it ... and it still worked on the original Panasonic batteries!

[Jeff Layman]

Pad out a CR2025 with a bit of aluminium foil and use as though it was a CR2032. It won't last as long of course, but at least it will have been used.

[Animal]

Most battery brands differ little. Advertising means jack. There are definitely some below par ones, but most random ones are fine.

[Brian Gaff]

The trouble is you just don't know, I've had variable results for the little chunky ones and the flat inch wide ones. I find it hard with, for example my Tile locators, to find out when its gone down too far to work any more so the app can find it. Brian

[John Walliker]

Many years ago I was working with somebody who had designed rechargeable battery production lines for many of the manufacturers around the world. His advice, based on a lot of inside knowledge, was that if I wanted reliability I could not do better than Panasonic/Matsushita. Sanyo were also very good - they were subsequently bought by Matsushita. So when I needed a pack of CR2032s a few days ago I chose Panasonic.

I have had a digital multimeter and a sound level calibrator badly damaged by Duracell AA cells that leaked before the batteries had discharged, so I don't consider Duracell to be a benchmark for good quality.

John

[Rod Speed]

Me too and in my case 18650 Li ons as well.

[Andrew Gabriel]

There was a program on BBC Radio 4 in last few days following an experiment at a school, where the children compared different makes of AA alkaline cells. IIRC, they used Amazon Basics (cheapest), Duracell, and Energizer Lithium (most expensive by a long way).

The Amazon basics was the most cost effective by a long way, even though they lasted the shortest time, but they had the longest period dying as they gradually lost umph quite a while before they completely died. Duracell lasted a bit longer, but didn't show any signs of dying until much nearer end of life. Energizer Lithium lasted longest. I can't remember the timings, but something like 4, 5, and 6 hours respectively (running a hand fan continuously).

Not completely scientific, but interesting nevertheless.

Andrew

[Pamela]

[AnthonyL]

[Max Demian]

No, but most of those will be sizes you don't want.