Is it time to “right-size” the range of button cells?
An older lady at church gave me two of her watches to replace the batteries, and despite my ownership of numerous sizes of button batteries, I had to order two new sizes. Those of you who do this kind of work for friends will know that there is a staggering variety of 3V cells used in various products. Why? And why is the SR626SW that I need also known as a 377?
Perhaps it’s time to standardize on, say, a dozen or so sizes and abandon the rest. Of course that would mean making many older electronic devices such as quartz watches unusable. But standardization has its benefits. The computer industry grew by leaps and bounds after the manufacturers agreed on standard connectors and circuit board sockets. One drawback of one of the latest growth industries, electric bikes and scooters, is that each maker has their own battery design, and no two different makers’ products can switch batteries. That situation forces you to buy only their batteries, but if they go out of business or are bought out by a larger company, you the customer are up the creek.
Thoughts?
Semi-retired with a thrifty streak.
Same here, I am mindblown by the vast number of different cells available. There is always a cheap box of a variety of cells half empty in a drawer and none of the remaining cells will fit. And the different names for one type of cell is just a pita. Just like D, C, AA, AAA I would like to have the variety trimmed down and renamed in a easier way!
The hassle with batteries is most of why I have only mechanical watches. Yeah, it would be great it they standardized on two or three, basically, the biggest they can fit in a given watch. Luckily, most car companies have standarized on 2032 cells for their smart keys. I doubt if bikes, cordless drills, weed eaters etc. will ever standardize, but it we be great if they did. These, and bikes/scooters use standard cells, but it would be a pain to replace the cells in the brand-specific module.
377 is not uncommon. I think 395 and CR2016 are the only other ones I can think of.
377 is not uncommon. I think 395 and CR2016 are the only other ones I can think of.
Have a look at www.batterycrossreference.net
I find that I have tons of batteries except the one I actually need there and then.