CR123A Batteries

[W. Watson]

I just discovered that my fairly new Davis Vantage Pro 2 weather station
takes CR123A batteries. They are recharged by the solar panels. From my old
no longer used Canon SLR film camera I have several Duracell unused (fresh
in the package) Duracell Ultra batteries. Can these be used for the CR123A?
They have the same appearance, and I believe are lithium.

This may be a question of rechargeability. If so, what makes a battery
rechargeable?
--
Wayne Watson (Nevada City, CA)

Web Page: <speckledwithStars.net>

 

[John Fields]

On Sat, 05 Jan 2008 08:27:22 -0800, "W. Watson"
<wolf_tracks@invalid.com> wrote:

I just discovered that my fairly new Davis Vantage Pro 2 weather station
takes CR123A batteries. They are recharged by the solar panels. From my old
no longer used Canon SLR film camera I have several Duracell unused (fresh
in the package) Duracell Ultra batteries. Can these be used for the CR123A?
They have the same appearance, and I believe are lithium.

---
Is there a part number on the camera batteries?
---

This may be a question of rechargeability. If so, what makes a battery
rechargeable?

---
The materials used in its construction.


--
JF

 

[W. Watson]

As it turns out, I decided to climb the ladder and see what battery was in
the station. It's identical to the 123. If I look closely at the package, it
shows the 123 is a replacement for several 123s, including the CR123A.

When I put the new battery in, the weather console in the house began
receiving the signal. Strangely though the console shows a message ab the
bottom of the screen, "Low battery on station". This was there before, and
has been there since I purchased the device last April. The old battery
reads 3.02v. I inspected the area inside the housing and it showed no
moisture. Very odd behavior from the station though.

John Fields wrote:

On Sat, 05 Jan 2008 08:27:22 -0800, "W. Watson"
wolf_tracks@invalid.com> wrote:

I just discovered that my fairly new Davis Vantage Pro 2 weather station
takes CR123A batteries. They are recharged by the solar panels. From my old
no longer used Canon SLR film camera I have several Duracell unused (fresh
in the package) Duracell Ultra batteries. Can these be used for the CR123A?
They have the same appearance, and I believe are lithium.

---
Is there a part number on the camera batteries?
---

This may be a question of rechargeability. If so, what makes a battery
rechargeable?

---
The materials used in its construction.

--
Wayne Watson (Nevada City, CA)

Web Page: <speckledwithStars.net>

 

[John Fields]

On Sat, 05 Jan 2008 17:51:02 GMT, "W. Watson"
<wolf_tracks@invalid.com> wrote:

As it turns out, I decided to climb the ladder and see what battery was in
the station. It's identical to the 123. If I look closely at the package, it
shows the 123 is a replacement for several 123s, including the CR123A.

When I put the new battery in, the weather console in the house began
receiving the signal. Strangely though the console shows a message ab the
bottom of the screen, "Low battery on station". This was there before, and
has been there since I purchased the device last April. The old battery
reads 3.02v. I inspected the area inside the housing and it showed no
moisture. Very odd behavior from the station though.

---
Could be the battery voltage is low under load, or the threshold
voltage is set wrong in the device.

BTW, please bottom post.


--
JF

 

[Eeyore]

"W. Watson" wrote:

I just discovered that my fairly new Davis Vantage Pro 2 weather station
takes CR123A batteries. They are recharged by the solar panels. From my old
no longer used Canon SLR film camera I have several Duracell unused (fresh
in the package) Duracell Ultra batteries. Can these be used for the CR123A?
They have the same appearance, and I believe are lithium.

This may be a question of rechargeability. If so, what makes a battery
rechargeable?

The 'chemistry'.

That's the difference between primary and secondary cells..
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Primary_cell
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Secondary_cell

Graham

 

[Chris W]

W. Watson wrote:

As it turns out, I decided to climb the ladder and see what battery was
in the station. It's identical to the 123. If I look closely at the
package, it shows the 123 is a replacement for several 123s, including
the CR123A.

When I put the new battery in, the weather console in the house began
receiving the signal. Strangely though the console shows a message ab
the bottom of the screen, "Low battery on station". This was there
before, and has been there since I purchased the device last April. The
old battery reads 3.02v. I inspected the area inside the housing and it
showed no moisture. Very odd behavior from the station though.

I have this very same weather station. I put it on top of my 40Ft radio
tower in November. The battery is a standard 123A lithium battery and
the Duracell you mention is the same type. It is a 3V battery. I use
the batteries in a few different high intensity flashlights, new they
have a voltage of just over 3V like you said yours has. I believe the
number of the battery indicates that it is a single cell (1) 2/3 length
(23) A size battery. 'A' is a standard battery size just like D, C, AA,
AAA etc, just not as common and generally only found in rechargeable
NiCd, NiMH or Lithium Ion cells.

It is my understanding that the solar cell on the standard Vantage 2 pro
simply augments the battery when the sun is up and I think it may charge
a capacitor to help for a short time after the sun is down. My station
will give the same low battery warning from time to time. It only does
the low battery check once a day. On my station it will often go away
right after midnight. Not sure why the low battery warning comes and
goes. Next time I tilt my radio tower down, I will replace it just in
case but I have heard of people getting over 3 years of use from their
stations when they are exposed to lots of sunlight.

--
Chris W
KE5GIX

"Protect your digital freedom and privacy, eliminate DRM,
learn more at http://www.defectivebydesign.org/what_is_drm"

Ham Radio Repeater Database.
http://hrrdb.com

 

[Chris W]

I wrote:

It is a 3V battery. I use
the batteries in a few different high intensity flashlights, new they
have a voltage of just over 3V like you said yours has. I believe the
number of the battery indicates that it is a single cell (1) 2/3 length
(23) A size battery. 'A' is a standard battery size just like D, C, AA,
AAA etc, just not as common and generally only found in rechargeable
NiCd, NiMH or Lithium Ion cells.

I forgot to specifically state that these batteries are NOT rechargeable.

Just wanted to be clear on that.

--
Chris W
KE5GIX

"Protect your digital freedom and privacy, eliminate DRM,
learn more at http://www.defectivebydesign.org/what_is_drm"

Ham Radio Repeater Database.
http://hrrdb.com

 

[Nemo]

I've used CR123A batteries in designs - lithium - and only ever saw non
rechargeable types. It is a REALLY BAD IDEA to try and charge a non
rechargeable lithium battery, like a standard camera one, in fact here
in the UK there is a law that if you have one in a circuit where there's
another power source, you need to have not one but two things in series
to minimise the chance of accidental recharging. For example 2 diodes or
a diode plus a quite high value resistor.

The reason is that these types of cells are sealed and can't vent if the
internal pressure gets too high from unwisely recharging them, so unlike
normal batteries (AA, say) they go spectacularly and dangerously BANG
when they blow.

These types of cell in much equipment are just there as a backup supply
for when the primary power source goes, thus last years (eg on some PC
motherboards, they just power the real time clock).

Also be aware: there are two chemistries, LiMnO2 (lithium manganese
dioxide), nominally 3.0V, actually about 3.2V when very new, can drop to
2.8V when very cold. Then there's lithium thionyl chloride which is
3.6V, but not favoured for various reasons eg worse for environment,
fewer suppliers, lower peak current output. If your equipment was
originally using a 3.6V battery then yes, 3.02V is possibly "low".

I'm not ruling out the possibility of rechargeable CR123A's but if the
battery says "LiMnO2" on it it is not rechargeable.

I've also designed with rechargeable lithium cells, these are normally
4.2V when full, 3.0V would be flat. They have a completely different
chemistry inside, which includes lithium. Unlike one-use lithium cells,
recharging these "undoes" the chemical reaction inside them and
physically unbinds the chemicals inside that combined to give the
electric current when you ran it down. Many chemistries are not easily
reversible. (You CAN recharge a normal battery, but it'll only last
perhaps 10 cycles, and will have poor capacity / peak current etc, and
you better be sure it's got a safety vent.)

What does the Davis website recommend for replacement batteries?

Any other marking on the original battery?

Paul Honigmann

In article <OcOfj.3096$El5.2632@newssvr22.news.prodigy.net>, W. Watson
<wolf_tracks@invalid.com> writes

I just discovered that my fairly new Davis Vantage Pro 2 weather
station takes CR123A batteries. They are recharged by the solar panels.
From my old no longer used Canon SLR film camera I have several
Duracell unused (fresh in the package) Duracell Ultra batteries. Can
these be used for the CR123A? They have the same appearance, and I
believe are lithium.

This may be a question of rechargeability. If so, what makes a battery
rechargeable?