HP Forum Archive 15

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Twenty-three year battery life in 15c? Message #1 Posted by S.B. on 23 Mar 2006, 11:46 a.m. I have an HP-15c that I purchased in 1983. To the best of my recollection I have never changed the batteries, and it's still running on its originals. I have a friend who says the same thing about his HP-15c. Is this at all possible? I've used it very little in the past fifteen years, but I do use it on occasion.

Re: Twenty-three year battery life in 15c? Message #2 Posted by bill platt on 23 Mar 2006, 11:50 a.m., in response to message #1 by S.B. Yes it is possible. My wife has a Sharp Elsi-mate with an aa (aaa?_) cell that is still good after over 20 years.

Re: Twenty-three year battery life in 15c? Message #3 Posted by Richard Garner on 23 Mar 2006, 12:32 p.m., in response to message #1 by S.B. Yes, this is very possible. I owned a 15C for 20 year and only changed the batteries once. That was only because the batteries in my 42S were low and I hadn't used the 15C in about 5 years so I swapped the batteries. The 42S ran for another year before replacing them. One thing to note, they were Silver Oxide batteries.

Re: Twenty-three year battery life in 15c? Message #4 Posted by David Smith on 24 Mar 2006, 12:32 p.m., in response to message #1 by S.B. You should change them regulalrly even if they are still good. Otherwise you wake up one day with a machine damaged by leaking batteries.

Re: Twenty-three year battery life in 15c? Message #5 Posted by John Smitherman on 24 Mar 2006, 2:33 p.m., in response to message #4 by David Smith Quote: You should change them regulalrly even if they are still good. Otherwise you wake up one day with a machine damaged by leaking batteries. You make an important point about routine calculator maintenance. One action that I have taken to address this issue is to open up the battery compartment of my calculators and other electronic devices yearly to inspect the condition of the batteries. I have a 15c running on 19 year old batteries. Regards, John

Re: Twenty-three year battery life in 15c? Message #6 Posted by bill platt on 24 Mar 2006, 3:09 p.m., in response to message #5 by John Smitherman Two general questions. 1. Has anybody ever seen a *Silver* cell leak (type 357)? 2. How can my wife's Elsi-mate run on a AAA for 20 years without leaking? Were there non-alk non-carbon AAA cells?

Re: Twenty-three year battery life in 15c? Message #7 Posted by John Limpert on 24 Mar 2006, 9:41 p.m., in response to message #6 by bill platt I've never seen a leaking silver oxide cell. I've used lithium AA cells. According to Google, they also make lithium AAA cells.

Re: Twenty-three year battery life in 15c? Message #8 Posted by David Smith on 25 Mar 2006, 5:40 p.m., in response to message #7 by John Limpert ALL cells will eventually leak. ALL seals will eventually fail. Particularly in a mass produced $1 consumer item.

Twenty-three year battery life in my 11c? Message #9 Posted by Palmer O. Hanson, Jr. on 25 Mar 2006, 8:32 p.m., in response to message #1 by S.B. I purchased my HP-11C in December 1982. The batteries have never been changed. It still runs properly. I removed the batteries. The no-load output voltage has dropped to 1.4 volts.

Re: Twenty-three year battery life in 15c? Message #10 Posted by John Kercheval on 26 Mar 2006, 11:24 a.m., in response to message #1 by S.B. Yes, that is possible. A colleague of mine has a 41CV and has not changed the batteries since 1984. John Kercheval Washington, DC

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