[volt-nuts] Wanted - UK source of a replacement battery (type LX 1634) for HP 3457A 6.5 digit multimeter

[Dr. David Kirkby (Kirkby Microwave Ltd)]

On 24 January 2016 at 21:24, Poul-Henning Kamp <phk at phk.freebsd.dk> wrote:

> --------
> In message <
> CANX10hADbw1u9eJC8_ZgsK94k8Az8vzG4oSe+XnGfWRALi0B0w at mail.gmail.com>
> , "Dr. David Kirkby (Kirkby Microwave Ltd)" writes:
>
> >Opening the meter up, I see the PCB shows "BT 601". There's no name on the
> >battery I can see, but the type number of LX 1634. The voltage measured on
> >my 4.5 digit handheld DVM is 3.03 V. Googling around
>
> My guess is that this is a 3.6V Lithium-Thionyl battery, and if it is
> only 3.03V now, you're very likely tethering right on the brink.
>
> The most reputable vendor in this space is Tadiran, and they charge
> accordingly.
>


The post by Glenn (WB4UIV) in the link

https://groups.yahoo.com/neo/groups/hp_agilent_equipment/conversations/topics/48964

does say that it is Lithium-manganese dioxide (Li-MnO2). That information
was apparently taken from the battery manufacturer's web site. So I don't
think it is a Lithium Thionyl Chloride cell, although I'm very tempted to
fit one, as I can get one easy enough and I can't see the extra voltage
would do any harm given the SRAM is 5 V. The SRAM actually gets about 4.8 V
when on mains, so even a fresh Lithium Thionyl Chloride cell, which would
be more than 3.6 V off load, would not be too much for the SRAM. So I think
I am safe for now, but given the cell is at least 11 years old (probably
much older), it is living on borrowed time.

Dave