Several people have already taken me up on my offer to buy 1.35v mercury
batteries for their OM-1n cameras. In order to forestall questions, here
for the edification of everyone are the FAQs. For those of you whose gorge
rises at the mere thought of Yet Another Mercury Battery Discussion, hit
your "delete" key now. ;-)
1. The batteries are Varta V625PX, exact physical and electrical
replacements for the batteries originally used in the OM-1 etc. They are
still available here in the sunny province of Alberta, Canada.
2. I can only buy them at retail, for a price of $5.95 CDN + GST (a total
of $6.37 CDN/piece: go to http://www.oanda.com/cgi-bin/ncc for a handy
currency converter from OANDA which will give you an idea of how much it'll
set you back in your target currency).
3. I'll ship any amount anyone wants, but remember, the retailers I can get
'em from don't have endless in-stock. If I get a lot of demand, I may have
to delay shipping to a few people.
4. Shipping costs within North America seem to run around two dollars for a
few batteries. For Europeans, I suspect they won't need my offer --
Varta's a German company. For others, I'll do my best.
5. Their shelf life: according to tech types at Varta, the V625PX can be
expected to "self-discharge" at a rate of approximately 20f capacity per
year, with environmental storage conditions of 20 degrees Celsius (68
degrees Fahrenheit) and about 500midity. Cooler storage (but *no*
freezing! -- kiss your batteries goodbye if you do this) can extend
shelf-life. Humidity variations are less certain as to effect, but too-dry
conditions should probably be avoided (encourages drying of the electrolyte
through the tiny openings in the seams of the battery).
6. Varta (and all other battery manufacturers hoping to sell into the EU)
have to stop making mercury batteries as of the end of 1998. Period.
After this time, you have other alternatives (see below).
7. For those of you interested in getting away from mercury batteries
quickly and completely, you have a couple of options:
a) go visit Olympus Guy's site (at http://www.olympusguy.com/NewLArt8.htm)
and look up the "PX625/PX13 Teflon Battery Adaptors-for #675 batteries" at
$5.00 US/piece. You can also buy these from other retailers, of course.
These adapters are meant to be used with zinc-air cells, and are *physical*
adapters only. Zinc-airs don't have as long a life as mercuries, and their
discharge curve isn't quite as flat, but they have the same voltage.
(Their other electrical characteristics, such as internal resistance, is
something I'm ignorant of at the moment.) Or,
b) buy an MR-9 battery adapter (on the Web at http://www.criscam.com),
which is both a *physical* and *electrical* adapter for SR44 ("silver 76")
batteries. I own one of these babies, and they're quite neat. They are
machined to the exact physical form factor of the PX13/PX625 mercury
batteries, and contain surface-mounted microcircuitry under a gold-plated
bottom cover which steps the voltage of an SR44 down from 1.5V to 1.35V,
while maintaining the desirable discharge curve of the silvers. These
adapters are *expensive* ($29.95 US + shipping & handling), and as more
than one person has pointed out, it might be more cost-effective for you to
simply buy a mittful of Vartas and store 'em in your fridge. I own the
MR-9 more for additional comfort reasons than anything else, though the day
will come when you can kiss all mercury production goodbye (see point 6
above).
8. As a last resort, you can use the "new" 625s, which are 1.5v alkalines.
Opinions vary as to the effectiveness and/or safety of these. Some folks
claim that the OM-1n's meter circuitry depends on a bang-on 1.35v reference
for accurate metering, and also that even slightly higher voltages could
damage the circuits. Others say that's a load of bull. Olympus' own
position on using the "new" 625s appears to be "don't do it." YMMV.
Hope this helps.
Garth Wood
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