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Re: [OM] 3v lithium battery in my OM4T

Subject: Re: [OM] 3v lithium battery in my OM4T
From: clintonr@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Date: Fri, 12 Sep 2003 16:08:30 -0500
Forgot to correct the blasted date again!  Sorry!

clintonr@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx wrote:

> To expand, the problem with lithiums and alkalines is that they cannot endure 
> the constant current drain of cameras like the OM-4, etc. _and_ the XA.  The 
> XA's meter is always "on", after all, though with the barrier closed the 
> current drain is very small.  Still, it's enough drain that alkalines and 
> lithiums are not recommended.
>
> My grossly over-simplified understanding of the problem is this:  Batteries 
> produce current by virtue of a chemical reaction.  The nice thing about 
> lithium and alkaline batteries is that they are very stable when not being 
> used -- meaning they have a magnificent shelf life.  But when put under a 
> constant load, even a relatively minute one, the chemical reaction is rapidly 
> depleted.  Silver oxide batteries are not as susceptible
> to this problem.  So with a camera such as the OM-4 or XA that is never truly 
> "off" (meaning that there is a constant current drain of as much as 20 micro 
> amps or so), anything but silver oxides will go dead much too quickly.
>
> Functionally, the problem with weak batteries in an OM-4 is that it will 
> lock-up unpredictably.  The problem with a camera like the XA is that, while 
> the camera may operate, the needle in the finder will not indicate properly.  
> We see the same thing with OM-1's that have weak alkaline batteries -- the 
> meter works, it's just off, sometimes a little, sometimes a lot.  So we 
> suggest you replace alkaline batteries in your converted
> OM-1 once a year, whether you think you need to or not.
>
> Moose wrote:
>
> > I'm not sure the lithium is such a bad choice for an XA, which has much
> > different voltage/current demands than an OM. It's not than lithium
> > batteries are bad, just that they are not suited for this particular use.
>
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