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storing your led watch collection

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holly35

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storing your led watch collection

Post20 Aug 2007, 16:58

i am sure this has been asked 1000's of times but what is the safest way to care for your nos led watches?should i continue to replace batteries even if they are not used? (occasional checking of display, weekly but not used)or should i remove the batteries and store the watches empty?
also if i continue to use batteries which is the safest type (alkaline or the silver oxide type?) and which brands are recommended .
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: storing your led watch collection

Post20 Aug 2007, 19:40

Oh dear this old chestnut again. You will get as many different answers as there are people here. Personally I keep my modest collection going as I like the option of wearing any watch that takes my fancy. If you have a big collection then this will be expensive and environmentally unsound.

No batteries - no chance of leaking green death but that doesn't mean that your watch won't die either.....

I'd recommend Renata batteries, made in Switzerland and top quality. Dead cheap on ebay too :-) .

Over to the next poster - who will probably state the exact opposite :-P
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: storing your led watch collection

Post20 Aug 2007, 22:36

Holly35, I only keep batteries in the watches that are in my current rotation. I have a few LED's I'm not planning to wear for who-know's-how-long, so they are resting sans-batteries. I'm not sure if it's the best approach, but as Fitron said, "no batteries - no chance of leaking green death". :-)
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: storing your led watch collection

Post20 Aug 2007, 22:47

personally im a fan of maxell batteries as ive never heard of a case of them leaking although i have with Renata 8-)

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: storing your led watch collection

Post22 Aug 2007, 01:57

This thread from the www.oldpulsars.com website does a very good job of clearing up some of the confusion about batteries: http://oldpulsars.brinkster.net/phpbb2/ ... c.php?t=42
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Post22 Aug 2007, 09:42

That's a great thread. All clear, concise, useful information.

Now I've got a reason other than "they're reasuringly more expensive" for buying silver oxides.
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Post22 Aug 2007, 11:06

Yes, very informative thread. I couldn't have stated it better ;-)
I second that Silver Oxide with KOH electrolyte is the best choice for LED watches.
All good battery manufacturers have datasheets of their batteries on the net, so it's not too difficult to find out the exact chemistry of a battery.
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Post22 Aug 2007, 15:02

Regarding the 357 batteries fitting tight in a PUlsar(mentioned in Dennis' article) - use 386s and bend your tabs on the back cover down just a bit, which will take a lot of strain off the module of your Pulsar. Also, consider removing the module hold-down screws. Not needed, and they put considerable bending stress on the module....a dab of silicone if you don't want it to float out when changing battereis(ALWAYS let silicone cure before sealing a watch, gives off a little acid while curing).

Myself, I'll continue to buy alkalines for their lower price, and because I actually prefer their slightly more gradual power "drop-off" curve. And I don't see leakage problems with modern alkalines that I still see with silver oxides. A light wipe with a contact protectant is a good idea whether changing battereies or storing "empty"; otherwise, you have to wear the contacts down repeatedly(like on a Hughes with the aluminum contact pads) through the act of cleaning.

Name brand(Renata) Silver Ox. batteries are $.72 each if you buy at least 25, thru www.mouser.com vs. $4.39+ EACH at a Radio Shack or department store jewelry counter.

I vote for storing empty, if only to avoid the "green death". If your piece doesn't fire up right away after extended storage, leave batteries in for at least a day, and try activating the setting sequence at least once or twice. Some watches need to accumilate a certain "head voltage" before deciding to wake back up. Ditto after changing a quartz crystal.

Odd tid-bit: Litronix - many(primarily small bore 25-26mm) of their modules had a circuit which prevents them from running after a battery change, until the setting sequence has been activated......so they could ship them with charged batteries, with less worry of battery drain. 8-)
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Re: : storing your led watch collection

Post22 Aug 2007, 16:21

retroleds wrote:Regarding the 357 batteries fitting tight in a PUlsar(mentioned in Dennis' article) - use 386s and bend your tabs on the back cover down just a bit, which will take a lot of strain off the module of your Pulsar. Also, consider removing the module hold-down screws. Not needed, and they put considerable bending stress on the module



I naturally would respectfully disagree with one exemption, that would be if you decided to store watches and not wear them, something I wouldn’t recommend! In this case the alkaline cells would be doing exactly what they were designed to do, power a device with a continuous low drain. Powering the IC and not displaying the LEDs would allow the Alkaline to last almost as long as the Silver Oxide.

Let’s talk specifically about powering the P1, P2, and P3 Pulsar models that originally used the discontinued #355 Silver Oxide. The 355 cells were designed specifically for the Pulsar watches and had a rating of 240 mAh ending at the 1.3v drop-off. To use 386 alkaline cells with the maximum rating of 110 mAh and drooping off at 1.3v after about 50% of its mAh life, you would be reducing the power down to about 20%.

As for leaving the screws out of the Pulsar modules, this again I would disagree. This would transfer the stress of holding in the module in the case to the batteries. In addition, there is the fact the alkaline battery swells up as they drain so this would just make it worse. With hundreds of thousands of Pulsar watches out there the problems experienced with stress on modules are not due to the engineers at Time Computer. It's due to what has been done by others long after they left the factory. I have seen improperly attached Bow-Ties on the caseback a huge problem on many watches. Using too much glue that reduces the ability for the spring metal to deflect as it was designed is like using a battery that is much thicker. One very small drop of Super Glue as the Pulsar Technical Manual states is ALL you need for the next 35 or so years!
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Post22 Aug 2007, 21:32

I'm sorry Dennis, I read your reply but I'm not sure what you are saying in the first paragraph. :-? Are you recommending storing watches without batteries unless those batteries are alkaline?
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Post23 Aug 2007, 01:13

I do not recommend storing any LED watch with batteries unless of coarse, you replace the batteries every year. My point was the power needed to ONLY power the IC for one year is about the same drain for a Silver Oxide as it is for Alkaline. This would be the only case that Alkaline vs. Silver Oxide would be near equal. It’s the massive power needed to light them LEDs that kills the Alkaline. If at any time you push the button on that stored LED, the Alkaline just doesn’t have the reserve power to keep the watch going.

I am not an engineer but I bet Mr. “rewolf” could calculate how long an IC can run for the given mAh of the two type of cells. Obviously this is not the issue here as we wear LED watches to see that display light up, not to see how long the IC has power!
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Re: : storing your led watch collection

Post23 Aug 2007, 01:44

The Time Computer wrote:I naturally would respectfully disagree with one exemption, that would be if you decided to store watches and not wear them, something I wouldn’t recommend! In this case the alkaline cells would be doing exactly what they were designed to do, power a device with a continuous low drain. Powering the IC and not displaying the LEDs would allow the Alkaline to last almost as long as the Silver Oxide.

As for leaving the screws out of the Pulsar modules, this again I would disagree. This would transfer the stress of holding in the module in the case to the batteries.

Dennis, I think I am slanted toward the alkalines, using your reasoning, specifically because I have a large collection of "Stock" which makes the occasional use of my LEDs more financially inclined toward the alkalines. They are incredibly cheap, and last very well in a watch not used often.

The screws in a Pulsar?: I will admit I don't know if it is better to hold the battery holder/"chassis" tightly with the screws, or hold it a little looser and allow it to flex. In many modules any extreme flexation is a instant killer - any that use a solid ceramic circuit board that has it's battery contact directly against the batteries are worrisome. It's killed thousands of Fairchild and Frontier modules. Then again, millions of HUghes and Bulova modules have held up well with their ceramic boards, with nothing more than the battery contact springs in the caseback, and the "rubber band" that they sit on in front to cushion them. Hmmm?

Hey , I think the Pulsar is a great item that gives one the best of both worlds in it's construction - there is enough room inside every Pulsar case that the circuit board is held off of the battery hollder/chassis, if only by a few 1/10 of a mm. This allows for more safe flexation due to battery size differences from swelling. It gives the Pulsar an inherently protected circuit. Even battery juice has a long way to go in a Pulsar to cause damage. 8-)
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Re: : storing your led watch collection

Post23 Aug 2007, 09:36

The Time Computer wrote:My point was the power needed to ONLY power the IC for one year is about the same drain for a Silver Oxide as it is for Alkaline. This would be the only case that Alkaline vs. Silver Oxide would be near equal. It’s the massive power needed to light them LEDs that kills the Alkaline. If at any time you push the button on that stored LED, the Alkaline just doesn’t have the reserve power to keep the watch going.
100% correct. The mAh rating is not everything - the internal resistance vs. discharge state is also very important for LED watches.
The Time Computer wrote:I am not an engineer but I bet Mr. “rewolf” could calculate how long an IC can run for the given mAh of the two type of cells.
High scool math is all you need for this task if you have an "internal resistance vs. discharge state" diagram ;-)
retroleds wrote:They are incredibly cheap, and last very well in a watch not used often.
Money is a factor if you have 10s or 100s of watches. But when I put on a rarely worn watch after half a year, I want to see BRIGHT digits ;-)

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