Author Topic: Cheap button cell batteries?  (Read 2332 times)

jeromedawg

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Cheap button cell batteries?
« on: October 06, 2017, 05:19:21 PM »
Hi all,

Where do you guys buy your button cell batteries from? I'm looking for 2016, 2025, 2032, etc... a while back I tried some from Harbor Freight and those were all pretty awful - some were DOA and others were drained halfway, etc. There are quite a few on Amazon but I'm not quite sure what the best brand/value would be. Are there any brick and mortar places you guys go to get these kinds of batteries (generic or not) at where they don't charge an arm and leg?

terran

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Re: Cheap button cell batteries?
« Reply #1 on: October 06, 2017, 05:29:48 PM »
I tend to get energizer from amazon like these: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B003CNNNBA/. Maybe not reasonable, but batteries are one of the few things I usually go for name brand on.

geekette

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Re: Cheap button cell batteries?
« Reply #2 on: October 06, 2017, 06:27:52 PM »
Amazon or ebay.  I've yet to get a bad batch, and they're so much cheaper than available locally.

eta:  make sure that you're getting Lithium Batteries, not alkaline, unless that's what your device calls for. 
« Last Edit: October 06, 2017, 06:34:10 PM by geekette »

bobechs

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Re: Cheap button cell batteries?
« Reply #3 on: October 06, 2017, 06:56:07 PM »
Watch material supply houses sell bulk cells at reasonable prices.

Try Star Time in Houston, Esslinger, Jules Borel in KC they all have web store accessible by searching the name against any of the search engines.

Syonyk

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Re: Cheap button cell batteries?
« Reply #4 on: October 07, 2017, 01:13:59 PM »
eBay.

I'll order about 10 at a time. It's not much more expensive than getting one locally and a variety of common button cell batteries has come in handy often enough that it's worth the few bucks to keep them around.

While you're ordering, find out what your car remote takes - they seem to love weird sizes. My wife's car used to drain the remote battery in a day or less if something in her purse was pressing it.

bortman

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Re: Cheap button cell batteries?
« Reply #5 on: October 07, 2017, 08:08:01 PM »
Not sure if you need these sizes for something specific, or if you're using for electronics projects in general. If you just need to get to 3V the you could use this hack to get a bunch of smaller 1.5V buttons.

https://youtu.be/QxS38_u7Mnw

http://www.instructables.com/id/DIY-Coin-Cell-Holder

BlueMR2

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Re: Cheap button cell batteries?
« Reply #6 on: October 08, 2017, 06:18:48 AM »
Hamfests.  They sell the big monster pack assortments for as little as $1 or $2 per pack!  Of course you have to pay your entrance fee too, but if you're scrounging other stuff or stocking up it can be worthwhile.