Long life battery

[colin wells]

I recently bought a Minolta SRT 101 i think the age of the camera is about 30 years old .I Was giving it the once over checking meter ,wind on , light seals etc .I went to change the battery for a 1.4v hearing aid job and found a original mercury cell in perfect condition and reading 1.35 volts on my meter .Mercury cells have been banned for at least 20 years in the UK so i am supposing it is at least that age .I have come across them before but they are usually in a sorry state but some still reading on my volt meter

 

[AgX]

I too found many dead or even leaking mercury cells, but a few still in working condition.
(But be sure they are true mercury ones, not depleted alkaline ones of the same 625 size that by accident show the same voltage.)

 

[AgX]

Just right now I found type 625 cells in a camera with a voltage of 1,33V that on checking out their manufacturer coding turned out to be Alkaline ones. Thus be careful as hinted at in my post above.