Watch battery question

D

dow

Joined
Dec 28, 2004
Messages
11
Hey guys.
I just bought a new watch (G-Shock variant) for work. Anyway, the website says the battery life is approximately 2 years on a CR2016 stock battery.
My question is this: Can I replace this stock battery with a longer lived replacement? Older G-Shocks had much longer lived batteries IIRC. Lithium perhaps? :confused:
Great site BTW. Happy to be here.
 
A CR2016 is a lithium battery and a good big one. The lifespan estimate is just a guess -- it depends on how often you use the light and alarms and whether the manufacturer is more concerned about how many people might not buy the watch because their estimate is too low or about how many people will hassle them and demand their money back because the estimate was too high.

Batteries are cheap and easy to replace anyway. :cool:
 
No. Silver oxide button cells have only 1 1/2 volts and don't last as long as lithium coin cells -- shelf life is lower too.
 
Hi Dow-

Sources for CR2016 batteries are ubiquitous, so don't sweat replacing the OEM battery before it actually dies. Just ensure the seals are in good shape when it does come for a jeweler to make the switch...

Welcome to BladeForums!

~ Blue Jays ~
 
Let me post a follow up. The watch I'm referring to is a Casio G-Shock (Mil-Shock from Countycomm) with the back held in place with 4 screws, like a Luminox. Why they switched from the screw on case back like the older model G-Shocks I'll never know. Anyway...
What's involved with replacing a battery in this watch? Do I replace the lid gasket every time the battery is replaced? Is there a source for the gaskets? Anything else I need to pay attention to? I really love this watch and want to be able to maintain it myself.
Thanks again.
 
The reason for silver oxide batteries is that they have an extraordinarily constant voltage over temperature and over their entire life. When electronic watches depended on the battery voltage, that was important. Modern digital watches have a quartz crystal oscillator in them and the frequency of that oscillator is not substantially dependent on battery voltage.

Lithium button-cell batteries have a very long life, but only under a constant discharge rate. If you use the backlight or alarm or chimes which result in sudden increases in the discharge rate, you will reduce the battery life.

Alkaline button cells have the highest life under higher loads which is why they're popular for hearing aides. Air-Zinc cells are pretty good for this but they have very poor shelf-life once activated. They also find a lot of use in hearing aides.

Just for completeness, mercury button cells have the most stable output voltage but the lowest life but are perfectly happy with an on-again-off-again load. They were often used in camera light meters where the load is very intermittant but a very accurate voltage is required.

My beloved Pentax Spotmatic II camera calls for a mercury button cell. When it went dead, I was heartbroken since the zinc-air replacements only last a few months no matter how you use 'em. Then, I discovered (via the internet) one store in American that still had three of the required mercury cells. I bought all three. The shelf life on mercury button cells is many, many years.
 
Excuse me Steven Roos - my message should have been addressed to dos for his gasket question.
 
I have a few (7?) G-Shocks, some of which use 2016 lithium batteries, and have changed the batteries in my watches when needed.

If a G-Shock specifies a 2016 battery then you can't really use anything other than a 2016 because there isn't any room in the battery compartment of your G-Shock to take a bigger or different shaped battery. The 2016 indicates 20 mm. diameter and 1.6 mm. thick. You just can't shove in a different size battery, there isn't any room for that, it's very tight in there.

And a new gasket isn't necessary as long as the old one isn't damaged. Just be carefull.
 
Just don't overtighten and strip those four screws. If the O-ring is in good shape I lube it with silicone grease ("tune-up grease" at an auto parts store) and reuse it. If it isn't I throw it out and use sealant instead -- O-rings aren't that hard to get, but I've got a tube of sealant already. Form-A-Gasket, Shoe Goo, whatever's handy. The downside of using sealant is next time you'll have to scrape off the old sealant before you can apply new, but that won't kill you. :cool:
 
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