Very Easy Battery Saving Mod for Calipers

[@weekendwarrior7080]

would have tried a little NC reed contact and a magnet in the box, so whenever the caliper is placed in the box, the magnet opens the reed contact and the battery disconnected. but that's just what i would try, for now i still stick to the remove-battery-when-not-in-use methode 😉

[@zeno2712]

I was about to say much the same but when I scrolled down to the comments I saw you had beaten me to it! But I think your suggestion is far better than my idea: I was thinking of using the magnet and reed switch to switch it on when the magnet is in place but there would need to be some way of holding the magnet in place when using the calipers - your method avoids that. Having said that, I don't have a box for my calipers, so I'd need to find some way around that.

[@TasteTheCode]

That is a cool idea. There is plenty of space in the box to accommodate the magnet. Thanks!

[@TasteTheCode]

You can place the magnet in whatever holder that you might make. If you hang it on the wall, there can be magnet just behind or even the entire holder can be magnetic.

[@lint2023]

The screws on the top edge of the cover adjust the play between the two halves of the caliper. Take out the play so that the measurement at the tips of the jaws offer the same measurement as measuring deep in the jaws close to the case. Remove all play but still leave the two halves able to slide.

[@TasteTheCode]

Hey Thanks for pointing that out. I realized that they control the movement resistance but not the play. I'll adjust them. Thanks!

[@ddistrbd1]

It's all good ,the only drawback to this mod is, you have bypassed the memory from zero position, what I mean is, now if you open the caliper and then turn it on ,it will show zero from that open position( and not from original/closed jaw position) but this can also be a very useful feature. great mod.

[@TasteTheCode]

Thanks for pointing that out. I wasn't aware that it is even a feature. I was thinking that it resets on each power on. In any case, I usually reset it anyway after I turn it on so it makes no difference for usability.

[@johnmolnar2957]

they should be made with a positive off , but having said that, I will just keep on doing as I do, pull the battery, flip it upside down and close it up till next time.

[@TasteTheCode]

The outside of the CR2032 is the positive, so that is what I'm switching. Flipping the battery is ok if you only use the calipers once in a while. We might need them several times during the day so flipping it all the time is not viable. Maybe at the end of day but it is easy to forget it.

[@paradiselost9946]

calipers are that low tolerance and used that often they dont get a box around here... only the precision stuff gets a box. and no point getting a second mortgage for calipers, either. mid range is adequate for how theyre supposed to be used. it also doesnt hurt so much if you drop them. cheap sets are just that... cheap. but the electronics DO come in handy for the odd time the 'proper" ones get water damage, heat stroke, broken screens, etc... i think ive replaced the internals three times on the current set. which are mito's that i found in the bin due to the broken screen... angle, height, and other rarely used gauges... just pull the battery out and make sure theres always one in stock... then again, ive found myself digging out the CMOS battery from teh PC at 2AM, lol.

[@TasteTheCode]

Oh, so you replace the electronics on the good calipers with ones from a cheaper model? They are compatible?

[@paradiselost9946]

@@TasteTheCode some are, some arent. most of the ones i open up, everything, including mounting holes, is the same. if it was a cr2032, then find ones that also are. if its lr44, ditto.

[@TasteTheCode]

@@paradiselost9946 Cool, thanks! That is a nice thing to know in case they get damaged.

[@stevekgoodwin]

Nice! I did something similar to my multimeter, added a backlight on-off switch.

[@TasteTheCode]

Cool. My multimeter has a switch for the backlight already built in. I think most of the new ones have that now.

[@chaos.corner]

I think you're likely to run into issues with those buttons being knocked off. The thin wires being exposed are likely to lead to issues too. The principle is sound though.

[@TasteTheCode]

Well it is an experiment and that is why I added some glue to the wires as well on the outside to prevent them from breaking. In any case even of they break, I can always repair them.

[@endotherm]

That's what hot melt glue is for 😀. Encapsulate everything in glue so it doesn't get knocked off.

[@chaos.corner]

Battery quality can help. I bought some good silver chemistry batteries and the one has been lasting a long time. Unfortunately, it's a crapshoot out there now with many substandards for sale. Name brands might help a bit but I've seen a lot of variation even there.

[@TasteTheCode]

Yup true that. For the last 2~3 years, I'm sticking to coin cells from IKEA and they seem to be decent balance of price/quality.

[@AdaptingCamera]

...or get a better caliper. I have one which chews one battery each morning to breakfast. Got tired of it and bought a more expensive one, and the battery in that one lasts for several years and I use it daily. By the way, these calipers are NOT magnetic, they are capacitive. You wrongly speak about "magnetic reference" at: kzbin.info/www/bejne/nHK2gJ-im7mpaassi=WxL225uhtnadr-yB&t=736 but there is no such thing in these calipers. The stripes etched into the PCB are capacitive sensors.

[@TasteTheCode]

Hey thanks for pointing that out. I assumed that since the values were all over the place but now I know ;)

[@endotherm]

The switch probably failed because it wicked some superglue inside.

[@TasteTheCode]

It is possible but it locked once even before I installed it. Anyways, I like the slide one better to be honest and I even consider replacing the latching switch on the other one as well.

[@MatSmithLondon]

I have 6 sets of callipers. They are ALL cheap from Amazon. Some are cheaper than others. I preferred the metal type. All of them are awful, rubbish, break after a year or two in some way. I have two nice ones left, and I hadn't used them for a few months. BOTH of them have dead batteries (even though they hadn't been touched, and were locked). You know what, I'm going to invest some decent money in a set of analogue callipers from Mitutoyo because I'm sick of this now! The ones with the dial.

[@Nbomber]

@MatSmithLondon lol if you want to own a nice fancy set of analogue calipers, it's ok, you don't have to justify it by lying. Cheap calipers work fine and are decently accurate. Anything with more demanding tolerances and you shouldn't even be using calipers. As for the battery, they all do that. Simple solution, take the battery out, they cost pennies anyway.

[@TasteTheCode]

I was sick of empty batteries, thus the video.

[@TasteTheCode]

Taking the battery out is not an option as the green one has screw on the cover and we use the calipers quite often so I'm not gonna add/remove the battery every hour. Maybe at the end of day, but then I'll forget. This way, I just use the switch for on/off and it does not take me any more time.

[@fixitman2174]

"Very Easy" is just removing the battery when not in use.

[@TasteTheCode]

Yes, but we don't know when we gonna need them next. It might be in 15 minutes or in 3 days and sometimes we might need them multiple times per day so removing the battery all the time does not work. At least not for us as we tried that first.

[@fixitman2174]

​@@TasteTheCodeAre you serious? It takes less than 5 seconds to remove/install the battery. It's not like digital calipers have an emergency use. The case should have a battery-shaped compartment in it. It's there so you don't lose the battery when not in use. You're supposed to remove it.

[@TasteTheCode]

@@fixitman2174 yes I am. That was a hustle for me so I decided to change it. You don't have to like nor you should do it on yours. I did it on mine and it is a million times better then removing it all the time. The green one even has a screw on the battery lid... Was I supposed to unscrew it every time I want to take out the battery???

[@hugbearsx4]

The black one seems to have some kind of data connection above the battery. Does anyone know what's up with that and if it can be used in any way, shape or form?

[@TasteTheCode]

I know that there are some that can function as a Bluetooth keyboard to input the value from screen but this is not it. I was thinking that it might be some programming header.

[@hugbearsx4]

@@TasteTheCode Thanks!