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Thread: Pentax Digital Spot Meter battery/storage

  1. #11

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    Oct 2020
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    Austin, TX
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    Re: Pentax Digital Spot Meter battery/storage

    Thanks for all the great responses to my first ever post on the Large Format Photography forum! My 15 year old daughter and I are learning to shoot 4x5 together, and this forum has been a wonderful resource. Going to order a couple of silver oxide PX28s now.

  2. #12
    Drew Wiley
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    Re: Pentax Digital Spot Meter battery/storage

    Varta is one of the better brands. But some of these brands have a new numbering system. Somewhere in the fine print PX28 will be mentioned.

  3. #13

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    Oct 2020
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    Austin, TX
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    Re: Pentax Digital Spot Meter battery/storage

    Hi Drew,

    Yep, I found a Varta in stock at my local camera store (Precision Camera in Austin) and I'm going to go grab it tomorrow.

    Phil

  4. #14

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    Nov 1999
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    San Clemente, California
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    Re: Pentax Digital Spot Meter battery/storage

    Quote Originally Posted by Drew Wiley View Post
    Sal, please don't take this personally and start another useless argument...
    It wouldn't be possible for me to do that, since I've never started a "useless argument."

    Quote Originally Posted by Drew Wiley View Post
    ...We were not only one of the largest contractor suppliers in the nation during my time, but had a major military and defense contractor department too. Do you even know what a true nonflammable aerospace battery is, and how it specifically differs from anything you've ever seen? I was on a long-term first name basis with the CEO's and top engineers of the German and Japanese manufacturers who made them. Of course, we're all retired now, so that alignment of the stars isn't likely to happen again.

    Our service staff was factory trained. We were the warranty contract center for the whole of northern Cal for multiple industrial lines. We obviously had to deal with all kinds of battery-equipment test instruments of our own. Even ordinary little batteries like those under discussion had to be specially wrapped in individual plastic packaging for disposal - the city fire Marshall mandated that. And at that time, we purchased even the little ordinary ones in multiple full truck pallets at a time. Which of these careers have you held?...
    I'm a retired aerospace engineer with a degree in Electrical Engineering. Not that any of your or my education or work experience is relevant to the topic of this thread. I don't claim to know everything about everything, just something concerning the things I answer questions about.

    Quote Originally Posted by Drew Wiley View Post
    ...No, I don't remove the batteries in the meters I have in my regular day bags and packs, which are stored with good ventilation around them.
    But anything like a meter put away for months at a time - you betcha!...
    As is your prerogative. I've had my Pentax digital spot meter sit unused for periods as long as six months with a silver oxide PX28 in it (previously Panasonic, which is no longer available, otherwise Varta) and, as described above, seen no ill effects from doing that. I have no compunction about recommending the OP do the same with theirs.

  5. #15
    Drew Wiley
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    Sep 2008
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    Re: Pentax Digital Spot Meter battery/storage

    Any basic HVAC repairman knows not to leave batteries in a piece of test equipment over time. Just a year or two ago a multi-billion dollar satellite under construction was burned to pieces, along with the whole building around it, because one of the techs left around an ordinary lithium battery drill, which had absolutely no rightful place in an assembly operation like that. Whoever that guy was, he no doubt knew a hundred thousand times more than me about engineering, but didn't know a rat's arse about certain critical common sense things. But I'm not going to quibble about six months of anything, as much as the fact that conditions vary, and damp humid conditions especially risk corrosion. Some batteries are awful, like some of the Kodak ones. Some devices have good corrosion-resistant battery contacts, some have awful ones. I don't take anything for granted. Just read any electronic or digital camera manual : take the battery out when in storage. Wonder why they all state that?
    When in doubt, better safe than sorry. You'd agree with that assessment, wouldn't you, Sal?

  6. #16

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    Re: Pentax Digital Spot Meter battery/storage

    Quote Originally Posted by Drew Wiley View Post
    ...When in doubt, better safe than sorry. You'd agree with that assessment, wouldn't you, Sal?
    As a general rule of thumb, sure. Other than under extreme environmental conditions, I consider leaving a silver oxide PX28 sitting in an unused Pentax digital spot meter for six months (possibly longer) perfectly safe.

  7. #17

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    Apr 2015
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    Purcellville, VA
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    Re: Pentax Digital Spot Meter battery/storage

    Great info above, agreed. Leaving the technical knowledge to the experts -- and this is by no means to ignore their valuable advice -- there are simple things one can do as well, which I do because my photography is now necessarily sporadic and I have a memory like a steel trap -- that, as a friend once replied to my joking boast, never opens.

    Button batteries may not be easy to mark, but larger ones can be marked with a date of initial insertion. (Yes, of course, they could be older or not already.) Alternately, or in addition, one can create calendar reminders, electronic or otherwise, to remove, check, or change batteries. Such reminders are my savior for many things, including maintenance scheduling.
    Philip Ulanowsky

    Sine scientia ars nihil est. (Without science/knowledge, art is nothing.)
    www.imagesinsilver.art
    https://www.flickr.com/photos/156933346@N07/

  8. #18
    Drew Wiley
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    Re: Pentax Digital Spot Meter battery/storage

    Well, as a potentially extreme condition, I'd point out just how fast salt water or ocean spray can corrode materials and electrical contacts in a manner ordinary water cannot.
    Anyone who owns a boat or, like me, has property near the coast, knows just how bad the problem is. Whenever returning from an oceanside shoot, I wipe down the meter well with plain water, and hose my boots off too - saltwater is terrible for leather. Periodically, I unscrew the battery cap and check it for corrosion. It's gotten in there. I have an old beater meter for those torture situations. It still reads correctly, but sure won't win any beauty contests.

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