Leica CL batteries

[Allen Gilman]

For anyone of you who have Leica CLs, what batteries are you using with it? I'm in the process of buying a CL but the 625 mercury cells are not available here in Tokyo. I've heard/read that using other batteries may produce erroneous meter readings so I'm a little worried about it. Any advice would be much appreciated.

 

[wlewisiii]

Get the Wein cell Zinc-air replacement batteries. They won't last as long as the old mercury cells did, but they have the correct voltage and the discharge curve is very nearly the same.

William

 

[Allen Gilman]

Thanks William. I just read this bit of info concerning zinc-air batteries as replacements:

"The battery must have access to air to function; sealed battery compartments can pose a problem in extreme cases (drill a tiny hole)."

Is anyone else "drilling" a tiny hole in their battery compartments??

 

[RML]

The Wein's last only months and they're much more expensive than 625's as well.

I think you'll be better off just to order a few 625 mercury cells over the internet and have them send to you.

 

[Allen Gilman]

Does anyone know where to order these from? I'm looking online and can't find any places yet...

 

[former member]

My Leica CL performed fine without the air hole. I noticed that it took a few minutes to "wake-up" with first use, but was fine there-after. The exposures were right-on.

 

[back alley]

use the hearing aid batteries, much cheaper.

 

[wlewisiii]

The Weins need to be opened up to air for about 20 - 30 minutes to "charge up". Then they will function just fine.

I haven't ever found a camera that was airtight enough to cause a problem.

I have heard that the hearing aid batteries can work in some devices and are what the developers of the Wein cell used as a starting point. However there are quite a few camera circuts (especially in light meters) that are very fussy about the voltage and the discharge curve. That's why I just cough up the couple of extra dollars.

William

 

[Doug]

Another option is to simply leave the battery compartment empty, and use incident readings from a handheld meter. What I've chosen to do with an Olympus Pen FT, but it's annoying to give up the AE on the Olympus 35RC. It sure does lead me to appreciate the extra effort put in on the Pentax Spotmatic and some others to include circuitry making the voltage non-critical.

 

[Allen Gilman]

Thanks for your comments everyone. I think I'll give the Weins or zinc-air batteries a try first since the Mercurys seem very difficult to find anyway. Now, on to that beer...