Heavy Arts

Okay, so a common problem with Super-8 cameras is their reliance on 1.35v mercury cells (PX625, and variants), as I’ve covered in previous posts. I recently got a Canon Auto-Zoom 814 which suffers from this problem, but it did come with half a dozen old batteries that worked well enough at the time. They’ve now given up, and I’ve had to find some replacements. The 1.35v Wein Cells are the best option, that work on the reaction of zinc with air, but they’re pretty expensive too…You can get them from ebay for around $10AUS a pop, so that’s $20 in batteries plus a wait to get them in (closer to home, Nanolab also sell them).

Another Alternative
Now something I’ve heard around the playground is that these wein cells are simply hearing-aid batteries inside a metal jacket to make up the space, as the old mercury batteries were larger. On the way home today I picked up a pack of four Energizer 675 hearing aid batteries for $5.50, which is $1.37 per battery. The packet says they’re 1.4v, but a peek with my multimeter shows a solid 1.35v.
I taped two together and wrapped a rubber band around them, to make up the space, and popped them in the camera. Meter responds and seems in line with my previous experience, so – works a treat.

$2.75 plus some tape sure beats 20-odd dollars for batteries, so it’s worth a shot.