6 Volt Nicad needed.

[Trailboss]

Hi,

I have the HP 204B and 403B sine generator and AC Meter that uses four NiCad 6 Volt "C" size batteries each.

NiCad 6 Volt 225ma.
Current draw on them is around <50ma.


Anyone have a source for 6 volt rechargeable batteries?

TIA


Vin

[PRR]

> Anyone have a source for 6 volt rechargeable batteries?

Google NiCad 6 Volt "C" size batteries

Amazon has several sources for like 2-bucks a cell.

Places like Batteries America specialize.
http://store.batteriesamerica.com/search.aspx?find=NiCad&log=false&category=15

Keep your eyes open. NiCads are going out of style. If not careful, you might end up with some Lion chemistry which may not like your charger. NiCads are still made for "solar lights".

> NiCad 6 Volt 225ma

6v *per C-cell* ??

Or four 1.25V cells adding-up to 6V near-enough?

NiCads have improved some since those units were made; also H-P probably specced low and modern battery hawkers claim high. You will probably get "2200mAH" even in a sub-C size. You might even look at AA size.

[Trailboss]

Hi,

Man if you can find a six volt battery recharable battery in a C size or smaller for less than about 6 bucks apiece  I'll buy you a cold one! LOL.

I have looked everywhere, and I do mean everywhere, I have been sourcing odd and strange elect parts for many many years and no luck on this simple one,,, it's gotta be right in front of me, I just can't see it!

All I can see on all the battery sites are either 1.2v cells or if I do find a 6 volt it is a "meter" (municipal water meters) cell Lithium for long duration discharge (years).  Or it is some highly specialized battery selling for 150 dollars.

I was figuring with all the improvements in battery technology I could source an AA size battery that would meet the criteria of 6 volt/225ma.

I tried using portable telephone batteries (2.4v) but series ESR caused charge issues when series connected, plus barely enough room to stuff into the meter case, these are small modular frame housed meters.

Any help appreciated if I missed the obvious let me know,

Thanks

Vin Collins

[sluckey]

Are you saying you need a 6V NiCad battery pack that is physically the size of a standard "C" size battery? Do you have the original battery packs? Can you show us a pic?

I've attached a pic of the Option 2 panel for an HP 204C. Does your 204B look like this? Those battery packs appear to have 5 cells in each pack. The individual cells appear to be "pancake" shaped. I don't know if that physical size cell even exists today.

For testing, you could just use a pair of 12V batteries to power the HP204.

[sluckey]

Check out the pics on this eBay listing out...

http://www.ebay.com/itm/HP-Agilent-204C-Oscillator-Option-02-New-Rechargeable-NiCd-Batteries-/350752613734?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item51aa7c2566

This guy replaced the original battery packs in a 204C OPT 2 with two 12V NiCad packs. Looks like he used AA size cells. Nice looking job. Probably the most affordable option.

This is probably easily doable for your HP 204 and may give you some ideas for the 403 meter. You could roll your own or go to your local battery store and get some pretty cheap.

[eleventeen]

Boy, in my experience, hp stuff from that era is incredibly irritating to work on. Special parts...hard to keep physically steady when disassembled. I've certainly chucked an apparently reasonable-looking hp meter from those days or two after spending lots of time that would have been much better spent on a new DVM. Oscillator, maybe different.