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Anyone using rechargeable lithium batteries in Renishaw probes??

Mooner

Aluminum
Joined
Apr 14, 2016
Hi All-

I've got Renishaw work and tool probes in my Okuma M560. Both probes eat SAFT 14250 Lithium Thionyl Chloride batteries in large quantities. Need to put in a new set of batteries every 4-6 weeks. Not a huge expense, but they're not cheap either.

Has anyone tried using rechargeable Li-Ion batteries?

Looks like 3.7v rechargeable 1/2aa 14250 batteries can be purchased with 300-600 mAh capacity, which is significantly lower than the disposables @ 1200 mAh. But with ~500 cycles life...

Maybe a waste of time/effort... Just hate disposable batteries...
 
A Li-Ion battery fresh off the charger will be at 4.2V for a bit before settling in to the nominal 3.7V rating. Something to keep in mind if considering trying it. I'd contact Renishaw and bounce the idea off them.

On the old MP10 series spindle probes, I have seen folks use NiMH 9V rechargables with no trouble.
 
Hi All-

I've got Renishaw work and tool probes in my Okuma M560. Both probes eat SAFT 14250 Lithium Thionyl Chloride batteries in large quantities. Need to put in a new set of batteries every 4-6 weeks. Not a huge expense, but they're not cheap either.

Has anyone tried using rechargeable Li-Ion batteries?

Looks like 3.7v rechargeable 1/2aa 14250 batteries can be purchased with 300-600 mAh capacity, which is significantly lower than the disposables @ 1200 mAh. But with ~500 cycles life...

Maybe a waste of time/effort... Just hate disposable batteries...
you might want to contact Renishaw and see if there is a problem. like your probe is on all the time?
our tool probe is used 10-30 times a day and the spindle probe sometimes every part. we generally replace batters every 6-8 months or more.
our machine is a hass
 
sound like you're buying shit batteries. We buy good fresh ones and they last close to a year. A while back, we had a guy find a great deal on them on ebay. They sell old expired shit. Typically they would last about a month.
 
Hi All-

I've got Renishaw work and tool probes in my Okuma M560. Both probes eat SAFT 14250 Lithium Thionyl Chloride batteries in large quantities. Need to put in a new set of batteries every 4-6 weeks. Not a huge expense, but they're not cheap either.

Has anyone tried using rechargeable Li-Ion batteries?

Looks like 3.7v rechargeable 1/2aa 14250 batteries can be purchased with 300-600 mAh capacity, which is significantly lower than the disposables @ 1200 mAh. But with ~500 cycles life...

Maybe a waste of time/effort... Just hate disposable batteries...

4-6 week replacement cycle sounds like something is wrong as others said. Also, not sure if it really matters or not, but if you look Renishaw only recommends 2 brands of batteries (or used to), Saft and some other brand that escapes me at the moment.... Haas machines here too.
 
I have been having a really hard time finding good batteries in that 1/2 AA size. For the last couple years, nothing lasts more than a month.

It's such an issue, that I am considering replacing the OMP40 on my Okuma with an OMP60 like my other machine. The 60 takes AA batteries. Been using it dozens of times a day for almost a year, and it's still on the first set.
 
Thanks all... Now that I think about it, I'm probably exaggerating a bit. I'm changing batteries every 4-6 weeks, but probably only either the tool probe or the work probe. Only rarely do they both need to be replaced at the same time. So I'm probably getting closer to 2-3 months out of a single set of batteries...

I'm probing 4 fixtures / 24 parts / 10 tools each cycle, so sounds close to what others are getting.

I guess I'll just stick with the SAFT 1/2AA disposable batteries...
 
I just replaced my spindle probe batteries , just shy of 1 year. It doesn’t get used every day, but when it gets used, it gets used a lot.

I shopped for Saft batteries for awhile, in the past I have learned not to buy batteries from amazon, 90% of the time they are expired or fake.

I wound up buying them from McMasterCarr. Batteries went from the blinking battery low, to battery dead in less than an 8hr day, so McMaster saved my butt with next day delivery.
 








 
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