Caliper - Solar vs Battery???

My 25 yr old $29 digital caliper is about to die. Go figure. I am looking at one of the Mitutoyo 500 series calipers. I spoke with the tech support staff at Mitutoyo about the pros and cons. He was a nice child, but didn't give me any usful information to make my decision. Can someone who has used both please sum up the pros and cons of the solar vs battery? And yes, I know I will have to replace the battery every so often and I know I won't in the solar powered one. Since I have had my caliper, I have had to visit Radio Shack at least every three years. Also, I have read the information on Mitutoyo's site as well. Thank you.

Regards,

Drew

Food for thought

Bill,

You have raised a few questions that I did not ask. Does the solar unit that I am looking at have a battery, or does it store the energy in some other manner? I will have to ask. And, does it keep an 'absolute' reading even when turned off. The tech info on the latter point indicates it does.

Also, like you, I rarely use my electronic caliper for anything important. After all, it is old and on its last leg. I use bore guages and manual micrometers.

Thanks for your thoughts.

Regards,

Drew

Long-term energy storage no longer requires batteries. It can be accomplished using so-called "Super-Capacitors", which have been available for several years.

These are available with ratings up to hundreds of Farads, values not even dreamt of a few years ago.

Some are now being marketed as rechargeable batteries, in same standard sizes and styles as NiCd and other types.

I don't know if these are being used in any measuring instruments at this time, but they certainly could be.

- Leigh

Mitutoyo calipers work extremely well and are well regarded on this board. I've had the IP67 version for 10 years now and just changed my batteries for the second time a few months ago. They work just as well now as they did when i got them. I'm always surprised at how often they agree exactly with a mike (though maybe subconsciously I'm enabling that). Mine have an auto-off feature which is very nice. The regular 500 series didn't have this in the past but maybe they do now?

I don't see the need for solar power, I think it'd end up being troublesome and much more likely to fail in the future.

I can think of at least three reasons to buy the regular battery-powered Mitutoyo caliper.

1) If you're an occasional user, and keep the caliper in a tool chest, you won't be able to just grab the solar version and be sure it's charged.

2) The extra cost of the solar unit will buy you about 30 years worth of batteries.

3) Like sheys says, it's one more thing to go wrong (though likely very reliable if to the usual Mitutoyo standards).

Why buy a solar one? If you're a daily user (so it doesn't go dark), you won't ever have to hunt for a battery for the likely lifetime of the unit.

The one thing I'd hesitate to do is buy something other than a Mitutoyo in a digital caliper.

Batteries in a Mit's caliper got 3-4yrs easy and I leave them on all the time.
Solar crap is all novelty.

The Mitutoyo solar calipers look a little bulky to me compared to the battery models.

the batteries still haven't died in my dial calipers

Putch said:

the batteries still haven't died in my dial calipers

Click to expand...

Kids, sheesh.

Follow up

Thanks to everyone for the input. I get the distinct feeling that this group leans toward batteries and Mit. Why not? They have been working flawlessly for years.

On the matter of a battery in the solar unit: after again speaking with a young, but more knowledgeable child at Mit, I am told that there is the occasional user who calls in asking how to replace their battery. The response is, "There is no battery. Just leave it in the light for an hour and you'll be fine." That says it all. So Leigh is likely right on his point. There must be some sort of storage source other than a battery.

Having said that, I am ordering the 500-753-10. That's the 8 inch unit. I don't need data and from what I have experienced from my existing unit, I don't need carbide. The absolute function and IP67 are standard in most of their higher-end units. What I like about the ABS function is that if you need to check your measurement after a period of time and your unit has shut itself off, the reading remains. I don't know how they do this, but it's a nice feature.

Thanks again for your time.

Regards,

Drew

One point to consider...

Modern digital instruments are never "off", in the sense of drawing zero current.

The measurement system is always active as long as power is available. Only the display is turned off to reduce current drain on the battery.

This allows the caliper or mic to accurately follow movement of the measuring jaw even when the display is off.

- Leigh