Casio Calculator

My wife just happened to mention that the Casio calculator, which we use just about every day, has never needed a new battery since I bought it for her..............30 years ago!

 

How is that possible?

Are you sure it's not an abacus rather than Casio:rolleyes:

 

Or is it solar powered, probably not from that era, what make is the battery?

 

It will probably die tomorrow:(

 

I have a Hewlett Packard which is about 20 years old and came from a car boot sale, I have never changed the batteries, but it hardly gets used as I tend to use my phone which needs to be recharged every day:(

Ditto - There's a Casio calc kicking around here which is on its original button cell. If I can find it to look, I wouldn't be at all surprised if it's a mercury based cell, as those were incredibly long-lived in cameras of the day. I occasionally buy a 30 year old camera with a good battery still in it, and it's not been replaced in an age.

I also have a Casio, and its solar powered. Its probably older than 30.

Same here with a Casio scientific calculator, never changed the battery and still ok after more than 30 years.

 

Also a lithium battery in a portable minidisc recorder that's still got over two thirds capacity after 22 years, a rechargeable Braun 1508 electric razor still charging like new after more than 25 years and I think much more but can't remember. A standby Pifco torch that's connected to the mains all the time to come on automatically for power cuts is flawless after 44 years in use

 

Something is seriously wrong with today's small batteries, recent Braun and Panasonic electric shavers have both had batteries lose so much capacity within a year that the frequency of recharging is a real bind, and a current Casio model lithium battery died with internal shorts and swelling at just over one year old.

I have a Casio G Shock watch, model G-100, that I've had for 12 years.... its still got its original battery and is still going !

I also had a Citizen Eco Drive watch, the company claims that these watches 'never need a battery replacing'...... well the expensive rechargeable battery that these watches use packed up after 8 years, which just shows what rubbish the claims of Citizen are.

This is a really good topic with two issues. How long can electronics keep working and how long can batteries last ?

 

I too have a Casio calculator that I bought for college in 1981. Still going strong.

A 1982 Yaesu FT790 transceiver with its original Ni-Cds still holding charge.

A Grundig radio in my workshop has played all day for 40 years. Stirling service !

 

Stuff can be still be designed for microscopic power consumption. My mobile phone is a Nokia 100.

They claim 'Up to 35 days standby'. Unbelievable but true (with a very local base station).

 

Unfortunately, our bikes get frozen, baked, and rattled about. Then we sting our batteries with 1C+ discharges.

Clearly they're doomed, but I'd love to hear of more unlikely consumer electronics survivors.

 

What have you got, fellas ?

I was sorting out a cupboard this morning and unearthed Sony DV Handycam which is around 10 years old judging from the videos recorded with it. I charged up the pair of Sony Lithium 7.2v batteries which have not seen the light of day for years and they are still working perfectly.

 

As for the camera, it must be one of the least ergonomic devices made by Sony with more than a dozen switches in different locations.

I found a couple of 20 year old Walkmen - one genuine Sony ( but when they went plastic) and one rip-off clone, both worked fine, but I'd never stored them with batteries in. Actually, I was hard-pushed to find a cassette to test them.

The oldest bit of kit off hand, is a 1952-ish Murphy B52 Admiralty receiver, but I haven't had that running for fifteen years. It was fine when it was, and was a wonderful bit of gear; incredibly sensitive.

Murphy B40 Naval Receiver

5318008 - Every teenage calculator owning boys favourite number. Still makes me smile now at 43 years of age....