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Old 2nd September 2018, 11:31 PM
Coastman Coastman is offline
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Default Minox Misery

Hi, I recently purchased a lovely Minox 35GT , but then discovered that the original batteries for this little gem are no longer available as we are saving the planet or something or other, apparently S27PX batteries work, but the Small Battery Co is out of stock,about right, and I cant believe in this day and age, I have to buy these batteries from America just to use my minox.
There are various suggestions on websites, saying that certain hearing aid batteries taped together with insulation tape will work, but I never thought it would come to this when I bought it, any suggestions or advice would be welcome , as long as the camera works as it should, even if it means some sort of Heath Robinson stack of hearing aid batteries wrapped in clingfilm or whatever.
Thanks in advance
Tim G
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Old 3rd September 2018, 01:02 AM
JulioF JulioF is offline
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If you improvise a short tube with rolled paper and tape, maybe you can duct those hearing aid batteries.

Battery types may come and go away, but electrons will keep doing their work if the total voltage is right.

Those little Minox have very good lenses.
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Old 3rd September 2018, 11:12 AM
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B&W Neil B&W Neil is offline
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I have a couple of old classics running on hearing aid batteries with no problems at all. I have found the careful use of Blu-tack can help to get the positioning right.

Neil.
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Old 3rd September 2018, 03:27 PM
Alan Clark Alan Clark is offline
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Tim, a friend who was an electrical engineer gave me a Minox 35 GT a few years ago. He had improvised a battery from three AG12 386 cells and one AG13 357 cell, and no spacers, taped up in an improvised paper tube. I found this worked very well.

Alan
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Old 3rd September 2018, 05:59 PM
JOReynolds JOReynolds is offline
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If you still have the original battery, please give the dimensions, preferably in millimetres. Alan Clark's suggestion seems very workable - just remember to respect polarity when inserting! As JulioF states, the voltage is all that matters.
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Old 3rd September 2018, 07:43 PM
Coastman Coastman is offline
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Default Minox Misery

Thanks for the info, I made a paper tube and put 4 x LR43 hearing aid batteries in and the light meter seems to work, great, hopefully its working accurately, I might put a roll of recently acquired Kosmo Photo film through it,
Cheers
Tim
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Old 3rd September 2018, 08:14 PM
Mike O'Pray Mike O'Pray is online now
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Tim, just out of curiosity did you contact the Small Battery Company and ask how long it expected to be out of stock or was this the notice on its site which I saw as well? It does look as if in the U.K. it is the only stockist unfortunately.

Mike
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Old 3rd September 2018, 10:06 PM
alexmuir alexmuir is offline
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There might be a Minox users club, or group on the internet. There are clubs/groups for other marques, and they tend to be a good resource for this sort of problem.
Alex


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Old 3rd September 2018, 10:40 PM
Coastman Coastman is offline
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Default Minox

Thanks Mike and Alex
I Didn't persue the Small battery company ,as after thinking "just my luck " I looked on several other sites where I found the hearing aid battery suggestions, which seems to have worked ,although I've yet to put a roll of film through it.
I'll look up " Minox owners "club or forum Alex to see what comes up, might be a good idea if I start using it regularly, but I do have a varied collection of old cameras so some of them are not used very often, but the little Minox is such a pocketable little camera.

Cheers
Tim
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Old 18th June 2021, 02:32 AM
dudeinv dudeinv is offline
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I have Minox model Leica M3. Probably the last model Leica made. It uses a memory chip and runs on a CR2 battery. It’s a very scaled down version of the M3. It has a fixed Minoctar 10.3 mm digital lens. I bought it just to have a Minox. Bummer you have to get batteries from the States.


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