TargetTalk

Looking for a source for the 15v battery for the Morini CM 84E free pistol. Battery plus longer carries them.

You can buy them on Amazon. This is from the UK site, you're probably best searching the US version. Any Electronics shop worth their salt should stock them too. Camera shops may have them, but they usually seem to be quite expensive.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B000 ... ge_o05_s00

Here are several possibilities:

http://www.batteriesandbutter.com/Merch ... EXA220-504

http://www.amazon.com/Exell-Battery-A22 ... B009CCBGOG

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/1 ... ttery.html

http://www.ebay.com/itm/like/2311469585 ... =82&chn=ps

Also, our host (Pilkguns) should have them, and Neal Stepp at International Shooters Service is another good bet, and he's vaguely local.

One thing I don't know is who has the freshest stock. Eveready claims the shelf life of their carbon zinc ones is three years. The date code they put on theirs is the manufacturing date, NOT the "good until" date. I don't know how many of the other battery companies follow the same procedure. Alkalines like the Exell should have a longer shelf life. I ran some detailed tests several years ago, and the Exell batteries are very good:

http://www.targettalk.org/viewtopic.php ... 785#p95785

Morini also do a battery adaptor which uses 10 SR54 button cells x 1.5 volt.
http://www.morini.ch/download/16.pdf

David M wrote:Morini also do a battery adaptor which uses 10 SR54 button cells x 1.5 volt.
http://www.morini.ch/download/16.pdf

Internally, the manufacturers actually use a stack of button cells to make the big 15V one. The difference is that the SR54 cells are silver oxide, which should be better than the original alkalines. I got curious & did some digging.

Someone did a post a while back where they had taken apart a dead V74PX battery, and had filled the shell with a stack of fresh cells. Here it is:

http://www.targettalk.org/viewtopic.php?p=153247

The internal alkaline button cells are "189" cells. A 189 cell has a mAH capacity of (depending on who you ask & their definitions) of between 50 & 80 mAH. An SR54 is rated at (pretty consistently), 80 to 85 mAH. So, using the adapter will be at least as good (if not better) than using an original alkaline 15V battery.

I keep a Morini adapter handy, just in case. The downside is that buying ten SR54's can be a bit spendy. There are places that will sell you ten packs for about the cost of an Exell 15V battery, but they are usually off brand Chinese or past their shelf life. I once bought a cheap pack of Maxell 357 button cells off eBay, and they were all dead as a doornail. I got a full refund, but it was a waste of time.

The shelf life of the two chemistries appears to be similar, but silver oxide tends to maintain its voltage better under load than alkaline does. It turns out there are two flavors of silver oxide chemistry:

"Sodium hydroxide (NaOH) electrolyte (low drain) cells are primarily designed for low drain continuous use over long periods of time, typically up to five years. This is commonly found in analog watch applications. Potassium hydroxide (KOH) electrolyte (high drain) cells are designed for continuous low drains with periodic high drain pulse demands."



I have no idea how easy it is to find out which chemistry a particular manufacturer uses. It sounds like the KOH would be better suited to the Morini. Maxell adds an "S" to the suffix of their NaOH cells, but I'm not sure how consistent that is in the industry. Further investigation suggests that a "389" cell (=SR54W) is high current, and a "390" cell (=SR54SW) is low current.

The one additional parameter that would affect the performance in a high current pulse application like the Morini is the internal resistance of the cells. I haven't found any good info comparing alkaline vs silver oxide.

Bottom line: I think if you use high current "389" silver oxide in the Morini (or a home made) adapter, you will get better performance than with the original alkaline battery.

I decided to try the battery adapter from our host. Neal has always sent me to Battery plus which is where I got the last one. Thanks

David M wrote:Morini also do a battery adaptor which uses 10 SR54 button cells x 1.5 volt.
http://www.morini.ch/download/16.pdf

I got the Morini battery adapter from Neal Stepp at ISS. It works great. I didn't know that Pilkingtons carried it or I'd probably ordered it from them.

Hi They can be had for $9.95 on ebay...

And that price includes FREE shipping.

Tony

paw080 wrote:Hi They can be had for $9.95 on ebay...

And that price includes FREE shipping.

Tony

I assume you are talking about batteries. Be very careful. If you just search on "SR54" on eBay and check carefully, a lot of the cells are actually alkaline chemistry and NOT even silver oxide. The majority of the silver oxide SR54 type cells on eBay are for watches, and will not work as well as you expect with the high current surges required in the Morini. Many of the ones they sell are marked "389/390", and if you read the fine print they usually say "watch" or "low drain" on the package somewhere. As an example, all the Energizer cells I've seen are marked "390/389 (LR1130SW) Low Drain". Anything with an "SW" suffix means those are low drain as well.

The Duracell equivalent is marked "389/390", and they have symbols for a watch, a medical device & a calculator on the card. I had to go all the way to the manufacturer's data sheet to find out that they ARE actually high drain chemistry, so in theory those would be OK. However, I've had a lot of issues with other Duracells leaking, and generally try to avoid their products.

One reliable manufacturer I found that specifically sells "389" batteries is Maxell, and they tend to be a bit more expensive. Varta is also very good, and they sell 389 (SR1130W) cells, even though the box says "watch" on it. You can use a high drain cell in a watch, but the performance won't be as good if you use a low drain cell in a Morini.

Welp Gwhite, I thank you for your lengthy discourse; but, I guess I'll

hang onto my $9.95 ebay Excell A220-E504 Alkaline battery(and unused spares).

The Excell battery has been working perfectly in my 84E for a year and a half,

which includes countless dry fire.

Tony

I've got a couple of Exell's I will use up before I invest in stacks of button cells. The Exell's last a LONG time.

Free pistol has regretttably been droppet from the Olympics. But several countries will continue to arrange national mattches.
I´m about to buy a new FP, to replace my older one.

Morine has released a "carbon" version of their excellent CM 84E Light. Not sure if I want any "carbon", but I would at least shoose the "light" version.
http://potfire.com.au/new-morini-pistol ... light.html

The present CM84 E uses av 15 V (relatively expensive) battery that may, according to Morini, be good for "up to" 5000 trigger releases. Some CM 84 owners say they have to replace the battery at less than that. And they have to carry a spare battery.

The new Steyr LP 10 Evo E now uses an USB-rechargable, very slim, battery. To me, that´s a significant improvement over standard batteries.
The Evo E alerts with a blinking diode when there is 400 shots (trigger-releases) left. That is simply ingenious.

When will Morine follow, offering their CM 84 E with a similar battery solution?
Hope the folks at Morini are listening in...

I shot a match yesterday with my CM84E. Afterward, it occurred to me that I really ought to check the battery. I've done a LOT of dry firing in preparation for the match, and I had no recollection of how old the battery might be. I tried the official Morini battery test, and it failed miserably, so there is a LOT of margin in the system.

Out of curiosity, I measured the open circuit voltage on the battery, and instead of ~ 15 Volts, it was down to 11.84V! That one went in the trash, despite the fact that it gave zero indication of a problem in the match.

I dug out my collection of spares. One is an old Varta, that I took out of service in 2015, and it measured 13.7V, so it's tired, but would probably still work for dry firing or practice. I have two "Exell" batteries I bought new in 2015. One measured 15.33V, and the second was at 15.17V.

Conclusions:

1) The Morini circuit design is EXTREMELY robust, and will still function just fine with REALLY tired batteries.

2) The Exell batteries have an excellent shelf life.

Amazon still sells the Exell batteries, and I have two I bought about a year ago. Given how many free pistol matches there are around here these days, that should probably out last me.