Starrett Mic

[cobra]

I have a relatively new (5 months) 734 Starrett electronic micrometer.
This morning the display faded and quit. Thought it must be the battery.
Picked up a new battery but the display is still dead.
Any clues? Is there some combination of buttons that sets contrast or turns the display off?

 

[mklotz]

Try shorting the battery contacts - obviously with the battery removed. On some devices (like my calculator) that action performs a reset.

 

[Antman]

My Starret doesn't use batteries and was made in Great Britain?

 

[MatiR]

Cobra, when the battery in my Starrett 734 died after about 1 year or so, I replaced it with a different brand (Duracell DL2450) but of the same size (according to the reference chart) and rating as the original battery. When I turned it on - nothing. Hmmm. Checked the new battery and it was slightly thinner than the original battery and did not make contact properly. A folded small piece of 0.005" brass shim stock between the negative side of the battery and the cover solved the problem. When this one dies, I'll look for a more suitable replacement. Is your new battery the same brand as the original?

 

[cobra]

Thanks for the hint.
The new battery was the same number but different maker.
I will check.

 

[cobra]

I got the same hint from another site.
Sure enought,the battery dimentions are not even close!
Amazing that you can have exactly the same number and have such variation in dimentions. I will go looking for other batteries.
Jim

 

[BigBore]

That's weird because a new, out of the box, 734 was on E-bay. The guy said he bought it for $180 and didn't want to take a chance that the supplied battery was old so he put a new one in and the mic didn't work. I guess it had sat in the box for awhile so he didn't want to return it. It went for $40. If I had known......

Ed

 

[ChooChooMike]

Yup, had the EXACT same problem with the batteries. Old battery died and "new" one, same model # or a replacement # didn't work. Same issue, the battery dimensions between the 2 batteries were slightly off. The "new" battery wouldn't seat properly in the mic (733/734). I noticed it since the battery compartment cover would seat properly and wouldn't screw in all the way. I found the correct battery and all is well.

folded small piece of 0.005" brass shim stock between the negative side of the battery and the cover solved the problem.

I'll have to try that next time if I don't have the correct battery handy. I thought I stocked up on a few, but that was at least year ago and I'm not a very prolific HSM, so tools don't get used a lot. Besides for what I'm doing now, a caliper works just fine

Mike