My old Quartz (1310 movement) ran fine with a Ray-o-Vac 386 battery. I couldn't find a fresh RoV 386 but was told an LR43 is equivalent. Tried several, not a flicker.
Somebody else then suggested it needs a 1.55V battery, e.g. Renata 301, which has a higher mAh rating. Is this likely to help, or is there a bigger problem?

 

You need a proper 386 battery. Not sure who told you that an LR43 is the same thing, but it's not.

BTW the 386 is rated at 130 mAh, and the 301 is rated at 120 mAh.

 

Oho... It was the guy who sold me a card of Camelion AG12 cells. The equivalence table on the pack claims AG12 = LR43 = 386 = SR43W!

Is the Renata 301 worth a try?

 

So the guy that wants to sell you what he has in stock says they are the same - no surprise there.

Not sure why you insist on wanting to use something other than the battery that Omega calls for, but hey I've tried to help.

Cheers, Al

 

Thanks Al... it's not out of pig-headedness. I want to use what I can actually get hold of where I live! I'm in Kharkov, Ukraine. 386 isn't readily available. Simple.

 

If you have the internet you should be able to order it from somewhere. Using the right cell is important so if you have to order it from out of country then that's what I would do.

 

Even with the web it can be difficult to find stuff here, and it's always 50/50 whether kit from abroad makes it to the recipient! However, I'll take your advice... there's bound to be a supplier in Germany

Many thanks
Richard

 

It will run with an LR43 which is simply an alkaline version of the Silver Oxyde battery, HOWEVER they are prone to leaking and "expansion" so you're taking your chances...not worth it unless it's for a quick check to see if the movement is running. The fact that your 1310 is not running with an LR43 is bit worrying...Keep us posted when you track down a 386 !

 

Sorry, but this is not just an alkaline version of the Silver oxide battery. The 386 is a 1.55V battery with a capacity of 130 mAh, where the LR43 is a 1.5 V battery with a capacity of 73 mAh.

These are very far from being the same cells...there's a lot more to finding equivalent cells that just checking measurements.

 

Right, my main point was that a 1310 in a good shape should be able to run on an LR43 for a quick check.

 

It's possible the old girl needs cleaned, chaps. It used to give me almost 2 years on a new 386, lately only 6 to 8 months. Suggests there's a bit of friction creating extra power drain. But it was last serviced in 2010 when I worked in Geneva, that's a lot of hours ago now. So you're likely both correct in different ways...
I ordered a 386. If it gets here I'll let you know the result...

 

I was not suggesting that the right battery would make it run, only that the ones being offered as equivalents are really not the same as the 386. There are many reasons why the watch may not run, even with the correct battery.

DIY battery swaps can often lead to contamination in the movement if proper precautions are not taken before opening the watch so the train could be blocked, there could be a nick in the coil, the terminals could be oxidized leading to poor contact, the battery could be old and low on power, the circuit could be faulty, or the movement is simply drawing too much current.

The total consumption is allowed to be up to 15 uA on this movement, so 10X the current draw that a modern quartz watch would use, so the battery isn't going to last long anyway compared to a modern quartz with all the bells and whistles. But unless the you have the test equipment and know how to check all the relevant parameters, the only thing you can do is swap in a new battery and hope for the best.

Cheers, Al