In article , "Michael Koblic" wrote:
I have three sets of cheap digital calipers bought in Canadian Tire. The
have all been working fine and agree with a micrometer to within 0.001". Two
weeks ago I tried to use the one I keep in the workshop to measure something
of the order of 4" when the calipers refused to measure anything past 1.5".
I brought them into the house where they started working fine as soon as
they warmed up.

The second set did exactly the same thing today.

The temperature in the workshop is 9.5 deg C.

Replacing the battery made no difference. What is the likely cause?

Cause is stated in the first sentence of your post... g

On a more serious note, though, one suspect is a bad solder joint on a printed
circuit board. Open one up; if there's a PCB inside it, examine every solder
joint under strong magnification, and see if you find any cracks.