On Fri, 29 Aug 2014 16:29:47 +0100, Martin Brown
wrote:

On 29/08/2014 15:40, Johny B Good wrote:

Since mains outages are so very rare where we live, I can afford to
take my time over finding a replacement so have the luxury of keeping
my eye out for any suitable 'donor' NiCd (or NiMH) packs I might spot
in a flea market stall or junk shop. The original mempac uses oval
shaped cells (oval as in 'racetrack oval, that is!) which could easily
be substituted with round cells of the same diameter and length so my
choice of a donor battery is quite wide. :-)

Doesn't RS do them for ~£6 and at a local trade counter for cash they
probably won't ask too many questions. I can't recall what their minimum
order value is for mail order or try RapidOnline.


Thanks Martin. I've just checked out the Rapidonline site and the
price, delivered, works out to a total of "£10.67". This is for the
solder wire tagged version (I can easily remove the tags if they don't
list the tagless version as seems to be a common failing with a lot of
these suppliers). A more careful search for "VARTA Mempac 3/V150H"
only reveals the tagged versions.

Mind you, I haven't yet tried the more obvious Sheds like B&Q, Plumb
Centre and Wickes so I think it's time to confirm my worst fears and
take a peek.

Well, I've just checked out that list of "Usual Suspects" and I have
to say, with disappointing results (i.e.none!). However, I have
noticed the obscene pricing by Wickes on their 4 x AA NiMH cell packs
at a staggering £7.99 !!!

Sadly, they all met my expectations for disappointment so no
surprises there. :-(
--
J B Good