On Thu, 08 Oct 2015 23:21:51 +0100, Robin wrote:

Bob Eager wrote:
OTOH I have learnt the hard way to put insulation over the terminals
of the PP9s - or rather the hot and squishy meltdown way.

You can afford PP9s? Haven't bought one for many years!

Ahem, make that recharegable PP3s as used for battery backup in the
mains smoke alarms.

I blame the fingers - but it was bloody hard typing that as they kept
wanting to tell their side of the story.

That said, I did buy a PP9 2 years ago for a neighbour's old bell. I
don't recall it seeming that expensive.

Not quite as bad as I remembered. But for many, many years I had a
transistor radio that used two of them....

One of these (although mine had been recovered in canvas and I rescued it
from a bin):

http://vintage-radios-london.co.uk/V...DECCA%20-TP85-
PORTABLE-TRANSISTOR-RADIO