[NJARC] RCA 4 Volt Battery

[AMCMATADOR at aol.com]

HI,

  That battery is a Mercury battery,it is made up of I think PX-625 mercury 
cells. As I recall the standard otuput of mercury cells is 1.35V, and they are 
stacked, soldered together, and "shrink" wrapped in plastic (or cardboard) as 
one 4 V battery. Mercury batteries have long been discontinued (begin violin 
solo) due to enviornmental issues.Apparantly the batteries (or their contents) 
were finding their way into waters and fish etc... There are alkaline 
replacments, based on the familiar 1.5V alkaline cells. The voltage differs slightly, 
but for transistor radio purposes it is of little concern,as opposed to their 
use in camera meters (where voltage is critical). Mercury batteries were less 
prone to leakage, and lasted longer than zinc air types, but with the modern 
alkalines, you wont notice much less of a life expectancy. Those batteries were 
introduced in the very late 1950s and made up through the 90s. That being 
said, alkaline replacments are available, and if you are interested, I actually 
have some 80s production refrigerated mercury batteries, which are still 
usable.(MAY have shorter life than original) 

               Darren 


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