LED Conversion on keys....battery discharge

[Joe Bob]

One of my LED converted lighted keys stopped working. I opened it up and one of the 1.5w button batteries had discharged while the other was full boat on my digital tester.

For those that did the conversion are they still working alright? I sent out a lot of LED bulbs and batteries to people who asked for them. I had a whole crap load of them. Of course, NOW I'm out of batteries.

The + lead HAD fallen to the side, the #389 batteries were cheapos off of eBay but they all tested fine prior to install.

Any battery gurus? I can see both taking a dump but not just one and in close proximity with the other.....they were stacked on top of each other.

I just ordered 10 more....$1 and free shipping.....

[Joe Bob]

Rennbay.com :

BTW, the LED polarity is reversed...

[chuckr]

I did the LED key light thing a while ago and mine works great ! I did tape the two batteries
together before I installed them, besides that I followed instructions using Radio Shack
parts.

[Joe Bob]

Thanks....based on my total investment of like $4, I'm still ahead.

Local batteries are like $3.50 each and radio shack wanted $6 a bulb.

Just curious as to what others have experienced now that some conversions are over a year old.

I also used some of the bulbs and made some nifty back up and license plate lights.

However, I have noticed that RS has dropped their prices on the bulbs.......the batteries are NOW 5.99 each.

[wildcat077]

I found the batteries didn't last very long ... it's a nice upgrade though !

Cheers !
Phil

[86 911 Targa]

Here's the one I used, a bit brighter than the others:

[Socbum]

Mine died as well. The battery lasted about three months. I'm assuming that the wires were touching something inside and draining the battery.

[Joe Bob]

Was it a conversion to LED and were the batteries sourced locally or from my stash?

[Socbum]

Conversion to LED but not from your stash

[lv600]

I did the LED conversion going on 4 years now, and still have the original batteries. I haven't pressed the button in a couple of months, but I think it's still good. I'll need to check tonight, just to end the mystery!

[OttawaDave]

I just opened up my inoperative LED upgraded key and found one of the poles had snapped off....there's movement on the wire (though slight) and it broke off right at the base of the bulb.

No problem I thought, since I have the spare LED in a drawer somewhere....Well, I suspect my battery(ies) died as well since I can't get it going. Then, figuring I just needed to fiddle with it, I busted off one of the poles on the new LED.

Oh well, as Joe Bob noted, with the pennies invested, I'm still ahead. Still, I'll have to figure a neater way to arrange those leads on my next attempt.

[ArmbrusterJo]

besides that I followed instructions using Radio Shack

[Joe Bob]

My eBay purchase of button batteries showed up. All tested at 1.5v. $1.00 delivered for a ten pack.

Installed them and it works again. The world is now safe for democracy.....