Advice of M5 battery

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elmoG

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My M5 battery finally ran down of power. It seems that I might have three options.
1. Use it as a no metering Ms.
2. Buy a battery adaptor($35) .
3. Modify the voltage of the M5 by repaired guy ($50?).

Please kindly give me some of your experience and advice.

Thank you.
 
Option 3: pay the few dollars -- a negligible amount over the life of the camera -- to get the metering calibrated or adjusted to take the modern batteries.

At a price of £5.50 each, £5.10 each if you buy two or more, Weincell batteries might make option 4 more costly in the long run, as the modern batteries you could use under option 3 cost significantly less per cell.

My M5 was adjusted to take the modern (non-Weincell) batteries. The meter is perfectly accurate.
 
My favorite solution is the CRIS adapter, because it uses silver oxide batteries. I have found these very reliable.

My M5 is adapted to use the 625 alkaline, and this also works fine. My current battery has been in use for about five months and still works fine.

Either way, the metering is accurate.
 
When I bought my M5 I had full intentions to have it CLA'd and converted for modern batteries. I thought "I'll just use the included Wein cell for now and when it runs out I'll get it CLA'd"

I'm on my 2nd Wein cell, with a 3rd purchased and waiting to be used. It just works so well for me I haven't felt the need to spend the money.
 
Or.........

5. Wein cell. 1 hole open. 3 holes covered. When the first Wein cell runs out, seperate the battery part from the washer part. Insert super cheap 675 hearing aid batteries into washer. Use meter as intended.

6. Find a few mercury cells and grin.

I opted for #6. I have washers ready for #5.
 
I second the CHRIS adapter. It has the added advantage (as I see it, anyway) of leaving the camera unmodified.
 
venchka said:
Or.........

5. Wein cell. 1 hole open. 3 holes covered. When the first Wein cell runs out, seperate the battery part from the washer part. Insert super cheap 675 hearing aid batteries into washer. Use meter as intended.

6. Find a few mercury cells and grin.

I opted for #6. I have washers ready for #5.
Click to expand...
Could you explain option 5 a little more? In this case, picture or link is worth a thousand words.
I've got a CL and this sounds like an option for me.
 
The CRISS adapter works in some applications, but not all. The M5 was a good one. Leicaflex SL did not work.

You can use the 1.35 volt hearing aid battery with an O Ring spacer.

Wein and hearing aid are zinc batteries or cells . Recover the air holes to stop deterioration when camera is in storage. Open them when you use camera next.

1.35 Alkaline cells only work as long as voltage is 1.35. As you use them, the voltage drops giving inaccurate readings. Notice how a flashlight getts dimmer before it quits. Same problem in a meter.
Mercury cells maintained voltage until they quit as do silver oxide cells. There is no voltage drop compensation circuit built into the mercury circuits. Called a Wheatstone bridge.

Wein cost $10 and last 3 months if you do not recover the holes.
Hearing aid batteries are dirt cheap and last 2 weeks in a hearing aid.
 
I have the CRIS adapter (also use them in my Hasselblad Meters) which I have tested in my M5, taking readings with the mercury battery at high, medium, and low-light levels. The CRIS adapter gives exactly the same readings, so I am set for the future. Replacement cells are very reasonable. I also have several of the Wein "washers" and that is another way to go.
 
elmoG said:
1. Use it as a no metering Ms.
...
Click to expand...

Isn't the metering a big part of the M5's appeal?

I've thought about this a bit, since an M5 is on my GAS list. I'd use
Wein cells until I got the camera serviced, and then I'd get the voltage fix. Practically speaking, I'd probably send it off for CLA as soon as I took delivery.
 
Ronald M is right about alkaline cells. Their output voltage falls over time. The voltages of mercury (1.35) and silver oxide (1.55) cells are steady over their lives.
 
PentHassyKon said:
Could you explain option 5 a little more? In this case, picture or link is worth a thousand words.
I've got a CL and this sounds like an option for me.
Click to expand...

The Wein cell has 4 air holes. Opening only 1 allows the battery to last longer.

A Wein cell is a 675 hearing aid battery pressed into a washer to take up space equal to the PX625 mercury battery. When the Wein cell is exhausted, it's simple to seperate the battery from the washer. I placed the Wein cell on a 1/2" socket to support the washer and used a punch to press the battery out. Press a new 675 hearing aid battery in the washer.

It's very simple when you start doing it. Easier to do than explain.
 
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