What's with the CR1620 battery in a key fob?

I’ve gone through several “rashes” of buying packs of 2032s that were dead or very weak upon installation. I’m not certain these things might sit in crummy conditions for a while before selling. Not the same battery, but could be a similar thing.
 
The CR1616 energizers I bought today were made in Japan as well as the old energizers I took out of my mom's key fobs.
I’ve bought some CR2032s from Amazon, their house brand. Made in Indonesia by Fujitsu FDK, which also supplies other brands.
 
Several years ago, I was having trouble finding CR1632 batteries Made In Japan, this my preferred COO. Being an owner of Swatches that have remarkable battery life (Renata), I soured out Renata batteries for my Toyota (Denso) fob, they died very quickly. I settled for Indonesian Energizers and they have been great. I will say this though, there are a lot of fakes out there and as a side note, the pictures above are Vartas, not Renatas. I've never had a Renata leak, only fake Maxells have leaked in my watches.

The business is kind of weird these days as most have offshored their manufacturing to Indonesia or China. Looks like Sony has exited the market and sold the business to Murata although they still keep one factory in Japan.

murata-cr1620-formerly-sony-75mah-3v-lithium-limno2-coin-cell-watch-battery-1-piece-tear-strip-sold-individually-9.jpg


The criticism of Renata is usually about their silver oxide batteries. They tend to leak when fully drained, which happens a lot with watches that are put away, forgotten, and the seals leak. Here's a rant:

 
Yes, I used to buy Sonys too! The packaging (Sony clone) of the Murata gives it away. The truth is I don't even wear watches anymore since my kids gifted me a Fitbit, back when I started my weight loss journey.

Thanks for the link; interesting.
 
Yes, I used to buy Sonys too! The packaging (Sony clone) of the Murata gives it away. The truth is I don't even wear watches anymore since my kids gifted me a Fitbit, back when I started my weight loss journey.

Thanks for the link; interesting.

Sony was the early market leader in lithium-ion batteries. In the 90s they had most of the world's production at a single factory in Japan that caught on fire.


But they sold to Murata in 2016. I'm not sure how this all worked out with the lithium primary batteries, since this says those weren't transferred even though it looks like Sony is out of the business. Maybe it was transferred later?

Business operations related to consumer sales of Sony-branded USB batteries, alkaline batteries, button and coin batteries, and mobile projectors, as well as certain other products, will not be part of the Transfer.​
 
These batteries just get weirder and weirder. I'm looking for CR2050 batteries for the factory TPMS sensors, which I was not able to find locally. Going to have them get them shipped from the U.S. Otherwise, I have to go through the whole fiasco of replacing the sensor and having them programmed to the truck.
 
When it comes to coin batteries I've had the best luck with Energizer from Wally, they seem to sell a lot of batteries so they are fresh.

I have an old Compustar remote start installed in my Sierra that holds 2 2016 and the range is impressive, I can stand in my kitchen in the back of the house and start my truck which is parked in the street about 150 feet with no problem, it also goes through the steel walls at work to where my factory remote for my Lucerne will not.

Here is a tip to make your batteries last twice as long in your remote, when you leave the vehicle use the button on the door instead. Of course this will not help with newer vehicles that are in constant contact all the time.
 
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Just this morning I replaced the CR1616 batteries in my mom's honda, why they chose the smallest little SOB they could I don't know, they're hard to find, Walmart didn't have any, Meijer didn't have any, screw paying the price the drugstore wanted, ended up finding 2 on the shelf at Menards, $3.27/ea, ridiculous but we needed them today.
The battery in my Accord's key fob lasted for 13 or 14 years. The battery in the other key fob is still going (15 years). The batteries in those key fobs are pretty cheap on a time basis.

The batteries (I bought 2) are a bit hard to find and getting the key fobs open wasn't easy. So I loosened the screws in both fobs while I was at it.
 
A 2016 cell size is pretty darn small. ... But it is a small cell, half the energy of the 2032 that is commonly used. ...
Actually much less that half. According to Eveready specs (of a few years ago), their CR2016 was rated at 80 mAh, compared to 225 for CR2032. CR2025 was 170 mAhr.
 
I used to participate in a watch forum, and some of the professional watch repair guys absolutely hated Renata. Claimed that they would leak faster than any other brand, although they provided factory-installed batteries for all the major Swiss watches. The recommendation was for Japanese batteries - either Seiko (Seizaken) or Maxell. I think Sony had them too.

A lithium battery leaking is pretty nasty.
This was my experience as well. When a Renata dies, get it out of the device pronto.

Where you source batteries is as important as the brand. Even though they have expiration dates, you never know how they've been stored or handled. I get coin batteries from Digi-Key, Mouser or Newark.
 
Is it possible you bought counterfeit batteries? Something seems wrong with the dates listed. They normally have about a 10 year shelf life.

Anyway I suspect counterfeit or they were just very old stock. I usually buy bulk of any major brand on ebay. Might be counterfeit but so far no issues, though besides a few watches, most are the larger CR2032.
 
My dad asked me for help with his. I'd bought several Maxell CR1620 for him a few years ago for his 2008 Nissan key remote. They made it really, really small so that the electronics weren't much larger than a normal key base, but man that thing is tiny, not terribly powerful, and eats through batteries like crazy.

I remember he paid for a battery maybe last year because my mom stashed away the batteries I got and couldn't find them. But they found them and asked me to help when it didn't work last weekend. I didn't have a tester or voltmeter, but we tried every single battery and none worked except the one in one remote. Looking at the date code is was clearly a Maxell CR1620 that I got for them a few years ago. My mom barely uses that car so her remote was barely used. But all of the other ones didn't do anything. I was kind of frustrated because the date code showed it was made March 2018 and the package says they expire in 2023.

Just venting. I ordered another pack (5 for maybe $4) of these things but shipping is going to take a few days. I get that these also tend to be more expensive than larger and more common CR2025/CR2032. I get that they use them to be thinner, but a larger one would have been nicer for a longer use, more power, and longer storage life.
lemme guess Amazon batteries? A lot a really really junky button cells made in china are out there. some don't work out the box. They are not the old japanese lithiums from the 80s and 90s that we'd put in watches and wonder how the hell those casios kept time with them 10 years later.

I think they are just regular alkaline or some junk they put in there. Try to get legit panasonic, maxwells are now chinese garbage.
 
lemme guess Amazon batteries? A lot a really really junky button cells made in china are out there. some don't work out the box. They are not the old japanese lithiums from the 80s and 90s that we'd put in watches and wonder how the hell those casios kept time with them 10 years later.

I think they are just regular alkaline or some junk they put in there. Try to get legit panasonic, maxwells are now chinese garbage.

I pretty much only get Maxell. In a pinch I might get Murata (what used to be Sony) even though it's made in Indonesia.
 
Actually much less that half. According to Eveready specs (of a few years ago), their CR2016 was rated at 80 mAh, compared to 225 for CR2032. CR2025 was 170 mAhr.
using a 2032 to replace stacked 2016 works well in some applications
 
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