Lithium battery in DVR?

[Johnboy54]

Hi.
I bought a cheap? (£120) CCTV on Ebay. Guy said it was HD and excellent night vision. It's not. Paypal agree and told me to send it back for a refund. I've boxed it up very well and smothered it in tape. It's off to China.
Trouble is, Post Office want to know if there's a Lithium battery in the DVR. I can't undo it all to take a look. I know that if there's a power cut, it remembers all the settings and starts recording again when power's restored, which I think may be a battery back up?
So, does anyone know how it recovers this info. Is it a Lithium battery, or just part of the ROM/RAM/HDD?
Thanks.
John

 

[danechip]

No, there won't be one. It's not required. Backup would be supplied by a seperate UPS, the same used for a computer.

 

[Johnboy54]

Thanks very much for that. I appreciate it.
John

 

[Monkeh]

There very well might be a lithium primary cell for the clock. However, that's not really what they're concerned about and is not a shipping risk, so just say no.

 

[danechip]

You could be right there, but surely for cost, a 2032 button would do the trick as most pc's ?

But definitely I would say no if asked the question, even if it did have one. I'd agree with that.

Dan.

 

[Monkeh]

You could be right there, but surely for cost, a 2032 button would do the trick as most pc's ?

That is a lithium primary cell.

There are restrictions as to shipping these, but they basically explicitly allow single cells like this as they're harmless and often not removable. Just don't even think of saying 'yes' when asked because the people at the counter won't know or care, they'll just say you can't send it.

 

[danechip]

Yeah but no but. Also alkaline too.

When I had to return a mobile battery to Amazon, I just had to put warnings on the back and front that were printed along with the RMA. But saying that, I forgot to post it before the deadline for a refund. This was only in a jiffy bag though.

 

[Monkeh]

Yeah but no but. Also alkaline too.

I have never in my life seen such a pointless beast as an LR2032.

A CR2032 is, always has been, and always will be a lithium primary. That's what the C stands for. Now if you'd said an SR2032.. They don't work for RTCs, though.

When I had to return a mobile battery to Amazon, I just had to put warnings on the back and front that were printed along with the RMA. But saying that, I forgot to post it before the deadline for a refund. This was only in a jiffy bag though.

International shipments are a different business, as they fly.

 

[danechip]

So are you saying an alkaline cell cannot power an RTC?

And yes, LI Ion would more definitely be in a 2032 if a cell was used, even though alkaline types are available.

 

[Monkeh]

So are you saying an alkaline cell cannot power an RTC?

Seeing as every standard RTC device on the planet is designed to operate from a 3V lithium cell, and an alkaline cell is 1.5V, yes. There's also the small problem that the alkaline will self discharge itself to death in a very short period while the lithium cell can, theoretically, last upwards of 20 years if the device has high uptime and is correctly designed (low leakage current etc).

To pull the most well known one up: http://datasheets.maximintegrated.com/en/ds/DS1307.pdf

And yes, LI Ion would more definitely be in a 2032 if a cell was used, even though alkaline types are available.

No, it would not be lithium-ion, it would be Li-MnO2. They are primary cells, not secondary.

Please show me an LR2032.

This is getting way off topic though.

 

[danechip]

Google throws up LR3032 ??

http://www.batteryspace.com/li-ion-...0d-x-3-2mm-0-14wh-0-012---un-38-3-passed.aspx

And yes to off topic. End of.

 

[Johnboy54]

Wow! Now I'm confused!
The cctv was not as described - a con.
Paypal agree and say to send it back to China and they'll give me a refund.
However, it costs £93 to send it!
Paypal say if the Post Office refuse to send it, I need a note from them, then I don't have to return it, and I get my money back.
The post Office asked if it had a Lithium battery because they wouldn't accept it if it had. I said I wasn't sure. So, I brought it home and asked you guys.
Not good odds for me to get £27 out of £120 back after postage after doing nothing wrong.

So, on balance, do you say it probably contains a Lithium battery?
Thanks again.
John

 

[danechip]

Well after the discussion last night about it needing to store the correct date and time in the event of a power failure. It must have a battery. (I assumed you meant a battery to keep it operational like a laptop battery).

So go back to post office, and say yes, of course.

Sorry for the confusion.

 

[Johnboy54]

Thank you very much kind sir. You've made my night. May get 4 cans on the strength of it. Thanks again.
John