Olympus OM1 Batery Replacement

I just purchaced this camera and was VERY surprized the light meter worked! While I'm getting my feet wet in photography I'd like to use the light meter. However, i know the batery wont last forever and I believe the original is no longer in production(?). So, I need to know what to look for in replacement bateries.

After I get the basic idea on how to use this thing I'll be attaching it to my scope. :-)

Congratulations Michael the OM-1 is a fine camera!

The original battery is a 1.3V mecury cell. It was discontinued to comply with enviromental laws.

The main problem with the available replacement cells is voltage. Wein cells produce 1.35 volts and the silver-oxides produce 1.5 volts. Using them will throw the light meter off and the silver-oxide batteries have been known to damage the light meter circuitry.

The mecury cell in my OM-1 lasted over twenty years before dying so yours may live for awhile yet. When I sent it off for a CLA (clean, lubricate, adjustment) I had the battery comparment modified to accept silver-oxide 1.5 volt batteries and reduce the voltage to 1.3 volts. There's also a battery adapter the MR9. It drops into the OM-1s battery compartment resizing it for the smaller silver-oxide batteries and has a built in resistor to lower the voltage to 1.3. These are a bit pricey at 32.00-37.00 dollars.

Here is the url to my sad, outdated web page look under Olypmus Sales/Service. http://home.hiwaay.net/~packardc/

Drop down to the Olympus forum. About 9 messages down from the top is a reply from a person who said that the Zink-Air batts work fine in the OM-1's. I think the batt number was 675, but I'm not sure. I bought a pack of them for my OM-1 and every thing seems to work fine. I picked up a pack of 4 at ACO Hardware for $4.99. I think they are hearing aid batts