Google is your friend...a quick search for solar powered caliper turned up:

http://www.longislandindicator.com/p127.html

...while searching for Mitutoyo 500-492 led to Mitutoyo's own site:

http://www.auto-met.com/mitutoyo/caliper/mitutoyo_caliper_O-05-06.pdf

Even Sears has them available (for a dollar cheaper than Amazon). But $280
is stiff for even a tool freak like me. I'll have to think about it...


Jack Burgess
www.yosemitevalleyrr.com

<
<Caliper and would-be caliper users,
<
<A half dozen years ago, when we were nearer to starting the use of
<digital
<calipers after using dial versions for several years, I was enamored
<enough
<to buy a couple of them. They were overproduced for a couple of years,
<at
<least, and consequently in that period, it was a buyers' market.
<Digitals
<could be purchased in 4, 6 and 8 inch versions under $30. All were
<originally battery-powered.
<
<It wasn't long until I was greatly annoyed when it seemed that the
<battery
<was always dead when I wanted to use it. Keeping good batteries on hand
<isn't easy either because new ones lose power just as ones in use,
<except
<maybe slower. Like a lot of you, I have lots of other things to do,
<travels
<to make, etc., and consequently, can't be at my workbench consistently.
<So,
<it seemed like often, when I got back to my modelling affairs, I found
<myself confronted with a battery problem.
<
<One day, I came across a solar powered digital caliper!! For sale!! All
<in
<one unit, no wires, no separate power unit, all nicely integrated, no
<different in appearance or application. So, I grabbed it. I probably
<said
<'Whoopee' at that moment.
<
<Since that day, my mood has been lighter. (Or, it could be old age
<getting
<closer!) The caliper has worked perfectly ever since it and I entered
<into
<matrimony. The solar cell works just as well in the winter as when the
<sun
<is high. It even works in a room with only an incandescent bulb for
<light,
<or fluorescent.
<
<The caliper I have is a Mitutoyo CD-S8"-CP, serial no. 0000422, Code
<number
<500-492, 8" length.
<
<Soon after I began to use the self-powered caliper, I enjoyed it so much
<that I wanted another to use at work. Do you think I could find one? It
<looked to me like Mitutoyo stopped making them. That may not be the
<truth,
<but something got in the way. We who use spare time to model could use a
<lot
<of these 'Magic Bunny plus' calipers. Time--the thing most of have so
<little
<of--would be saved, not just in changing batteries, but in chasing after
<them. Spirits would lighten; discourse on this list might even shift
<more
<towards the humorous side; darkness would disappear to be replaced by
<sunny
<comments. Textbooks on personality will describe that watershed moment
<in
<2011 when modellers, at least, drastically changed from outright
<moodiness
<to behavioral role models.
<
<I, myself, may be somewhat delayed in joining the new sunnier modelling
<group because I still haven't found my second solar-powered digital
<caliper.
<Can any of you tool demons help? What happened to Mitutoyo? Where am I
<not
<looking to find my new little machine, which will put me in CALIPER
<BIGAMY?
<
<The would-be sunnier modeller,
<
<JP
<
<
<
<------------------------------------
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