RS "Tadiran" 3.6V AA Lithium

What the heck did I just buy?

I went in RS the other day to pick up a cheap FM dipole for a receiver that I'd picked up at Goodwill to make an office stereo... found that the last operating RS in my area is going out of business, and there are no dipoles to be found... gotta make one I guess, except they didn't have any 300 ohm antenna wire either, so that's a bust.

I did, however, suck up a bunch of stuff that looked useful as it was on clearance, and cheaper than even monoprice at their prices. Couple HDMIs, couple USB 2.0 and 3.0 cables, couple headphone cables, etc. No speaker wire as the heaviest they had was 18AWG, and really nothing else left in the store that looked of any interest (except for a can of Deoxit Gold and a VHS-C to VHS adapter because hey, for a buck, I may need it someday.) All "junk box" stuff nothing I really needed.

I also grabbed two cells marked "3.6V AA Lithium by Tadiran" figuring they were 14500s. they were cheap too.

But I get them home and look at them and I'm glad I read the packaging because on the back it says "This is not a rechargeable battery."

I'm assuming that means I just wasted $4, what the heck are these things used for? (I guess that's why they were still there...)

They are used for RTC (real time clock) in old computers, in smoke alarms, safety timers, etc. Quite a lot of use.
Btw, Tadiran also makes "Normal" 14500 cells, with up to 5A discharge current, 5000 cycle capability, but only 350mAh capacity, not mentioning $25 price tag for each

well if anyone wants them... can I even send them normal mail without hazmat disclosures, fees, etc?

I paid $2 each for them thinking they were 14500s I was going to try them in my EDC light (usually use 16340 but I have extension tube) but not sure what I could use them in save for that one light and then toss them.

The websites I've seen them on have them labelled Hazmat class 9 and that they can only go surface freight.

http://www.atbatt.com/tadiran-tl-5930-ixtra-series-d-36v-lithium-battery-tl-2300-class-9-hazmat.asp

Most likely those are lithium thionyl chloride batteries. Meant for low current, long-lived applications where environmental concerns, cost etc are not as important as having a battery that just holds its voltage. Over decades if necessary. Think memory backup, medical or scientific equipment, things like that.

This is a nasty chemical! Regardless of use, don't throw in regular trash when discarding! And don't short-circuit or throw in fire for fun's sake, as the nasty fumes may affect people's health (more so than regular Li-ion, which -when abused- can shed nasty fumes already).

I pulled a battery like that out of an old piece of equipment years ago. Happened to match ~CR123A format, so recently used it up in my S10 Baton. And then put in a "used batteries" collection bin, which we have in places like supermarkets, hardware stores and such.

Thanks for the info. I recently read the Wiki article on these batteries as I wasn't familiar with them before. But yes, nasty chemistry for sure. I plan to stay away from them!