Battery Equivalent Chart

How to find the right replacement

There are three ways in, and they end in the same place. The first is the code: almost every button cell has something stamped on the positive face, and that code is in the table above either as a cell or as one of the 195 alternative numbers the same cells are sold under. The second is measurement. If the printing has worn off, or the cell came out of something old enough that the number means nothing now, measure the diameter across the flat face and the height through the thickness, then look the pair up in the size finder. The third is elimination: find the device's manual, or the cell's own holder, which is often moulded with the size.

What you should not do is buy on looks. The cells in this chart run from 4 mm to 30 mm across, and in the middle of that range there are sizes that differ by half a millimetre. 7 of them share the same 20 mm face and differ only in how thick they are. Two cells can be visually identical, drop into the same holder, and still be wrong for each other because one is 1.5 V and the other is 3 V.

How to read a button battery code

Most of the codes follow IEC 60086, the international standard for primary batteries, and once you can read one you can read nearly all of them. A code like CR2032 breaks into three parts: the chemistry letter, the shape letter, and the size digits.

The first letter is the chemistry. L is alkaline manganese dioxide. S is silver oxide. C is lithium manganese dioxide, the 3 V coin cells. B is lithium carbon monofluoride, another 3 V lithium chemistry. P is zinc-air, which is why hearing-aid cells carry PR numbers. The second letter, R, means round.

The digits are the size in millimetres. In a four-digit code the first two digits are the diameter and the last two are the height in tenths of a millimetre, so 2032 is 20.0 mm across and 3.2 mm thick, and 1620 is 16.0 mm across and 2.0 mm thick. The diameter is rounded down to the whole millimetre, so it is a floor and not an exact figure: CR1220 measures 12.5 mm across, not 12.0 mm. The chart above carries the measured size for every cell. That is the whole trick: CR2025 and CR2032 are the same face and differ by 0.7 mm of thickness. Once you have read a few, the number tells you whether a cell will physically fit before you have seen it.

Shorter codes are the same scheme with the size written as a reference number rather than in millimetres. LR44 is the common name; LR1154 is the same cell written the long way, 11.5 mm across and 5.4 mm thick. Both appear in the table, because both are printed on packaging. The same goes for LR41 and LR736, and SR626 and SR66.

Then there is the suffix. Manufacturers mark low-drain cells SW and high-drain cells W: Renata, Maxell and Energizer all use the convention, and it says what the cell is built to deliver rather than how big it is. 14 cells in this chart are sold under both a low-drain and a high-drain number for the same case size, which is why a watch cell is usually searched as SR626SW rather than SR626.

The numbers that are not IEC codes

A good part of the confusion around button cells is that the IEC code is often not the number on the pack. Several parallel numbering systems are in use, and they all turn up in search:

• AG numbers. AG1, AG3, AG10, AG13 and the rest are a generic series, common on generic and own-brand alkaline cells. AG13 is an LR44, AG3 is an LR41.
• Three-digit watch numbers. Energizer and Renata number silver-oxide cells with three digits: 357, 377, 392, 395. These encode nothing about the size, and a single case size usually has two of them, one for each drain type.
• Brand part numbers. DL is Duracell's lithium prefix, ECR is Energizer's. DL2032 and ECR2032 are both a CR2032.
• Legacy camera and photo numbers. A76, L1154, PX76A, EPX76 and similar come from film-camera days and still appear on multipacks.
• Hearing-aid sizes and tab colours. Hearing-aid cells are sold as 10, 13, 312 and 675, and the pack usually carries a colour as well, because the colour is easier to match than the number.

16 of these alternative codes are searched often enough to have their own page here, and all of them are searchable in the table above.

The chemistries, and what changes when you swap

Size decides whether a cell fits. Chemistry decides whether the device is happy, how long it runs, and whether the swap is a good idea at all.

Alkaline, 1.5 V

The cheap option, and the one most multipacks hold. An alkaline button cell starts near 1.5 V and its voltage falls steadily as it drains, so a device that measures or displays something can go wrong before the cell is actually flat: a quartz watch loses time, a scale reads light, a thermometer drifts. In a toy, a light or a key fob, none of that matters.

Silver oxide, 1.55 V

The same sizes as the alkaline cells, 0.05 V higher, and a much flatter discharge: it holds its voltage close to nominal almost to the end, then drops off. It also carries more capacity in the same case. That combination is why watch movements, glucose meters, calipers and medical devices specify silver oxide, and why going from alkaline to silver oxide in the same size is the one swap on this site that is an unambiguous upgrade.

Lithium, 3 V

The coin cells: CR for lithium manganese dioxide, BR for lithium carbon monofluoride. Twice the voltage of the 1.5 V cells, far more capacity, a long shelf life, and they hold up in the cold. A 3 V cell and a 1.5 V cell are never interchangeable in either direction, whatever the size says: half the voltage will not run the device, and twice the voltage can damage it.

CR and BR of the same number are the same size at the same voltage in different lithium chemistries. They are not the same cell, which is why a BR code appears on these pages as a swap with its own verdict rather than as another name for the CR.

Zinc air, 1.45 V

Hearing-aid cells, and the exception that catches people out. A zinc-air cell takes oxygen from the air through holes in its case, which gives it several times the capacity of a silver cell of the same size. The cost is that it has to breathe: the tab on the pack seals the holes, and the moment you peel it off the cell starts working and keeps running down whether the device is switched on or not. The 7 hearing-aid sizes here are never equivalents for alkaline or silver cells, and the fact that 675 is exactly the same size as an LR44 is a trap, not a convenience.

Rechargeables that look identical

LIR cells are rechargeable lithium-ion in coin-cell cases: LIR2032 is the same shape as a CR2032. They are 3.6 V to 4.2 V charged, hold a fraction of the capacity, and are meant for devices built to charge them. They are listed on these pages only as something not to substitute.

The swap rules, in one place

Every verdict on this site comes from five rules applied to the recorded size, voltage and chemistry of the two cells.

1. Same diameter, same height, same chemistry: direct replacement. This is what an equivalent usually is, and it is why one cell can have a dozen codes.
2. Same size, alkaline to silver oxide: an upgrade. Steadier voltage, longer life, more money.
3. Same size, silver oxide to alkaline: it works, but not for long. Fine in a toy; avoid it in a watch or a medical device.
4. Same diameter, different height: only if the holder fits. A thinner cell can sit too low for the contact to reach it, and a thicker one may not go in at all. Never stack two thin cells to make up the height: two cells in series double the voltage, and that is a different fault, not a fix.
5. Different voltage: not compatible. No exceptions, and no amount of the same size changes it.

On top of those, two hard stops: a zinc-air hearing-aid cell is never an equivalent for anything but another hearing-aid cell of the same size, and a rechargeable LIR is never an equivalent for a CR.

Measuring a cell you cannot read

Two numbers identify a button cell: the diameter across the flat face and the height through the thickness. Callipers are ideal, and they are cheap. A steel rule works if you measure the face across its widest point and then stand the cell on edge. Measure the old cell, not the hole it came out of: holders have clearance, and a measurement of the recess will read high.

Round to the nearest tenth of a millimetre and put both numbers into the size finder, which allows 0.2 mm either way and lists every cell that matches across all the chemistries, with the verdict for each. If two chemistries come back for your measurement, the device decides which one you want: a watch or a meter wants silver oxide, a toy will take alkaline, and a hearing aid takes neither.

Button cells and children

A swallowed button cell is a medical emergency, not a wait-and-see. A cell lodged in the oesophagus can burn through tissue in a couple of hours, and the larger lithium coin cells do the most damage.

If you think a child has swallowed a button or coin battery, go to the emergency room immediately. Don't wait for symptoms. For treatment advice on the way, call the National Battery Ingestion Hotline at 1-800-498-8666 or Poison Help at 1-800-222-1222.

In the United States, Reese's Law now requires child-resistant packaging and warning labels on button cells and on the compartments of the products that take them, which is why new packs are hard to open and why battery doors increasingly need a screwdriver. Keep loose cells and dead cells out of reach; a used cell still has enough charge to injure.

Sources: CPSC button cell and coin battery information center · CPSC on Reese's Law and the new federal safety standard

Where these numbers come from

Every size, voltage, capacity, alias and drain type on this site comes from one dataset, checked against published manufacturer cross-reference charts and the IEC designations. The source line for the current data reads: Wikipedia List of battery sizes (button cell tables, retrieved 2026-10-31) + Renata/Energizer SW/W numbering; spot-check before launch. Later additions: LR44 alias L1154F from the Rayovac cross-reference guide (rayovac.com/cross-reference-guide) and Wikipedia's LR44 alternative designations; SR920SW drain numbers V371 (Varta, low drain) and V370 (Varta, high drain), the latter from Maxell's cross-reference chart (maxell-usa.com, Watch High Drain) and Varta's V370 datasheet. Silver-oxide capacities, the SR920, SR927 and SR512 heights, the SR927 IEC designation and the SR42 drain pair are from the Renata Scope of Supply + Cross Reference Guide, version 02.2023.. Capacities are typical values and are always labelled as such. Where a value is unknown, the page shows nothing rather than a guess. Corrections are welcome at [email protected].