Index / SR54
SR54 battery equivalent (389): what to use instead
SR54 silver oxide battery — 1.55 V, 11.6 x 3.1 mm. SR54 and 389 silver oxide batteries of any brand are this same cell, and so is a pack sold as an SR1130SW battery or an SG10 battery. LR54 drops straight in, and runs 1.5 V — -3.2%, a shade low. Battery equivalent chart for every other code.
What fits the compartment, and what does not
SR54 battery equivalent chart: candidates for an SR54 battery replacement, one row each. Fit answers whether it enters the compartment. Voltage answers whether the circuit will notice. A cell that fits is not always a safe substitute.
| Cell | Fit | Voltage | Chemistry | Capacity |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| LR54 | drop-in | 1.5 V -3.2%close enough | alkaline | 66–80 mAh |
| SR55 | sits lower | 1.55 V 0%same volts | silver oxide | 47–60 mAh |
| SR44 | too tall | 1.55 V 0%same volts | silver oxide | 138–200 mAh |
| SR43 | too tall | 1.55 V 0%same volts | silver oxide | 110–127 mAh |
| SR42 | too tall | 1.55 V 0%same volts | silver oxide | 63–105 mAh |
| LR44 | too tall | 1.5 V -3.2%close enough | alkaline | 150 mAh |
| LR43 | too tall | 1.5 V -3.2%close enough | alkaline | 113–123 mAh |
| PR44 | too tall | 1.45 V -6.5%reads off | zinc air | — |
| CR11108 | too tall | 3 V +93.5%wrong class | lithium | 160 mAh |
One cell is the same size, and it is not the same voltage: LR54 runs -3.2% against this one, a few hundredths of a volt below, which almost nothing notices. Whether that matters is a question about the device, not about the cell.
Also stamped 1138SO, 389, 389Z, 390, 390/389, 390Z
Same cell, other names on the package
SR54 answers to 3 markings outside the standard: SR1130SW, SR1130W and SG10. They are the importers' AG and SG series and the watch trade's SW and W forms, and no standards body stands behind any of them, which is why none is printed under Also stamped above.
- SR1130SW — the watch-trade form with an SW or W suffix, not a new size; SR1130SW batteries are this cell, so an SR1130SW battery equivalent is whatever replaces SR54.
- SR1130W — the watch-trade form with an SW or W suffix, not a new size; SR1130W batteries are this cell, so an SR1130W battery equivalent is whatever replaces SR54.
- SG10 — a trade marking used by importers, not an IEC designation.
- SR1130 — the same designation written out in full: the standard's long form for SR54.
- 1138SO — a manufacturer part number for SR54, not a standard designation.
- 389 — a manufacturer part number for SR54, not a standard designation; 389 batteries are this same cell, so a 389 battery equivalent is whatever replaces SR54.
- The maker's own catalog carries 5 product lines under it.
The cell that differs only in depth
The code says the size, so the cells that get confused with SR54 are the ones that keep its diameter and change its depth. 17 cells share this diameter at depths from 1.6 to 10.8 mm, and every one of them enters the same opening.
It stands 1 of 2 in this envelope by stored energy. On a scale the difference shows before it shows on a caliper: this one weighs 1.4 g.
- 1177SO — same diameter, 1.6 mm tall against this cell's 3.1: 1.5 mm shallower, which neither designation carries.
- 365 — same diameter, 1.6 mm tall against this cell's 3.1: 1.5 mm shallower, which neither designation carries.
- SR55 — same diameter, 2 mm tall against this cell's 3.1: 1.1 mm shallower, which neither designation carries.
- LR54 — the same 11.6 x 3.1 mm in alkaline at 1.5 V. Identical on a caliper, different in the circuit.
- BR1225 — 12.5 mm across at 3 V against 11.6 mm here, 0.9 mm apart: too wide to enter in this holder.
The Energizer data sheets behind this page do not agree on capacity (84–90 mAh over 6 sheets), cutoff (1.2–1.3 V over 6 sheets) and impedance (5 to 25 ohms over 5 sheets), so each figure is printed as the range the sheets give, not as one of them. Where one number is needed to rank or compare, the page uses the median of the sheets, 85 mAh.
The axis is the difference from this cell, not a range of volts: the centre is 1.55 V and the ruled middle is the class where a substitute still runs and only reads off — a gap within 20.0% of the higher of the two nominals, which counted from this cell reaches 20.0% below and 25.0% above. One gap, two readings: the other cell’s page prints the other figure for this same pair and lands on the same class. Outside those two rules the class changes. The middle is drawn straight and the outer fifth of each side is compressed, so -3.2% puts the mark in one place here and in the same place on every other page of this site.
One straight swap, and what it changes
One cell in the data is the same size and current: LR54, 1.5 V against this one's 1.55 V, a few hundredths of a volt below, which almost nothing notices. Everything else at 11.6 x 3.1 mm is either unlisted or a different depth.
What this cell can stand in for
7 designations Energizer no longer lists point at this cell as the closest thing it does list, and the voltage is not the same: in a device built for one of them this cell runs up to 14.8% off. The device will run, and an instrument calibrated for the old cell will read off.
Each row names a cell no longer made, with its own voltage and chemistry. Fit of this cell and Voltage of this cell describe this cell put in its place: whether it enters that compartment, and how far its voltage sits from the voltage the device was built for. The discontinued cell’s own page prints the same figure for the same swap.
| Discontinued cell | Its voltage | Fit of this cell | Voltage of this cell | Its chemistry |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 201 | 1.5 V | drop-in | 1.55 V +3.3%close enough | silver oxide |
| MR42 | 1.4 V | sits lower | 1.55 V +10.7%reads off | mercuric oxide |
| MR43 | 1.4 V | sits lower | 1.55 V +10.7%reads off | mercuric oxide |
| NR43 | 1.4 V | sits lower | 1.55 V +10.7%reads off | mercuric oxide |
| NR44 | 1.4 V | sits lower | 1.55 V +10.7%reads off | mercuric oxide |
| PR43 | 1.4 V | sits lower | 1.55 V +10.7%reads off | zinc air |
| MR44 | 1.35 V | sits lower | 1.55 V +14.8%reads off | mercuric oxide |
What the chemistry changes
Everything above answers size and voltage. What it cannot answer is chemistry, and 2 other kinds are in play here beside the silver oxide this cell uses.
- Silver oxide holds its voltage almost flat until it is spent, which is why watches and light meters were built around it.
- Alkaline drops in voltage steadily as it empties, so a device calibrated for a flat discharge will drift as it goes.
- Zinc air takes oxygen from the air through the holes in its face. It starts discharging the moment the tab comes off and runs down in weeks whether the device is used or not, and a sealed compartment starves it.
What a watch movement does with this cell
A pack sold as a 389 watch battery or an SR1130SW watch battery is this cell. A quartz movement pulls a short pulse through the cell every second and reads the voltage between pulses. That is why the chemistry in this envelope matters more than the size does. Silver oxide holds 1.55 V nearly flat until it is spent.
LR54 is the same 11.6 x 3.1 mm in alkaline: 1.5 V against this cell's 1.55 V, -3.2%. The case cannot tell them apart; the movement can. Internal impedance 5 to 25 ohms, published by the maker. That is the figure the stepper motor pulse sees, and it rises as the cell ages. 9 cells measure close enough to compare against it in the Energizer data this site reads, and 9 of them are still listed.
- The nearest is LR54: it drops straight in and runs 1.5 V, close enough.
- By stored energy it stands 1 of 2 in its envelope, at 130–140 milliwatt-hours.
- Energizer files it for Asia Pacific, Europe, Latin America and North America, which is where the part is sold rather than where the cell will work.
- The maker still lists it, under 5 product lines: 389, 389Z, 390 and 390/389.
Drawn to scale
SR54, side elevation, from the published figures
The same scale for all of them. The dashed line marks the height of SR54: a silhouette that stops short of it will not reach the contact, one that crosses it will not let the cover close.
Every published figure
Every field the maker fills is filled for this one: 12 figures in all, from chemistry through to where it is sold.
| Designation | SR54 |
|---|---|
| Also stamped | 1138SO, 389, 389Z, 390, 390/389, 390Z |
| Chemistry | Silver Oxide |
| Nominal voltage | 1.55 V |
| Diameter | 11.6 mm |
| Height | 3.1 mm |
| Weight | 1.4 g |
| Volume | 0.32 cc |
| Capacity | 84–90 mAh to 1.2–1.3 V |
| Stored energy | 130–140 mWh |
| Energy density | 407–436 mWh per cc |
| Impedance | 5 to 25 ohms |
| In the Energizer catalog | Listed |
| Listed for | Asia Pacific, Europe, Latin America, North America |
The IEC standard writes this designation in full as SR1130. That form comes from the standard, not from a record of the maker’s, which is why it is not among the markings above.
The maker’s records filed under this designation do not all publish the same outside size. The table prints the figure most of them carry; the rest publish a height of 3 mm under 390/389. Where the records part company the package in your hand decides, and this page cannot tell you which record it came from.
2 rows in the table are not the maker's but ours: stored energy and energy per cubic centimeter. Everything else is reproduced without change.
The number a pulse sees
Energizer publishes an impedance band of 5 to 25 ohms for SR54. It is the least quoted number on the sheet and the one that decides whether the cell can drive a pulse; 3 other published figures sit below.
The part occupies 0.32 cubic centimeters and weighs 1.4 g. Capacity and voltage together put 130–140 milliwatt-hours in that space. Energizer files it for Asia Pacific, Europe and Latin America.
- Internal impedance
- 5 to 25 ohms as published. A high-impedance cell sags under a pulse and recovers between pulses, which is what a movement or a sensor sees.
- Cutoff voltage
- 1.2 V. The published capacity is counted down to this voltage; a device that quits higher up sees less than the whole figure.
- Mass against volume
- 1.4 g filling 0.32 cubic centimeters. When the printing has worn off, a kitchen scale separates two cells of one envelope faster than a caliper does.
- Where the part is filed
- Asia Pacific, Europe, Latin America and North America. That is a statement about the maker's distribution and not about where the cell works.
Is that a lot of energy?
Nothing else measured in this shell holds more. At 130–140 milliwatt-hours it leads 1 other cell, and the next one down carries at most 92% of what it does. Per unit of volume that is 407–436 mWh per cubic centimeter, denser than 61 to 71% of everything measured here.
A width the catalog keeps returning to
11.6 mm is a width this catalog keeps coming back to: 19 coins sit within half a millimeter of it, SR54 included.
9 of those ones are still listed. Its 407–436 milliwatt-hours per cubic centimeter sit above 61 to 71 percent of everything here that publishes both a capacity and a volume. 30 of the 79 coins share its 1.55 V exactly.
- BR1225 — the next step down by volume: 0.3 cubic centimeters against this cell's 0.32.
- SR42 — the next step up by volume: 0.25–0.38 cubic centimeters against this cell's 0.32.
- 1177SO — 11.6 x 1.6 mm, 1.55 V, silver oxide.
- CR11108 — 11.6 x 10.8 mm, 3 V, lithium.
One figure the maker does not publish
One field is empty for SR54: operating temperature. A blank means the maker publishes no figure, which is not the same as zero, and it is the reason one comparison below is missing rather than wrong.
The blanks are the same in all 6 records behind this designation, so they are the catalog's silence and not a merge losing a value. What is not missing is the envelope: 11.6 x 3.1 mm, published and checked against the designation itself.
- No operating temperature — so this page cannot tell you whether the maker claims anything at all below freezing.
Before you swap anything
Everything here is computed from published dimensions and nominal voltages. That answers whether a cell enters the compartment and whether the voltage matches on paper. It does not answer what your device does with the difference, and it cannot: a cell that fits can still be the wrong cell.
One more limit, and it is the biggest. This site reads a single manufacturer’s catalog. When a page says a designation is not listed, that means Energizer no longer offers a part under it — not that nobody makes the cell. Other makers may still sell it, and for common sizes they usually do.
A voltage difference here is the figure for one swap: the voltage of the cell that goes in, measured against the cell the device was built for, and the figure belongs to the cell whose voltage is printed beside it. In the table of cells that fit in place of this one, and on the scale, that is each candidate against this cell: a cell that runs lower carries a minus, one that runs higher carries a plus, and a cell at the same nominal voltage carries zero. In the table of cells no longer made, it is this cell against each of them, because the swap goes into a device built for the old cell, and that cell’s own page prints the same figure for the same swap. Where cells still listed can each stand in for the other, those are different swaps: each page measures against its own cell, the sign is the other one, and the size can differ slightly, because one gap is a larger share of the lower voltage; at the same voltage both pages print zero. The class beside the figure is not read off that figure directly. It is decided on the gap itself, taken against the higher of the two nominal voltages, so one pair of cells gets one class whichever page you meet it on: counted from this side the boundary of the class that still runs falls at 20.0% below and 25.0% above, which is the same gap divided once by the larger nominal and once by the smaller. What genuinely differs between the two directions is the consequence, and the words carry it: a cell that runs low makes a calibrated instrument read below true, and a cell that runs high makes it read above.
3 things this site cannot see. Whether the contacts reach a shorter cell. Whether the device was calibrated for a chemistry that holds its voltage flat, which silver oxide does and alkaline does not. Whether the equipment tolerates the higher current a different chemistry can deliver. Rechargeable cells are never a drop-in for primary cells regardless of size.
Cells measured next to this one
1 cell sits at exactly this size, and 17 more share the diameter at other depths. The first group is interchangeable by measurement; the second is not.
- LR54 — 11.6 x 3.1 mm, 1.5 V
- 1177SO — 11.6 x 1.6 mm, 1.55 V
- 365 — 11.6 x 1.6 mm, 1.55 V
- SR55 — 11.6 x 2 mm, 1.55 V
- LR55 — 11.6 x 2.1 mm, 1.5 V
Where these numbers come from
Dimensions, voltages, chemistries and capacities are published by the manufacturer and reproduced without change. Everything else on the page is ours, computed from those figures: whether one cell fits where another sat, how far apart their voltages are, stored energy and energy per cubic centimeter, the rank within a shell, and the check of the designation against the measured size.
Fit is decided within 0.3 mm on every axis, which is the order of a contact spring's travel. Voltage classes are decided by consequence, not by roundness, and they are decided on the gap between two nominal voltages taken against the higher of the two: 2.0% or less of it is the same working voltage, 6.0% starts to matter to a calibrated instrument, and past 20.0% it is a different class altogether. Measuring the gap against the higher figure is what makes the verdict the same from either cell’s page, while the printed percentage stays counted from the cell you are reading about. Cells with identical stored energy share a rank instead of being ordered arbitrarily.
Ranking uses capacity times nominal voltage, because capacity alone is not comparable across chemistries: 150 mAh at 3 V is twice the energy of 150 mAh at 1.5 V. Neighbors are chosen by measurement and never alphabetically, because two cells filed next to each other by name usually have nothing in common. A blank in any table means the maker publishes no figure, which is not the same as zero.
Source: Energizer technical data, retrieved 1 September 2026.
Records that disagree behind this page
SR54 is assembled from 6 catalog records, and they do not agree with each other on every field. Both sides are numbered below so the disagreement can be read rather than taken on trust.
- [1] Energizer catalog record 150, listed as 390, active in the snapshot. Technical data sheet: 390.pdf.
- [2] Energizer catalog record 557, listed as 389, obsolete in the snapshot. Technical data sheet: 389.pdf.
- [3] Energizer catalog record 561, listed as 389Z, obsolete in the snapshot. Technical data sheet: 389z.pdf.
- [4] Energizer catalog record 562, listed as 390, obsolete in the snapshot. Technical data sheet: 390.pdf.
- [5] Energizer catalog record 564, listed as 390/389, obsolete in the snapshot. Technical data sheet: 390-389.pdf.
- [6] Energizer catalog record 566, listed as 390Z, obsolete in the snapshot. Technical data sheet: 390z.pdf.
Every figure above is reproduced from those records without change; the comparisons are ours and are described on the method page. Snapshot: Energizer technical data, retrieved 1 September 2026.
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