MIKE ROSS wrote in a message to Roy J. Tellason:

 RJT> The one I have,  when the battery dies the display looks the same as
 RJT> it does when it's off.

 MR> It may be a function of the LSI which will auto power off when it
 MR> detects the battery low condition is present. Earlier dmm LSI's may
 MR> not have had the smarts to protect the LCD.

Beats me.

 RJT> FWIW,  it takes a "9v" battery,  and I've found that the lithium 
 RJT> batteries last a *REAL* long time in there. The one that's in it 
 RJT> now has been in there at least 4-5 years!

 MR> I guess Li batteries last a real long time. I've got some 10 year 
 MR> old + equipment with Li backup cells which are still active. So you
 MR> don't use the ohm or transistor gain functions all that much then?
 MR>  

There isn't any transistor gain function.  I use ohms about as much as I
use volts,  more or less.  And overall I don't use the meter anywhere near
as much as I used to.  Haven't done much hardware hacking in the past
several years,  excepting computer stuff,  which is pretty funny
considering how much time and energy I spent on collecting parts and
such...   Perhaps that'll change once we get situated and I can have a
place to work.

---