> The device has to last 5 years on a battery and I didn't want > to spend time calculating which would be the best solution As I found out/realised recently, diodes use power. If you drop the 6V battery voltage by ~15%, that's ~15% of battery power wasted. Are you able to get the micro (eg an LF) to run on just one battery that requires no voltage dropping ? -- http://www.piclist.com hint: The PICList is archived three different ways. See http://www.piclist.com/#archives for details.