Seeking flush-mount coin cell holder 2016

[willflanery]

Seeking flush-mount coin cell holder for 2016 battery

My current project is required to be as thin as possible and operate from a 3V coin-cell.

As you may know, a CR2016 battery is 63 mils thick; basically the same as a standard PCB. I would like to make a cutout in the PCB and mount the battery in that hole/slot.

Unfortunately, I can't find any sort of tab or contact to solder on the top and bottom of the board to retain the battery. I've checked all the regular distributors (Newark, Digikey, Mouser, etc.) and the catalogs of the major battery-holder manufacturers (Keystone and MPD (batteryholders.com)), but I found nothing suitable.

I'm only delivering 100 units, so it's probably not worth having a custom part made.

Has anyone seen a solution to this problem?
Any other recommendations for low-profile battery mounts?
Or.. where can I order 1" strips of metal? The leftover strip from crimp connectors would work great, but I don't really want to put that on the BOM for my customer ;-)

Thanks!

 

[grieblm]

Try the following from Digi-Key (Tabbed coin battery). The bottom tab of the coin cell can probably be bent straight and then the coin cell placed in your PCB hole and soldered on both sides of the PCB.

Another option might be a through-hole part like P194-ND which is mounted sideways in a slot on the edge of your PCB with the leads soldered to SMT pads.

The reason this isn't done more often is because this will be an expensive manual operation. Most coins are automatically placed and soldered.

 

[willflanery]

Thanks. Good ideas. I just wish the tabbed batteries weren't so expensive