What happens if you use a CR2016 instead of a CR2032?

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Mar 29, 2012
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So, I recently noticed that a motherboard I'm planning to give away for free wouldn't boot up because it kept saying something about Chassis Intrusion being detected. It was odd because it had worked perfectly just a few months ago. I read online that CMOS batteries could fail such a way that the clock circuitry kept working, but the intrusion detection was set off. It was a fairly old motherboard, so I put a spare coin cell battery I had laying around from a two-pack, and the motherboard booted right up, everything worked fine. However, I noticed after I replaced the battery that my replacement wasn't a CR2032, but a CR2016. It fit into the battery holder with no issues, got rid of the Chassis Intrusion message, seemed to allow the BIOS to save settings, etc. I only used it to boot into Windows so I could flash the BIOS before sending it off, so I didn't use it this way for very long.

My impression after trying to research is that they have the same voltage output and physical diameter, but the CR2016 is thinner and simply has less than half the capacity/lifespan of a CR2032 at the same level of power draw. So does that mean there shouldn't be any side effects from using a CR2016, and it's probably just going to need replacing sooner? I'm just wondering if anyone out there has actually done this or not, or if I'm the first person to be lazy/oblivious enough to try this and have it work. I'm aware it's definitely not best practice, but what would the consequences really be? I've already recommended that the recipient replace the battery again when they get the motherboard just to be on the safe side. But I'm just curious, what would happen if they didn't replace it?
 
PSA: Dont do this. Unless you know what your doing and want double the voltage.
I was confused for a sec because I thought he meant stack two shims, and I couldn't figure out how that'd double the voltage...
 
That would wire them in series, not in parallel, so you'd wind up with a 6 volt battery with a short life, right? ;)
You'd wind up with a dead BIOS at best, bricked MOBO at worst. Might as well try for three, more pressure means better contact, which is better right?
 
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