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| Battery Experts needed | |
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| Topic Started: Aug 24 2015, 03:12 AM (1,814 Views) | |
| Trotsky | Aug 24 2015, 03:12 AM Post #1 |
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Big City Boy
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Help me here: I have several devices that seem to tell me TOO OFTEN: REPLACE BATTERY. With my 1.5V AA cells I toss them in a drawer and use them to replace dead batteries in one of my may clocks and they go for MONTHS before the clock stops. What is the original device reading to make this determination that the battery needs replacement? I don't want it to sound like I am laying a trap so here's the whole story. Worst offenders are the TV remote (and the telephone's display that takes 4 AA's at a time. I presume the natural answer is that the item is detecting a low voltage, right? But then I can pop in a passel of NiCads or NiMH's whose full voltage is 1.25 volts and the units run fine. So it cannot be voltage that is making the determination to REPLACE BATTERY. Can these units measure amperage capability? (Passing ball laterally to YOU. Guesstimates are fine.) Edited by Trotsky, Aug 24 2015, 03:17 AM.
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| Delphi51 | Aug 24 2015, 03:55 AM Post #2 |
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It has to be voltage under load. The batteries now seem to have a higher no load voltage when new (used to be 1.55, now well over 1.6) but that goes down a lot when under load. Clock batteries sure do last a long time. Not much current needed I guess. I also reuse "dead" batteries or just the worrisome ones like the AAs powering our furnace thermostat, usually in LED flashlights. It is annoying that LED flashlight batteries suddenly die with little or no period of diminished brightness to encourage replacement before failure. |
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| Trotsky | Aug 24 2015, 04:56 AM Post #3 |
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Big City Boy
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How would that explain the ability to use a 1.25 V battery to replace a 1.5 V battery? Certainly the "voltage under load" cutoff for the 1.5 volt cannot be lower than 1.25V near the end of its live. Or CAN it? |
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| Delphi51 | Aug 24 2015, 10:49 AM Post #4 |
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Certainly. I took one out of my flashlight yesterday and it was down to 1 volt under no load. This was a special LED flashlight using one AA cell and a voltage tripling circuit to power a white LED. |
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| Trotsky | Aug 24 2015, 11:14 AM Post #5 |
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Big City Boy
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Thanks Delphi, I guess my questions are answered. |
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| Delphi51 | Aug 24 2015, 02:59 PM Post #6 |
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There is a new gadget coming out that attaches to a battery to boost its voltage and extend the lifetime. I don't remember where I saw it. The innovation I would really like to see is an extension of the standard batteries to one that has the energy of half a dozen AAs and can power a camera or phone. Rechargeable of course. |
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| wildie | Aug 24 2015, 03:21 PM Post #7 |
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Veteran Member
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Something has triggered a vague thought about a battery's internal resistance increasing as it is depleted! The idea being that in a circuit that there are in fact two series resistances in a circuit. One is the use, the other the battery's internal losses. We were taught about battery's in college, but that almost 60 years ago and time has dimmed my memory! I'll Google "internal battery resistance' and see what comes up! |
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| wildie | Aug 24 2015, 03:30 PM Post #8 |
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Veteran Member
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Aha! Im not imagining that internal battery resistance does exist! http://www.learningaboutelectronics.com/Articles/Battery-internal-resistance "Both AA alkaline and AANiMH double in resistance after a 50 percent discharge" Edited by wildie, Aug 24 2015, 03:32 PM.
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| Trotsky | Aug 25 2015, 12:44 AM Post #9 |
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Big City Boy
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It exists and it's called the NiMH AA cell (2500 mah.) It gives the Energizer bunny a heart attack. <Delphi, your link gives typical battery resistances and shows the NiMH at .02 ohm compared with an alkaline at .15 ohms. So doubling the former would have very little impact on the resistance of any circuit compared to the latter. What that means in common usage, I am not sure but whatever it is it is a feather for the NiMH.> Wow those 9 volts suck , as we all know with very high internal resistance. My test of 9 volts is with my tongue. A full charged 9V causes slight pain. Half discharge a strong tingle, and dead as a doornail, nothing but the unpleasant taste of the metal electrode. Edited by Trotsky, Aug 25 2015, 01:38 AM.
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| Delphi51 | Aug 25 2015, 03:41 AM Post #10 |
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I touched my tongue on a 9V once. Never again. We need a standard battery for most cameras to bring the cost down. Why make hundreds of incompatible ones? The same situation exists with power tools - every brand has its proprietary type, usually costing more than the tool and meaning you are better off to throw it away when the battery fails. |
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| Darcie | Aug 25 2015, 03:49 AM Post #11 |
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Skeptic
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No more cordless tools for me, just buy a long extension. I had one cordless tool and it could not be fixed, had to be ditched. |
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| Trotsky | Aug 25 2015, 05:22 AM Post #12 |
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Big City Boy
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They are on my itshay istlay. I don't want to toss a good drill motor because the battery fails. I think for cameras, AA NiMH's are kinda standard. Am I wrong? Little by little I am sticking them everywhere. Edited by Trotsky, Aug 25 2015, 05:22 AM.
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| angora | Aug 25 2015, 06:42 AM Post #13 |
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WWS Book Club Coordinator
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Sorry, I haven't battered anyone lately. Although, I've been tempted. |
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| Delphi51 | Aug 25 2015, 07:26 AM Post #14 |
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Good one, angora! Cameras mainly come with proprietary Lithium Ion rechargeable batteries, costing well over $50. I have a ten year old one and the price finally went down from $60 to $10 after 8 or 9 years. I have a drill and driver pair from Home Depot that cost $105 with two batteries. A single battery costs $89. |
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| Darcie | Aug 25 2015, 08:10 AM Post #15 |
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Skeptic
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My camera is rechargeable through a USB cable, no batteries. |
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