Capacity of a Battery

The purpose of this article is to draw your attention to the capacity measurements printed on the side of a rechargeable battery. “2900mAh”, 1000mAh”, “800mAh”, etc. It is telling you how big the gas tank is on the battery.

Here is some more information to help build on this:

Capacity Dictionary Definition
From http://www.thefreedictionary.com/capacity

CAPACITY

1. The ability to receive, hold, or absorb.
2. Abbr. c. A measure of this ability; volume.
3. The maximum amount that can be contained: a trunk filled to capacity.
4. Ability to perform or produce; capability.
5. The maximum or optimum amount that can be produced: factories operating below capacity.
6. The power to learn or retain knowledge; mental ability.
7. Innate potential for growth, development, or accomplishment; faculty. See Synonyms at ability.
8. The quality of being suitable for or receptive to specified treatment: the capacity of elastic to be stretched.
9. The position in which one functions; role: in your capacity as sales manager.
10. Legal qualification or authority: the capacity to make an arrest.
11. Electricity Capacitance.

Capacity is the ability to hold, receive, absorb, produce; the potential to contain substance. We need good capacity in most things in order to get anything done. The same goes for capacity in electric power.

In batteries, capacity is the electrical energy expressed in ampere hours or “amp hours”. It is energy referencing to the discharge current for a measured period until it reaches what is called “cut-off voltage”.

An “amp-hour” capacity is the amount of electrical current measured in an hour. A current of one amp (or ampere) for one hour is equal to 1AH or 1AmpHour.

With conventional rechargeable batteries such as AA, AAA, C-cell, D-cell, and 9Volt, the measurement is in “milli-amp-hours”, which is just breaking down the “amp-hour” into one-thousandths. A milli-amp is 1/1000th of an amp, e.g.: 1.0Ah = 1000mAh.

So why do they make one amp out to be one thousand milli-amps? 1000 milli-amp-hours? 1000mAh? It is not clear to say except perhaps it is easier to compare the capacities on batteries, and it is easier to read “2700mAh” instead of 2.7amp-hours or 2.7ah.

This information is not needed to use the batteries. However it is good to know that the higher the capacity of the battery, the longer the battery will last.

POWER YOUR ROAD!