Talk:List of battery sizes

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Contents

[edit] Antiquity

The article mentions in the notes 6V etc batteries are commonly real batteries with multiple cells.. Should we mention how these batteries are usually made? For example, I believe 6V lattern batteries are usually 4 F type cells 60.234.141.76 14:14, 6 October 2005 (UTC)

I believe that the "L" e.g. in "LR6" etc is the chemistry type definition within the IEC standard, and not part of the cell size definition. That is, the IEC size code for an "AA" battery (for example) is "R6" rather than "LR6" - the "L" meaning manganese-alkaline. I do not have a copy of IEC60086 to hand, I hope that somebody who does can confirm or refute this.

Would the 6V 2CR5/DL245 battery or the rechargeable EN-EL1 li-ion battery fit anywhere on this list?

[edit] Typical Thevenin Equivalent(fresh)

This would probably be better as 'approximate output resistance', because the voltage is already in the voltage column. PeterGrecian 13:19, 8 May 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Massive Rewrite

Was really irked by every battery maker using a different name for the exact same battery, so I decided to clean this up a little.

Summary:

  • Focused in on the 'common' battery types, all those obscure types (like AAAA or 2/4 C) would be better in a separate table, or even a separate article. It's almost impossible to get any data on those obscure sizes as well.
  • Got most of my data from Energiser/Eveready Data Sheets, but a lot from other sources
  • Someone killed all my pics before I even finished the article. Perhaps telling me why in my talk page would help me not do it again :P
  • Need to add the IEC/ANSI names and mAh for NiCD, NiMH versions of the common sizes.
  • Need to re-add some the contents from original article with complete data supplied.
  • I still haven't found CR927, AG3, or AG4 size batteries which I use all the time. :( (I'm tired and need to go to class) Tiki God 18:15, 21 June 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Massive Rewrite (Update)

I've added tonnes more stuff and polished it up to the point that it's easy to add data too. It's still a little obscure the difference between 'battery size', 'battery type' and 'battery configuration' but that reflects the ambiguity in common usage and language for batteries.

  • Battery Size / Type
    • It's physical dimensions
    • It's physical dimensions / anode-cathode layout'
    • It's voltage
    • It's chemistry
    • The mAh storage capacity ('size')


Tiki God 08:29, 31 July 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Note about CMOS memory

Someone added 'and CMOS settings' to CR2032 battery. It is the most commonly used battery to keep the time current in a computer, and in the past it did keep the CMOS settings, but I think most newer computers use EEPROMs for the settings and the battery is only for the date. In the past I've worked on computers that lose everything when you take the battery out (which is really annoying), and those that only lose thier dates when the battery is removed. Still it was true, and I bet still true for cheaper boards or boards designed to be replaced before the battery wears out (The battery only depletes when the computer is off AND disconnected from all power). The boards that don't lose thier settings typically take a few seconds to 'save' new settings (like flash drives).


Tiki God 08:29, 31 July 2006 (UTC)
Actually, in newer computers, the BIOS data is stored in a permanent flash memory inside the RTC (real time clock) component. It is a rather big black square box usually sitting near the BIOS chip itself and marked with a clock symbol and/or the manufacturer name (ODIN, etc.). Still, i think the entry can stay unchanged.
da_baitsnatcha 19:02, 26 March 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Type A Battery

There used to be this type of battery which is no longer in use. It was a large cylinder with terminals on top, think it was called a Type A. Anyone want to do a short article on that?—The preceding unsigned comment was added by 12.41.204.3 (talk • contribs) 16:00, 16 October 2006.

Do you mean the beer-can-sized 1.5V telephone exchange battery, once beloved of school physics departments? I think that was the No. 6.—The preceding unsigned comment was added by 202.12.144.21 (talk • contribs) 00:44, 6 November 2006.

Actually, I have seen the Type A, it looks like a fatter AA. I saw it in the back of classic Apple Macintosh models such as the Mac Plus, where it kept CMOS settings and the real time clock running. I don't think that there's anywhere to get replacements, but the Mac Plus batteries did say 'A' on them. 74.1.184.250 22:28, 15 January 2007 (UTC)

The battery used in the 680x0 Macintoshs are called 1/2 AA. The voltage is 3.6V volts though, and it is a lithium battery. da_baitsnatcha 19:10, 26 March 2007 (UTC)


Type "A" NiCd cells are still commonly used in the radio control hobby.
There are several other obscure cell types/sizes not yet included in this article, such as the "1/2"x and "2/3"x (where "x" is a common cell type such as A, AA, C, etc.) commonly used in the radio control hobby. I would also like to see, probably as a separate table, a list of obsolete cell/battery types such as RW-25 and Eveready No. 206.
71.108.222.81 21:04, 12 February 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Manganese debated

I do not think manganese battery equals alkaline battery. Batteries marked as "Alkaline" are truly long-lasting in use, while cells marked as "manganese" are usually marketed as "Heavy Duty", for eaxmple the Panasonic green apple logo batteries (like these: http://www.babyandcompany.co.za/batteries2.html). These are somewhat half-way between carbon-zinc and alkalines. So I think alkaline and manganese single use cells are two distinct category and so the cell tech table in the article is incorrect. 195.70.32.136 12:25, 13 November 2006 (UTC)

If you follow the links to zinc-carbon and alkaline you will see that there is manganese in both of them, but the rest of the chemistry is different. (I will expand the alkaline article a bit) Han-Kwang 12:48, 13 November 2006 (UTC)

[edit] origin of common names

The article uses what it calls the "common names" like "AA", "AAA", "C", "D" and "PP9" without further explanation. Where did these names come from - are they just product names from a particular manufacturer (EverReady?)--feline1 16:01, 1 January 2007 (UTC)

Common name means just that, the name most likely to be used by an English speaker in North America, The Isles, or The Colonies. It is also the name most likely to be prominently displayed on the battery packaging.
I think that in the past Britain used a system of battery names based loosely on the IEC naming (like R2, R4) but now uses the 'common names' listed here (I could be wrong). I see that you are in Britain, perhaps you could go to the corner shop and tell us what the 'most common' name (currently, not 10 years ago) used for these various battery sizes is. If it's different then you can put it in the 'common name section' followed by "(Britain)" like the way different chemistries are listed. I am actually somewhat curious because I think these 'common names' are a recent (last 10 years) international standardization effort.
They are not manufacturer names, who notoriously rename batteries (at least with the more obscure sizes) to confuse customers into buying their specific brand of battery. (See LR44_battery as an example)
Tiki God 10:46, 3 January 2007 (UTC)
I would like to see mention of where these so-called "common names" originated too. Saying that common names are "most likely to be used" and "most likely to be prominently displayed on the battery packaging" is pointless, we already knew that (duh!) But those designations had to originate somewhere; where was that? Also, those names are at least 30 years old. I had a radio-controlled toy Ferrari in the late 1970s, of which I recently saw another example at an antique toy fair (like new in the box), that was marked in the battery compartment as using type "AA (UM-3)" cells.
71.108.222.81 20:48, 12 February 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Battery categories

This article is making a good attempt to list many battery varieties along with all the common names. It is clearly incomplete, for example there are many more types of button cell than listed here. Because the list would be enormous and unwieldy if/when all types are included I think it would be a good idea to list various battery types separately (eg all button cells together in one list) and introduce further categories for different general uses/types. For example, one category could be "standard" 1.5V types, and include AAAA, AAA, AA, C, D. Other potential categories are listed below, which I have singled out because there are some known (to me) omissions.

Historically there have been all manner of batteries, especially for valve-operated equipment (I believe these fell into three different sub-categories with different voltages for different parts of the circuitry, and some batteries had multiple connections to supply more than one of the different voltages so fitting into multiple sub-categories). I have no more information on these, but it might be a good idea to separately list current and obsolete types, and in the latter case include modern-day alternatives for people searching for suitable batteries for old equipment.

As the list becomes more complete and the entries more obscure, I am sure that not all types will have a "common" name, just some official name. It's probably best not to list them by that common name, especially as the common name is not necessarily universal. I think AA etc are fairly ubiquitous - are these not something more official than just a commonly-used name?

I appreciate I am raising the possibility of including far more batteries with very few specific details; I apologize! I am happy to rearrange the article into the general framework suggested if people think it is a good idea, and then let the experts come and provide the details!

[edit] 9V Radio Batteries

In addition to PP3 there were various other PPx batteries, most of which were, I believe, primarily used as radio batteries. PP7 and PP9 were definitely 9V radio batteries, and are still available (albeit, rare). Google suggests other PPx batteries existed and that the PP8 was 6V, but I cannot vouch for this.

[edit] Lantern Batteries

The article mentions "big" lantern batteries, but there were/are at least three sizes of lantern battery that I recall.

[edit] Lead Acid Batteries

There are many standard lead acid batteries available which are not included at all at present. These fall into (at least) two main categories: those used in automotive applications and smaller varieties generally used in intruder alarms etc.

[edit] Radio controlled equipment batteries

I am not a radio controlled equipment user, but I notice that there seems to be many, presumably standard, rechargeable battery packs used in such equipment. They generally look like several cells "shrink wrapped" together.

Ros0709


This is true. The concept of these rechargeable battery packs is always the same though. There are standard voltage ratings for such packs, so you will most likely have ratings like 7.2V, 9.6V or 12V on these packs. Since 1.2V rechargeable batteries are used, the packs always contain an even number of cells. For packaging reasons, I suppose.
Depending on what battery size you use A,AA,etc. the capacitiy varies.
The connectors are semi-standard, a few connector types introduced by different companies have coexisted for years.
This leads to a lot of different versions that have not been named or something like that. I don't think this deserves an entry because it is actually just custom packaging of cells and not a cell type.
da_baitsnatcha 19:20 26 March 2007 (UTC)

[edit] About Battery Categories and Common Names

[edit] Common Names

I have no idea where these common names have come from, if you can find out feel free to add a paragraph here. All I can do is list what I see in any drug store, or corner market, or at Radio Shack.

[edit] Old/Obscure Batteries

Before I massively rewrote and cleaned up this article there were actually quite a few 'obscure' battery types listed, like 1/3C, or 2/3C. They had no info other than a name. It was virtually impossible to find even the most rudimentary information about these batteries. I took them out because, while they did exist, they are not really a 'currently' used battery. I suggested then, and again now, that old, discontinued, or very obscure batteries be listed in a separate article, like List of old battery sizes.

The only new(ish) battery I've seen added (ever) is the CR123 (Camera Battery), which while being very close to a size C, is a high drain Lithium chemistry. Clearly the need for such a battery overcame the industry tendency to settle on a few standard sizes.

[edit] Button Cells

I'm sure there have been thousands of button cells over the years but right now, these are the most common ones used and available. Like the old/obscure batteries there is no info available on discontinued button cells. In the past decades many button cells (like other batteries) have become standardized to a few dozen sizes. If you make a product that doesn't used a 'currently common' button cell then it will fail commercially, thus self reinforcing the current few dozen sizes.

[edit] Categories

Since there are not that many currently used common battery sizes (less than 50 including button cells), I don't think It necessary to split up this article into separate sections or articles. For me, I wanted people to be able to put in "CR2032", or "Size N Battery" or "AAAA", and come here to get basic info until (if ever) someone makes an article for that specific battery. A single article can't be all things, and knowing when to make a new article is part of Wikipedia.

[edit] History of Battery Sizes

A section about the history of the the 'common names' would be nice, especially if the most used name has changed over time. For example, I think that "PP3" was actually the most common name long ago but NOW the most common name is "9-Volt". Many of the valve batteries you mentioned were never used by normal people for any common purpose. Before you clutter up this article or hack it to death, it would be better to put that info into a separate article.

[edit] Lantern Batteries

I've only seen two types of lantern batteries currently available (three if you count screw-top/spring-top as separate batteries). Also the 'common' names are a little less 'firm' for lantern batteries than for the regular batteries and button cells, hence why there are so many common names listed for each.

[edit] Lead Acid Batteries

I have no information about car/marine/backup batteries like this, but they generally do not have a 'common designation' that an everyday consumer would recognize. Like the old valve batteries they tend to change from car to car and year to year and an article about 'battery sizes' is NOT the place to list the hundreds (or thousands) of batteries like this. They last a long time, so there has never been an industry push to 'winnow out the field' of batteries like this. From working with cars myself I would bet that manufacturers purposely change them every year (like car models and auto parts) just to make it hard for after market manufacturers to make workable alternatives. Also, this would probably be better in List of obscure battery sizes.

[edit] Hobbyist Batteries

The "4.5-Volt" and "Size N" are commonly used in radio controlled vehicles. I think there may be a few other 'standardized packs' that should be here, but if it is incredibly obscure it should be in List of obscure battery sizes

[edit] Coda

Anyway, your heart seems in the right place, but most of your suggestions would be better off in separate articles, with links to and from here. This would preserve the integrity of this article as well as those related articles.

Tiki God 21:00, 8 March 2007 (UTC)
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