BarberBill said:
Does anybody have an explanation as to why NiCads and NIMH batteries are 1.2 volts rather than 1.5? Can't they be designe/manufactured at 1.5 volts? I've wondered about this for a long time.
HH
BB
People get hung up on this 1.5v vs 1.2v which is actually 1.25v.
If your device has to run on 1.5v batteries then you would have to change them out and throw them away after about 3 hrs of use!
In MOST all battery powered devices the power supply is above 1.0 -1.1 volt and everything above that is regulated down to the lower range (1.0-1.1 volt).
Keep in mind that in many cases there is more than one battery, and they are likely in series, many they actually voltage is multiplied, x-1 x2 x3 x-4 and so on,
but lets just use the 1.5v vs 1.2v for conversation!
Standard batteries start out at will say 1.5v and steadily decline until they're dead, and dead is somewhere around the 1.0v range.
Well, the rechargeable's don't do this, they start off at 1.25v and stay there though their cycle, then they avalanche (fall off very quickly) so in essence the rechargeable has a much more stable
power output as compared to the standard batteries.
Yes, in a non electronic flashlight the light will be brighter at the 1.5v vs 1.25v but to keep the 1.5v going you have to change the batteries when they get to 1.4v or to say every few minutes, your only
starting off at a higher voltage, your not maintaining it!
Modern electronic devices are regulated to the lower end of the battery, so a 9v device isn't using the 9 volts, its actually operating at 5 to 6volts, so the usable part of the battery is only the power above that.
I had two Tejon's and they run just fine on rechargeable's.
What's really going on here is a mental thing to some point, 1.5v has to be better than 1.2v its more power, but not if the electronic device is not actually operating at said 1.5v.
Its everybody's choice to which battery type they like to use, but I think its good to clear the air of the myths of both!
MarkCZ