Crucial Battery Metric Considerations When Shopping for One

Posted by John Wilson on December 21st, 2018

Are you searching for the right battery for your application? Well, whatever reasons for needing a battery, chances are you need it urgently. But when it comes to choosing the right battery to use, you cannot afford to make your decision on a whim. To begin with, it is recommended that you identify the most essential metrics for your battery needs and use them to evaluate what is available in the market.

Car batteries for instance, need a lot of power for switching on the vehicle starter and a lot of other automatic functions. This means you have to choose a battery that has minimal cell internal resistance. This is usually done by increasing the surface area of electrodes. Keep reading to learn more about choosing the right battery for your needs.

Determine Primary vs. Secondary Needs

This is perhaps one of the initial things you will put into perspective with your battery choice. Applications that require primary use mean that they only require single use. These are mainly applications that need occasional and intermittent usage like flashlights and smoke alarms. They are also used in disposable applications where charging is almost impossible. Other examples are greeting cards, watches, hearing aids and pacemakers among others.

But when you will use the battery continuously and for long durations, like laptops for instance, rechargeable batteries will be more appropriate.

Primary batteries are typically characterized by lower self-discharge rates. This makes them highly suitable for appliances where recharging isn’t possible before being used for the first time.

Energy against Power

You often see motorcycle batteries coming with stickers branded mAh or Ah. This oftentimes dictates the runtime of the battery and it is also the discharge current that the particular battery can give over time. Therefore, as you shop for the right batteries for your applications, one of the most essential factors is to check out the energy content of each.

High power batteries on the other hand, will give high capabilities. At the same time, the drain rates are also high. Auto batteries are a perfect example of batteries that have high power, which is essential in vehicle starters. Essentially, batteries with high power have low energy densities.

If you are looking to replace a battery in one of your applications, you may want to follow the specifications of your appliance manufacturer. Most people may find it difficult to start looking into scientific terms like energy density and open circuit voltages.