Size matters with regular batteries. A car battery has more amperage than a Lantern Battery. A, D Cell is more powerful than a C. AA is more powerful than AAA.
I have no guide posts for these coin batteries that have suddenly popped up. For years the CR2032 was the standard motherboard bios battery. Now it’s in guitar tuners, garage remotes, you name it. Both my guitar tuners use a CR2032.
There’s a bunch of them. I don’t even know all the numbers like I do D, C, AA,AAA. One glance at the coin batteries display board at the grocery store will leave you dazed and confused. A bunch of meaningless numbers.
Is there a chart or something to know WTH these are and how they rate in amperage compared to each other?
Is a bigger coin battery like the CR2032 more powerful than the next size down? There’s one about the size of a nickel and one about penny size. How about thicker? Thicker and bigger is usually a good combination. Does a thicker coin battery have more amperage?
Power is something your device will draw, dependent on the voltage of the battery (a single cell will always be about 1.5V. Higher voltages come from multiple cells connected in series). The capacity of the battery to provide that power is measured in amp hours, or Ah (and also called “battery capacity”). This also isn’t going to affect the power draw, only how long the battery will last. It seems that battery capacity is what you’re actually asking about here, though, not power.
What I miss is the ability to glance at a flashlight and have an idea of how long it will stay on. A triple D cell flashlight has quite a long life during a power failure. Lantern batteries are fantastic for extended use during power failures or camping. A tiny AAA pen flashlight won’t last long. After a lifetime of using battery operated devices we just know what to expect.
Coin batteries are a mystery. I bought a Guitar Tuner in March. It’s only turned once a day for 5 to 10 minutes at a time. The battery failed after only 6 months. I was beyond shocked. But it was a CR2032. Apparently they have very little amp hours in them. My wife’s remote for the garage eats batteries too.
looking at that chart. A 1.5 Volt AAA is 1200 (alkaline)
540 (carbon–zinc)
CR2032 is 3 Volts 225 mAh
There isn’t much juice in a CR2032. It must have 2 cells in it. I recall from school 1.5V is the limit for any battery cell. If you want a 12V car battery then you have to combine those cells to make 12V. Or a 6V lantern battery has multiple cells.
It depends on the chemistry. CR2032 is lithium-maganese and is natively 3 volts. Incidentally, the “32” at the end means thickness in tenths of a millimeter, so a CR2032 is 3.2 mm thick. There are also CR2016 and CR2024 cells. They all have the same voltage but different energy.
Thank you, coin batteries are beginning to make sense. I had wondered if the size of the coin battery made a difference. Glad to find out it does.
I guess the first time I ever saw a coin battery was in my grandmothers hearing aid in the late 1970’s. Then in the mid 80’s pc’s started using the CR2032 to hold the bios. They seemed to last for years and years in pc motherboards. I usually didn’t need to change one until a pc was at least 4 years old.
I just bought a 4 pack of CR2032 because I have several devices now that requires it. I was careful to order a name brand in a retail package with an expiration date. No mystery batteries for me.
It sounds like you are talking about old-style incandescent flashlights, rather than the much superior, modern LCD based units - I have one that uses 2 small CR123A batteries that will run 24/7 for a MONTH at the very lowest setting (enough light to get around in the dark with adapted eyes) - at the very highest setting it puts out enough light to see stuff a block away, and will still run for a couple of hours (and the batteries, BTW, have a shelf life of 10 years.)
Is there a chart or something to know WTH these are and how they rate in amperage compared to each other?
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Well if its Lithium or lithium ion rechargeable, it can provide a zillion amps. Of course, thats a very short lived heater…
You real concern is AMP-HOURS… basically you can work off physical size just the same as with AA,AAA, C ,D …
The different quality of AA,AAA,C,D cells is that the cheaper types produce LESSER AMP-HOURS when uses at high current. They also don’t maintain voltage while producing the high amps, so can’t be used where voltage was required to be stable, such as in digital cameras. So the “heavy duty” cells were relegated to light duties, alkalines became the word for the highest range of current output… Alkaline could drive a low current usage device, like a torch, the SAME as a cheaper type.
Car batteries are all lead acid, so the physic size is the only variation.
So the pattern remains for the button cells , of course its physical size … .volume for amp hours, area for current.
Also, the “20” indicates the diameter, in millimeters. A CR2032 is 20 mm across, and 3.2 mm thick. The “R” in CR stands for Round, and the “C” indicates the battery chemistry. There are also BR2032, and other “B” types similar to the “C” style button cells - these are a slightly different chemistry, and designed for longer life with very small loads by trading off capacity for lower self-discharge rate.
Yhese are rechargable batteries, and the PC motherboard keeps them recharged when in use. But they eventually wear out, and have to be replaced – and 4 years is about right for that.
CR2032 are not rechargable. However, they’re only used to keep the clock running, so they last a long time. They used to keep a small memory running as well, but I think all modern motherboards now use nonvolatile (flash, etc.) memory for BIOS settings. Also, the battery is only used when the power is physically off. A system that’s “off” is generally really in a deep standby state, and a few components remain powered. The battery keeps the clock going even if the computer is unplugged.
If two batteries (or cells) have the same nominal voltage, then you can compare the “amp hour” specification of each to determine which battery has the highest energy density (J/m[sup]3[/sup]). The battery with the highest amp hour spec will have the highest energy.
But a couple things should be kept in mind:
An amp hour rating for a battery is only valid at one current level. If you draw more current than this, the actual amp hour rating will decrease. If you draw less current than this, the actual amp hour rating will increase.
There’s more to life than just energy density. The battery’s internal resistance is equally important, especially for “heavy” and “pulsed” loads.
Does a thicker coin battery have more amperage?