Talk:AA battery

Electronics Start‑class Low‑importance

	Electronics portal This article is part of WikiProject Electronics, an attempt to provide a standard approach to writing articles about electronics on Wikipedia. If you would like to participate, you can choose to edit the article attached to this page, or visit the project page, where you can join the project and see a list of open tasks. Leave messages at the project talk pageElectronicsWikipedia:WikiProject ElectronicsTemplate:WikiProject Electronicselectronic articles
Start	This article has been rated as Start-class on Wikipedia's content assessment scale.
Low	This article has been rated as Low-importance on the project's importance scale.

Look ma, no heading

Who is responsible for the standardization of AA / AAA batteries? --Abdull 13:33, 26 July 2006 (UTC)[reply]

IEC (International Electrotechnial Commission). Rintrah 08:31, 3 November 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Also covered by ANSI C18.1M. By this specification the AA and AAA dimensions (in mm) are as follows

AA: diameter = 13.5 - 14.5, length = 49.3 - 50.5 (includes positive terminal), minimum positive terminal height = 1

AAA: diamter = 9.5 - 10.5, length = 43.3 - 44.5 (includes positive terminal), minimum positive terminal height = 0.8

the copy of the specification I have is dated 2001, but I believe this is the most current. Yiming689 01:30, 24 April 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Why the designations "AA, AAA, C, D" ?

Each designation describes size. Rintrah 08:31, 3 November 2006 (UTC)[reply]

There are other sizes also: AAAA, 4/5AA, A, 4/5A "four-fifths A", 4/5SC, SC "small C". 18670 is borrowed from Li-ion size nomenclature (approx. 18mm diameter x 67mm length). See http://www.panasonic.com/industrial/battery/oem/chem/nicmet/index.html. B size supposedly existed but fell out of use, maybe still available in Europe. Size C alkaline used to be common for flashlights and radios etc. in the 1980's but have been nearly extinct at retail for years. There's a page describing the batteries in a vacuum tube system as being labeled A, B, C and having varying voltage, but that page claims there was never a size "A" cell which is not true. I suspect much of that page is speculation and the history of transition from battery packs to cells with the same labeling is poorly documented. mattbayly 03:00, 20 September 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Two questions:

Which company introduced the AA battery (and when)?

217.34.39.123 15:38, 6 October 2006 (UTC)[reply]

According to "List of battery sizes", its colloqiual name is Penlight Mignon. To answer to your other question, AA is the standardised definition set by the IEC (International Electrotechnical Commission)(source: http://www.bbma.co.uk/batterysizes.htm). I do not know which company first manufactured it. Rintrah 08:31, 3 November 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Why redirect "A Battery" to this article?

What is the point of having the "A Battery" redirect point to this article, when this article makes no attempt to explain or discuss the "A Battery" type? I do see in the references an article for "A Battery (vacuum tubes)" which is the more logical redirect target, and so I'm changing the redirect to point to there.

DMahalko 12:22, 10 July 2007 (UTC)[reply]

81.86.133.117 keeps adding a link to the moixa website on this page (referencing the USBCELL). This user only appears to make edits related to moixa and their CEO. Usually self-serving and non encyclopedic. Meanmeancoffeebean 09:07, 24 August 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Minimum Volts to Power Various Equipment

Calling the battery guy to write this up for everyone, please? Some years ago, Popular Science (maybe something related) ran an article explaining that various batteries, at least D,C,AA,AAA, had MUCH useful life for certain devices that required far less than a full 1.5V per cell was required for some devices, meaning that even when many were ready to dispose of them, there was substantial useful life. In other words, items with motors, lights, and high (important) memory devices--cameras, gps.....shut down and/or fail to work fully when the batteries are not far down from 1.5V. Save those batteries for clocks, clocks with sound chips (incl alarm clocks), as these will function with the "deadest" batteries. Pocket radios will work on very low voltage, too. AM requires far less power than FM, as it turns out. I have a ANR (automatic noise reduction) headset and the voltage required is FAR less than the full 1.5V (it works well, even when the little "on" light barely lights). Along these lines then, note that rechargeables at 1.2V maximums will QUIT in those devices where shutoff thresholds are high. Someone help to write this somewhat meaningful information in encyclopedia form, please? Note that this public service might reduce the number of batteries going to the trash...or perhaps delay the discard, thereof. Good luck! 207.178.98.4 03:58, 11 September 2007 (UTC)[reply]

None of this has anything to do with battery SIZE. It's an issue that a cell's voltage will be "dragged down" more when providing higher current, so it may "look dead" when in a high-power device even though it still has a fair amount of energy stored that can be drained at a lower rate. A cell's voltage is not pegged at the nominal specified on the package (1.5V for alkaline and 1.2V for NiMH rechargeable), it will bounce up & down depending on the load current. Maybe I'll try to add something to the page on internal resistance as that is the issue you describe. User:mattbayly 04:00 20 September 2008 (UTC)

What means AM3?

Is it the same as "LR6"? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 81.203.47.149 (talk) 11:59, 1 September 2008 (UTC)[reply]

I'm looking at an AA battery now and it has AA/LR6/AM3 marked on it, so I would say it is. 70.88.250.45 (talk) 00:04, 6 June 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Image copyright problem with Image:NiMH 2500mAh.jpg

The image Image:NiMH 2500mAh.jpg is used in this article under a claim of fair use, but it does not have an adequate explanation for why it meets the requirements for such images when used here. In particular, for each page the image is used on, it must have an explanation linking to that page which explains why it needs to be used on that page. Please check

That there is a non-free use rationale on the image's description page for the use in this article.
That this article is linked to from the image description page.

This is an automated notice by FairuseBot. For assistance on the image use policy, see Wikipedia:Media copyright questions. --04:27, 23 September 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Most Batteries are Cells

Due to common usage the term battery has had its original meaning changed. A battery is a collection of things, guns for a gun emplacement and for electrical cells we have the standard 9v battery. This is the only correct use of the word battery that one usually buys at a convenience store . All AA, AAA, C, D and all their sub-groups are really cells. But who would walk into a shop and ask for "AA cells"; but that is what they really are. These days other examples of true batteries exist such as battery power tools and cell phones.

This is good example of how usage changes and often enhances our language. Instead of the buyer having to know how the 'battery' is assembled, all portable power sources use the one description - battery. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 59.167.234.86 (talk) 06:49, 29 September 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Maximum capacity / lack of citations

There seems to be a general lack of citations in this article, most notably, "Nickel-metal hydride (NiMH) AAs are also available in various capacities ranging from 1300 to 2900 mAh.", I haven't seen 2900mAh batteries available anywhere and would really like to see a source for this. Comrinec (talk) 06:15, 23 December 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Further to this point, at one place in the article is says that the maximum capacity of NiMH is 2900, however later it states that the maximum is "above 2000 mAh". A citation would be great, but consistency is also important, no?

I want to know why non-rechargible batteries do not state how much energy they store. How is one supposed to do a comparison?? H0dges (talk) 09:44, 26 February 2009 (UTC) —Preceding unsigned comment added by 78.148.196.222 (talk) [reply]

Recharge AA batteries via a 12v?

I just noticed the other day you can recharge aa batteries via a 12 volt, just connect the 2 dead batteries to one another via pos, then connect the neg with a wire to the neg's 12v. One of the AA batteries will read 1.67 within half an hour! Here is why, the dead battery connected to the 12v's neg will recharge, the one connected via the pos head will decharge into the dead battery! The 12 volt will reenforce that decharge completly, giving you a full battery life. Better than a charger even.— Preceding unsigned comment added by 69.255.25.193 (talk) 13:44, 17 April 2014 (UTC)[reply]

Battery Mass

The masses of rechargeable AA batteries seem to correlate positively with the capacity. I took some measurements using digital micro scales (0-100g):

Brand	Type	Nominal Capacity	Mass
Xellex Extra Heavy Duty	Zinc Chloride (?)	?	13.4g
Gut und Billig	Alkaline	?	22.8g
Duracell ProCell	Alkaline	2700 mAh	24.5g
Energizer Lithium	Lithium	2900 mAh	14.8g
H&H	NiMH	1400 mAh	22.7g
Usance	NiMH	1600 mAh	24.7g
FiF	NiMH	2100 mAh	28.4g
MODEN	NiMH	2500 mAh	27.9g
Panasonic Infinium	LSD NiMH	2100 mAh	27.7g
Fujifilm	NiMH rechargable	1800 mAh	28.0g Rod57 (talk) 02:10, 11 August 2009 (UTC)[reply]
Sanyo	NiMH rechargable Eneloop HR-3UTG	2000/1900 mAh	26.1g
Toshiba	NiCd rechargable T-50AA	500 mAh	21.4g (made 1994, measured 2010)
Powercell	Cheap ZnC	? low mAh	11.0g

Seems more to do with the chemistry than the nominal capacity. Rod57 (talk) 02:10, 11 August 2009 (UTC)[reply]

A whole Article?

Why is there one article for this particular type of battery when it could equally apply to the A, AAA, C, D, F cells? Was there at one point in time an article on the most common? This could reduce duplication of content if sections within this article apply to more than one battery. hrf (talk) 09:31, 19 May 2009 (UTC)[reply]

I've reverted the change made by Wtshymanski, which redirected this page to List of battery sizes, as this was done unilaterally without reaching a consensus on the talk page. It may be a good idea to flag this page as a candidate for merging. --Supergloom (talk) 10:29, 8 December 2009 (UTC)[reply]

I once again undid Wtshymanski second redirect attempt - I agree with Supergloom that there first should be a discussion on how to merge all articles. The redirect tag should be used after discussion has been done. Else we will use interesting pictures and information which is distributed in the different A* battery articles. --Abdull (talk) 11:42, 19 December 2009 (UTC)[reply]

If no-one was bold, nothing would ever get done. Sitting around waiting for "consensus" is a do-nothing attitude. I've repeatedly explained why i think a plethora of articles on random battery sizes is no good for the Encyclopedia. I've yet to see anyone put up a rational reason for having an article on each size. each battery size article gives ( a randomly mutilated version) of the same facts over and over again. The only unique information in each article is the diameter and length of the AA battery! *That* can be easily given in the table in list of battery sizes. Since no new arguement ahs been made to keep every single battery size article, i know what i'm going to do. --Wtshymanski (talk) 00:00, 20 December 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Sure, being bold can be a good habit at Wikipedia, but only when it's done correctly.

Yes, I gave a rational argument, see above: we are loosing information when just redirecting without incorporating the lost facts in other articles.

Precise specifications for different AA battery types (links at the end of the article)
There is a photo of an AA solar charger. This photo will be lost if it isn't incorporated in some article
Fact about 3.6 V Li-Ion AA-sized batteries

These comments also apply to the other articles that you redirected to List of battery sizes, such as C battery (e.g. what happened with File:C-Batteries.jpg?).

Regarding your statement "I've repeatedly explained why i think a plethora of articles on random battery sizes is no good for the Encyclopedia.". Please tell the community where we can find your explanations. Please incorporate the lost information in other articles. List of battery sizes is not the appropriate encyclopedic place for this (see Wikipedia:Stand-alone lists), as such list of articles are supposed to focus on mere listing without any further considerations on other viewpoints (e.g. history of batteries, social aspects of batteries).

Next stop will be Wikipedia:Administrators' noticeboard/Edit warring to find a resolution. --Abdull (talk) 10:51, 22 December 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Oh heavens...I'm about to have my knuckles rapped by some popularity contest winner. I'm quaking in my boots. See the long discussion at List of battery sizes - it's weird carrying on a disucssion on a redirected page. --Wtshymanski (talk) 16:40, 22 December 2009 (UTC)[reply]

AA battery, dimensions/ conversion

AA battery#dimensions (1.97×0.56 inches) (1.97 by 0.56 inches or 50.04 by 14.22 millimetres) are the mm dimensions given in this section and/or this article "real", or are they approximations? Doe(s) (do) the original standard(s) give the dimensions in millimetres or in inches? Could some one be so kind as to clarify? Perhaps I can check this in the references. Peter Horn User talk 21:21, 24 April 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Duracell Spec Link Broken

Link "Detailed specifications for Duracell alkaline AA battery" goes to broken link. This should be fixed or eliminated. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 149.32.192.33 (talk) 16:38, 3 June 2010 (UTC)[reply]

No Gratuitous Advertising

I would like to replace the the Energizer battery pic with a brand neutral one. Comments? 196.23.21.91 (talk) 16:43, 26 June 2010 (UTC)[reply]

-Agreed, I believe it should be replaced with a shot of any brand that does not show the logo, just the warning, best before etc... Moka20 07:28, 3 February 2011 (UTC) — Preceding unsigned comment added by Moka20 (talk • contribs)

PowerGenix has a NiZn AA battery

Should we include mention of the NiZn chemistry? --99.110.255.113 (talk) 01:23, 10 November 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Sure, why not. Add it to the table, with a reference. --Wtshymanski (talk) 04:07, 10 November 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Guidance for consumers

Here are some cells claiming 3800 mAh: http://www.ebay.com/itm/4pcs-3800mah-NiMH-AA-rechargable-battery-/281100883854?pt=US_Rechargeable_Batteries&hash=item4172eb178e

Is this capacity claim fraudulent and/or impossible? If so, it would be nice if the article could provide information that helps consumers spot these bad deals. 174.24.7.220 (talk) 06:57, 30 April 2013 (UTC)[reply]

While I understand your good faith intentions, Wikipedia is not a place to post advise. Please see WP:NOTHOWTO. Cantaloupe2 (talk) 21:02, 30 April 2013 (UTC)[reply]

If the article contained a factual statement such as "The maximum theoretical capacity of a NiMH AA cell is X mAh," this would allow a marginally savvy consumer to spot fraudulent claims, and at the same time would not turn the article into a "how-to." That's what I'm getting at, Cantaloupe. 174.24.42.61 (talk) 15:13, 12 June 2013 (UTC)[reply]