From rec.radio.amateur.equipment 765 Path: ucbvax!agate!howland.reston.ans.net!pipex!uunet!telesoft!garym From: garym@alsys.com (Gary Morris @ignite) Newsgroups: rec.radio.amateur.equipment Subject: Alkaline vs Nicad operating time Message-ID: Date: 23 Nov 93 18:29:48 GMT Organization: Alsys Group, San Diego, CA, USA Lines: 34 In a recent thread there was some discussion about the usefulness of AA packs with Alkaline batterys for use in HT's. Especially for backup/disaster work, since Alkalines have a longer shelf life than a charged nicad pack and operate longer before it has to be replaced/recharged. I can't find the thread now but I found some interesting info in my FT-470 user manual (a Yaesu 2M/440 HT) to add tho this. The book gives a chart of battery charge life under a specified set of conditions. The interesting thing is the relative life of the Nicad packs, and AA packs with Alkaline or Manganese batteries. From the chart you can estimate the milliamp-hour rating of Alkaline and Manganese batteries. Battery Model Charge Life ------------------ ----------- AA Pack: 6 AA Alkalines 17 hrs (about 2000 mAh) 6 AA Manganese 5.8 hrs (about 700 mAh) 7.2v Ni-Cd Pack (200 mAh) 1.6 hrs 7.2v Ni-Cd Pack (600 mAh) 5 hrs 7.2v Ni-Cd Pack (1000 mAh) 11 hrs Using their ratings for the various packs (excluding the 1000 mAh pack) we can estimate that the Manganese batteries have a rating of around 700 mAh and that the Alkaline batteries have a rating of around 2000 mAh. The life of their 1000 mAh pack seems too long compared to the other packs. I would expect these ratings to vary with various brands of Alkaline batteries. Has anyone done any tests to measure mAh rating of various AA batteries? --GaryM -- Gary Morris KK6YB Internet: garym@alsys.com San Diego, CA USA Phone: +1 619-457-2700 x128 (work)