[Shop-talk] Dry Cell Batteries

[Wayne]

On 2/16/2010 10:17 AM, nogera2 at att.net wrote:
> I have a multi meter and can check them for voltage but can I assume that if
> the voltage is 1.5 that the battery has a lot of life left in it?   Also at
> what point would you say a battery is borderline and toss it?

You have to have a load on the battery to accurately measure if its output voltage is in range.  Unfortunately I don't know what's typical output current for standard cells.  If an AA is supposed to be good for 100mA, you just work V/A = R (1.5v / 0.1A = 10ohms) and select a resistor to stick across it while you measure the voltage.  Off-the-shelf testers will have appropriate loads fro each cell type built in.

Or you measure the voltage with them installed in the device and powered on, asuming you can probe the terminals in the device.

-Wayne