If you have bought any electronic device, you must have noticed Ah (Ampere hour) written on the batteries with some numerical like 100 Ah or 200 Ah. However, a new buyer or someone who doesn’t understand the electronic nuances would not know the relevance and meaning of Battery Ah. So now you might wonder what battery ah is and how it is relevant for the inverter buyer. Don’t worry; we will cover everything about battery Ah in this article.
The battery’s amp hour rating is one of the most helpful tools for estimating battery life. The amp hours written on the battery or told by the seller might provide information about its capacity, but they do not always function as you anticipate. Like most things, making inverter batteries involves more intricate calculations, which are out of the syllabus for an ordinary person to understand. Fortunately, we have brief and simple instructions to help you comprehend amp hours and other things you need to understand before getting the right battery.
Read on!
What is Battery Ah?
The maximum amount of current a particular battery can deliver for one hour is measured in Amps/hour (Ah) and is used for large batteries. The MilliAmpere-Hour (mAh) and MilliAmpere-Second (mAs) sub-unit of Ampere hour are used in X-ray diagnosis and are available in vaporizers or standard AA-sized batteries.
But in some deep cycle batteries, the battery Ah rating is mentioned in the multiple C ratings. The C ratings tell you the battery capacity to provide power at a particular time. For example, if C/7 is written on the battery for 30-amp hours, it means the battery provides 30 amps in 7 hours without any dropping off. Moreover, in simple terms, an Ampere hour tells the energy stored in a battery that permits one ampere/1000 mAh of current to flow in one hour. But the amperage might change with the type of batteries you opt for.
The next section will comprehend the battery ah or amp hour rating. If we get the amp hour rating, we can easily compute the charge capacity or how long your battery can last.
Computing the Amp Hour or Battery Ah
To your surprise, if you are not an expert, you can still calculate the total amps and the home’s electrical load. Moreover, the electric current value associated with every fuse is known as the Ampere rating. The value tells the continuous flow of current allowed through the fuse under the specified conditions. It is also known as current-carrying capacity or ampacity.
Let us take an example:
If the current is 15 amps and the discharge time of the battery is 10 hours, the amp rating of the battery will be:
Amp hour = Current (I) x Discharge Time (T)
Ampere hour = 10 x 15
150 Ah
Now, the battery’s amp rating is 150 ampere for 15 hours.
Using the same equation, we can get how much the battery is going to last:
Amp Hour (Ah) = Current (I) x Discharge Time (T)
150 Ah = 10 Amperes x T
T= 150 Ah/10 A
T= 15hours.
Why must you know all these calculations? It is because you will know the battery capacity or the actual charge-holding capacity of the battery. Knowing the basic calculation will make it easy for you to calculate the energy consumption in the charging battery and its backup. So now let us understand the Volts, Ohms, and Watts.
Volts, Ohms, and Watts
You will better understand amps’ significance by understanding volts, ohms and watts of electric components.
1. Volts:
In simple terms, voltage or Volt (V) is the potential for energy to move. For example, you can think of the flowing pressure of water through pipes. High voltage is equal to high pressure. You can also understand it: The actual water flowing is Current (I), and Voltage (V) is the pressure of water flowing through pipes.
2. Ohms
It is the measure of resistance, and to understand it better, let us take the example: You can relate the resistance of current with the circumference of the water pipe. When the pipe size is small, or you apply resistance via the tap, water flow rises and falls. Similarly, the current through the wire is inversely proportional to the resistance (ohms).
3. Watts
Watt is the rate of consumed energy, or one joule of energy used per second. The SI unit of Watt is joule per second. Therefore, you can calculate the Watt by:
Watt = Ampere(A) x Volt (V)
Now you have arrived at the cusp of this article; we hope you understand why understanding the battery capacity is important. The amp-hour battery rating must be trusted, as it only approximates the charge capacity. But the rating cannot be extrapolated with any degree of accuracy for high currents or extremely long times. There are factors like the battery’s age, charging time required with discharging cycles, backup, temperature, etc. Check out our extensive range of best-in-class inverters with top-notch efficiency. Whatever your requirements are, we have a range of inverters that best fit your needs.
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