Amps, Volts, and MAh

PDA batteries like all batteries have electrical specifications that include its volt and milliAmp hour rating. These terms are abbreviated as we see in the following example: 3.7 V, 1600 mAh.

What do these terms mean, and why should you care about the specifications of pda batteries?

Volts or V are an electrical measure of energy potential. You can think of it as the pressure being exerted by all the electrons of a PDA Battery's negative terminal as they try to move to the positive terminal.

Amps or A is an abbreviation of Ampere, a 19th century French scientist who was a pioneer in electricity research. Amps measure the volume of electrons passing through a wire in a one second. One Amp equals 6.25 x 1018 electrons per second.

Amp hours or Ah measures capacity. That is ultimately what we want to know about PDA Batteries from a consumers point of view. Amp hours quantify how long a pda battery can deliver a certain amount of charge before it runs out. As with all metric measurements, Amps can be divided into smaller (or larger) units by adding a prefix.

In the case of PDA Batteries, a milliAmp hour (mAh) is most commonly used. Note that 1000 mAh is the same a 1 Ah. (Just as 1000mm equals 1 meter.) Note that Amp hours do not dictate the flow of electrons at any given moment. PDA batteries with a 1 Amp hour rating could deliver ร�ยฝ Amp of current for 2 hours, or they could provide 2 Amps of current for ร�ยฝ hour.

Typically, PDA Batteries will use 1 to 3 Amps per hour, depending on the model's processor speed, screen size, screen brightness adjustment, usage, and other factors.

Keep in mind that slight variations in voltage generally do not impact the performance of your PDA. We see this all the time with universal and external batteries. The original battery might be specified at 10.8 Volts, but customers using a universal part can operate their laptop safely at either the 10 or 11 Volt setting.

Dan Hagopian of Batteryship.com authored this article. http://www.Batteryship.com offers PDA Battery Replacement Kits with tools and instructions for iPod battery, iPAQ battery, Clie battery, Palm Battery, Axim battery, Treos, and Blackberries.