Do you call it a ''cell'' or a ''battery''?

[The_LED_Museum]

In regards to all primary (disposable) or secondary (rechargeable) devices that furnish 1.2, 1.5, 3.0, or 3.6+ volts DC, such as NiCd, NiMH, zinc-carbon, alkaline, lithium (of any chemistry), etc.

Do you call it a "CELL" or a "BATTERY"?

I searched for a poll like this but came up empty, so I sincerely apologise if this poll has been done before.

[PhotonBoy]

A battery is a group of cells.

[benchmade_boy]

wow im the only one so far out of 4 that voted for a battery. the 3 other where for a cell.

[Josey]

I've been forcing myself to call it a cell and a group of cells a battery. Drives my friends nuts.

[drizzle]

I voted battery as that is what I usually say but for some reason I got in the habit of saying "D cell". Pretty much every other size and type I say battery. Go figure.

[65535]

usually I say battery to the newblets in life and a cell to people who are smart usually i say battery pack for a group of cells.

[greenLED]

A battery is a group of cells.

Yup, yup! Despite that, I tend to talk about a "battery" just out of colloquialism.

[bobisculous]

Battery.

"So what kind of cell do you use most?" I say.
"Motorola, LG, and Nokia" will say many friends.

-Cameron

[SilverFox]

Hello Craig,

My dictionary says:

Battery, a. Two or more connected cells that produce a direct current by converting chemical energy to electrical energy. b. A single cell, such as a dry cell, that produces an electric current.

A single cell can be referred to as either a battery or a cell. When you combine several cells, you have a battery.

Tom

[nerdgineer]

I know that most of our typical batteries consist of single cells, but I still call them batteries because the improved communication and socialization of using a common parlance often outweights the abstract benefit of technical accuracy in speech, unless talking technical specifics with other engineers or otherwise going through dog sniffing rituals among fellow geeks...

[idleprocess]

Depends on the audience. I typically refer to them by their proper terms when addressing a an audience with technical know-how, but use the term "battery" when speaking to a more general audience. The distinction is pointless to the general public and not really getting into.

[Martini]

I couldn't vote on this one. I use the two terms interchangeably. My fiancé says she uses "cell," but I've heard her say battery as well.

[abvidledUK]

Despite the true term for a single cell is cell, I use battery.

Similarly, it's a torch !!

[MrAl]

Hi there,

Technically, the most basic part of a battery is the cell, so a battery
is made up of cells, where the cell is the device that has the smallest
voltage available in the system (either directly or indirectly) and its
voltage comes into existance via its nominal voltage for its chemistry.
A good example of this is a lead acid car *battery*, where the nominal
voltage is 12v but the nominal voltage of a single lead acid *cell* is 2v.
It would be a mistake to call the whole car battery a *cell*. Note that you
can not get any voltage lower than the cell voltage for any given chemistry.

There are, however, batteries that exist that are made of only one cell.
A good example of this is the 1.5v alkaline battery. This means it can
be called a *cell* or a *battery*.

A simple chart might look like this:
CELL: Basic electro-chemical device that produces dc current
BATTERY: Made up of one or more cells
BATTERY BANK: Made up of one or more batteries
BATTERY PACK: same as battery bank

Interestingly, even though a 9v 'battery' is one complete device i have
never heard anyone call it a "9v cell", although i guess it is possible because
externally it appears to be one unit. Technically this would be incorrect,
because a 9v battery is made up of several smaller cells inside.

In light of all this, i would have to say that you call something a
cell or a battery depending on its construction, and some constructions
can be called either cell or battery.

Because of this you may wish to add a third choice to the poll:

*BOTH*.


BTW, in a poll like this with the three options:

*CELL
*BATTERY
*BOTH

I would have to check all three.

[Topper]

I tend to call it a cell as I can spell sell but can't always seplt buttery write.
Tuper

[jtr1962]

I call it a cell but this drives uneducated people crazy. I'll hear comments like "What does a prison have to do with a battery?" Trying to explain the difference between "cell" and "battery" usually ends up being wasted breathe.

[NiOOH]

The term "cell" is short for electrochemical cell, which is a system of a positive electrode, a negative electrode, an electrolyte and (not aways) a separator. The overall cell potential is determined as a sum of the potentials of the electrode reactions.
A multi-cell pack is always called a battery. A single-cell pack can be called either a cell or a (single cell) battery. Electrochemists and electrical engineers prefer the term cell, the rest of the world uses battery.
Strictly speaking, the term single-cell battery or single-cell battery pack is IMO the most accurate, since this is a system consisting not only of the electrochemicall cell itself, but also comprising propper electrode terminals, casing of a standard size and, in some cases, safety vents or other safety devices.

[EvilLithiumMan]

Cell. I've never heard the police tell me: "Get into the battery, punk!"

[abvidledUK]

I have some AA Lithiums I'd like to cell !

[EngrPaul]

It's called a cell when talking technical.

It's called a battery when talking to non-techical folk. They never know what a cell is, they look at you strange.

[WildChild]

In french there is even more confusion. Usually people threat everything as a "batterie" (battery). But if we speak in technical terms, a single cell should be called "pile" if it is not rechargeable, "accumulateur" if it is rechargeable and "batterie" is used for 2 or more "piles" or "accumulateurs".

[CM]

I'm a purist. If I am referring to a single "battery", I call it a "CELL. If they're in packs, I call it a battery. If they give me a strange look when I call it a cell, I keep right on going. If they're curious, they'll stop and ask and I'll oblige.

[Bearcat]

To me a battery can be made-up of one cell or multiple cells. It is a battery of cells to me. A 9 volt battery has six cells and a C-cell battery has only one cell. It may not be correct, but it sounds better than calling a battery a cell, because it only has one cell.

[Eugene]

I call it what my grandfather always did, a batry

[Sub_Umbra]

I try to only call it a battery if it contains more than one cell, although sometimes I may use 'battery' on purpose in place of 'cell' in writing if I've already used cell a fistful of times in one post and I get tired of using the same word over and over.

[Illum]

preferably cell

when someone mentions "battery" first things that come my mind is a bunker, missile silo, and getting heavily beaten by something

[dulridge]

Tend to use battery - most folk don't know what a cell is and assume I'm talking biology or prison. As in "How many prisoners does this torch hold?" People get confused. Our politicians who seem to be keen on imprisoning more people than ever before might just like the idea

While I'm well aware of the distinction and more than a little of a pedant, life is too short for some distinctions, and this is one of those. If I live to be 500 years old, life will still be too short.

I am no longer a teacher (Thank deity of choice!) so don't have to care about such distinctions any more.

[dulridge]

I have some AA Lithiums I'd like to cell !

How much?

[abvidledUK]

How much?

I'll work out a price and post here, and in Sell section. I'll pm you first offer.

I currently have a few packs of 4 AA Lithiums, Energizer e2 Lithium, dated 2021 !!

[Newuser01]

Out of circle of folks that are familier with electronic, Cell really don't fly. Call it a AA battery ,Cr123 camera battery or Car Battery is better in general.

My 2 lumens.