mAh capacity of old single-use cells
- Thread starter David18
- Start date
Help Support Candle Power Flashlight Forum
McAllan
Enlightened
Sorry I don't have specific data sheets. But I believe back then there was no alkaline cells - or at least they weren't used by ordinary people.
So take a look at some data sheets of todays "Heavy Duty" (grossly misleading) cells which are not alkaline to get a great idea about that. Don't know the word for those kind of cells in English though.
I don't know when rechargeables first became available and accessible to the public but from old magazines from the 70's I recall have seen AA sized NiCd as low as 450 mAh. The ones we had as I was a little kid in the 80's were 500 mAh. Can't guarantee there wasn't even lower capacities but I think that was about the capacities available at that time. D size typically 3500-4000 mAh.
Oh and in contrast to the "Heavy Duty" cells of that time the rechargeables were really capable of something back then. Even the 500 mAh AA cells could almost weld or so it felt. Could easily compare with todays NiMH in absolute power drain (but of course get discharged faster). Those were the ones with sintered anodes - small supermen so to speak.
Later in the beginning of the 90's as I remember it came those high capacity NiCd. Still quite durable if used with a good charger and not put to hard work (limited use to walkmens, CD players etc.). But otherwise real weaklings not capable of big drains. Then NiMH came to market in the mid 90's. The first were real disappointments with extreme self discharge and not delivering the promised mAh but a few years later they were much better.
So take a look at some data sheets of todays "Heavy Duty" (grossly misleading) cells which are not alkaline to get a great idea about that. Don't know the word for those kind of cells in English though.
I don't know when rechargeables first became available and accessible to the public but from old magazines from the 70's I recall have seen AA sized NiCd as low as 450 mAh. The ones we had as I was a little kid in the 80's were 500 mAh. Can't guarantee there wasn't even lower capacities but I think that was about the capacities available at that time. D size typically 3500-4000 mAh.
Oh and in contrast to the "Heavy Duty" cells of that time the rechargeables were really capable of something back then. Even the 500 mAh AA cells could almost weld or so it felt. Could easily compare with todays NiMH in absolute power drain (but of course get discharged faster). Those were the ones with sintered anodes - small supermen so to speak.
Later in the beginning of the 90's as I remember it came those high capacity NiCd. Still quite durable if used with a good charger and not put to hard work (limited use to walkmens, CD players etc.). But otherwise real weaklings not capable of big drains. Then NiMH came to market in the mid 90's. The first were real disappointments with extreme self discharge and not delivering the promised mAh but a few years later they were much better.
