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A question about amperage
I have one simple question I hope someone can answer for a collector that is not electronically adept. If I used a 6V/4amp lead-acid battery for a '20's radio's A supply (with #12 gauge wire) and could not get audio out of the horn speaker, then upgraded to 6V/12amp battery and did get audio with the rheostats turned-up full, would upgrading to a 6V/20amp battery be to my advantage in any way or just a waste of money?
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#2
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Well first off, batteries are rated in capacity expressed as amp-hours (or AH), not just "amps". An AH is the the amperage that the battery can sustain for one hour.
A 6V 4AH battery should be able to sustain 4 amps for an hour (or 2 amps for 2 hours, 1 amp for 4 hours, etc.). Same formula would apply for a 6V battery of any other AH rating. Upgrading the AH rating, of and by itself, wouldn't give any advantage in performance other than increasing run time. Last edited by old_coot88; 11-22-2016 at 08:43 PM. |
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#4
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The only thing I can think of is that the battery was low on charge and the voltage sagged. Or perhaps that you had a poor connection and when you connected the other battery you remedied it. Have you repeated the experiment, meaning connect the 6 aH battery and found that once again you do not get full volume? If you do, measure the voltage before and after turning the radio on and see what you get.
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Audiokarma |
#6
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You need to put a voltmeter on the battery and monitor its voltage under load. If the 12AH battery holds 6V without sagging, then going to a 20AH battery would be no advantage other than run time. |
#7
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In your opinion should the RC work with the ARBE III set at 6V's? They say it provides 3.0 continuous amperes, but this confuses me now. If amperes is the amount of time a battery can deliver it's voltage, why does an AC eliminator that provides and endless supply even have an ampere rating? What does this mean? |
#8
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Amps is the amount of current flow. Amp hours is how much total current a battery can provide. So, if your radio draws one amp of current a 7 amp hour battery could run it for 7 hours. If your radio draws 7 amps the battery would run it for an hour.
So, your three amp power supply can provide 3 amps forever because it is connected to the mains. Your battery has a limited amount of chemicals to produce electricity with and so is rated by amp hours, so you can figure out how long you should be able to run a device on it. Amps and amp hours, while related are two different things. |
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3 Amps in the eliminator (assuming it is the supply output for the A output) means means it can only supply 3 Amps to your radios heaters. If your radio draws less than 3 amps it will still work, but if your radio needs more than 3 Amps for it's heaters that supply can NOT be used (over current protection will kick in or the voltage will sag like your battery or the eliminator will burn out....I think it is the former of the three in the case of the ARBEIII).
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Tom C. Zenith: The quality stays in EVEN after the name falls off! What I want. --> http://www.videokarma.org/showpost.p...62&postcount=4 |
Audiokarma |
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So the upshot: Once your power supply's rating exceeds the radio draw by around 20% there is no benefit to using a larger power supply. No harm will be done but your power supply will be under employed. :-) |
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IIRC about 2-4 years ago I saw a presentation on the design of the ARBEIII from it's maker at the MARC Extravaganza meet. It seemed like a fairly conservative design to me. If your radio needs 3 amps and the supply can handle 3 amps (on the output terminals you intend to use), then it should probably work....I'd try it, and see if the supply runs reasonably cool, and that it is not adding hum...If you see excessive hum or heat then you are overtaxing the supply and should try another.
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Tom C. Zenith: The quality stays in EVEN after the name falls off! What I want. --> http://www.videokarma.org/showpost.p...62&postcount=4 |
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