A question about amperage

[decojoe67]

Originally Posted by old_coot88

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.

Thank you so much, but please bear with me, the novice I am in electronics. If I could not get any audio out of the speaker with the 6V 4AH battery then how it is possible that I did with the 6V 12AH one? That was my reasoning for going ahead and trying a 6V 20AH battery. Does this reasoning make sense or can I expect to be disappointed with investing in the 20AH battery other than a longer life?

[old_coot88]

Originally Posted by decojoe67

Thank you so much, but please bear with me, the novice I am in electronics. If I could not get any audio out of the speaker with the 6V 4AH battery then how it is possible that I did with the 6V 12AH one? That was my reasoning for going ahead and trying a 6V 20AH battery. Does this reasoning make sense or can I expect to be disappointed with investing in the 20AH battery other than a longer life?

Sounds like the 4AH battery's voltage was sagging under load, while the 12AH battery was holding up. Having twice the AH capacity, it can sustain twice the load (12 amps) without sagging (if fully charged). Was the 4AH one fully charged?

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.

[decojoe67]

Originally Posted by old_coot88

Sounds like the 4AH battery's voltage was sagging under load, while the 12AH battery was holding up. Having twice the AH capacity, it can sustain twice the load (12 amps) without sagging (if fully charged). Was the 4AH one fully charged?

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.

Thank you. Okay, I am understanding amps now. Yes, the lead-acid 6V/4AH seemed to be fully charged, yet I didn't check it under load. I plan to use that battery one with my ACE V with it's single non-A UV.
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?