Wednesday, February 13, 2013
Cordless Power Tool FAQ: What Does “Ah” Really Mean?
ToolGuyd: Here’s a question that actually comes up quite often: “what does Ah mean?” When talking about cordless power tool battery packs there are a number of important specifications to keep in mind, but it mainly comes down to voltage and capacity.
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4 comments:
I've always had a general idea about how battery packs worked but only after reading this article do I really feel like I actually understand what is going on. This is the sort of knowledge that you don't learn in school but that you also don't learn on the job, you need a combination of the two to understand this type of thing fully. Being a TD in theatre as well as many other jobs around the stage need some sort of power tool that will probably need a battery pack. It's fine to just plug in what ever is on the self and has some green lights. You'll get the job done that way, but if you understand what you need and how battery packs work with power tools you'll be more effective and spend less time charging things and running back to the tool room for a new battery.
So I never knew any of what I read and honestly I am not sure that I understood a large majority of what I read. The article was very interesting and let me understand some continued difference between series and parallel circuits. So like he said at the end of the article Ah does not always mean more power. There are so many arrangements that are possible with battery cells and electronics. So basically I took this to mean, do research on any cordless tool you plan on buying and see what reviews say. Does not seem like there is any very clear cut solution to any of the battery situation.
I've never really taken the specs of my tools battery pack into account when I've been shopping for them, but after reading this article maybe it's something I should pay more attention to...However I'm not prepared to take his suggestions as gospel, especially after reading the comments that others made about his suggestions that seem to contradict a fair amount of what he saying. At the very least I now feel the need to do some additional research into battery packs and other features prior to purchasing my next cordless set. Regardless of the fact that I've been very loyal to the Dewalt series throughout my career thus far.
I don't pay attention to battery specs but now I need to take them into account.
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