Simple question regarding the Ah rating of a battery

[motivehunter]

Hi all!

Excuse the simple nature of this question, but I'm a mechanical engineer working on building his own PAS bicycle and need to understand this to go ahead with my work.

I understand that a 12V 7.2 Ah battery ideally discharges 7.2 ampere of current at a nominal voltage of 12V for 1 hour. But in reality, it is only capable of doing this for 45 minutes.

So am I correct in assuming that as the battery is an SLA (sealed lead-acid), if the application demands 20A, it will deliver the current at nominal voltage for 16.2 minutes? I mean, is this relationship linear?

Thanks in advance!

 

[NascentOxygen]

The concept of ampere-hours does lead you to expect that. But in practice, the heavier the current, the less realistic that is. From a 7.2AH battery you may get only 6 to 10 minutes at 20A before the voltage sags too low to be useful.

 

[motivehunter]

Thank you so much!

 

[Dundeephysics]

In theory its linear yes, again just like NascentOxygen said it will drop too much after 10 minutes which makes it useless. If the manufacturer says it discharges that in 1 hour in practice you need to consider less than that, probably even less than 45 mins. It also depends on the battery's age.

 

[alphy]

Hello!

As a fellow engineer, I completely understand the need for clarification on technical details. To answer your question, yes, the relationship between the Ah rating of a battery and its discharge time is linear. This means that if the application demands 20A, the battery will deliver the current at nominal voltage for approximately 16.2 minutes. However, it's important to note that the actual discharge time may vary depending on factors such as temperature and the battery's age. It's always best to consult the manufacturer's specifications for more accurate information. Best of luck with your project!