Experiment 15 - Practical Comments (Single Battery)

With the knowledge of the internal resistance of a real battery and its dependence on the state of charge, there are some valuable comment when you work with batteries. In the case of a single battery, this means...

Avoid short circuits

With batteries you have to avoid a short circuit under all circumstances and at all times. In the case of a short circuit a high current occurs. If the current finds no other load to consume its energy, the total energy is consumed by the internal resistance.

As a result, the battery heats up strongly and can be severely damaged.

Determine state of charge

The state of charge of a battery can not be determined by simply measuring the voltage at the battery. Upon discharge of the battery the voltage dropped only from 9.0 V to 8.4 V.

Can determine the state of charge state of a battery only in a load circuit.