Batteries ?

[balrog666]

9 years after I opened this thread I remain totally underwhelmed by battery technology.

Physics is a harsh mistress ... it's called entropy. Say it, come on, say it: entropy.

It's why manufacturers are constantly looking to reduce the power their devices use instead of building "better" batteries for higher power usage.

 

[El Greco]

It is impressive if the size of the battery has been unsubstantialy reduced.

My original Widows mobile smart phone was considerable larger than my current android phone. The battery in the new phone is about one third the size of the old one. I do not have them together here so I don't know what the battery Mah ratings between them are right now.

Unless the batteries you're comparing are the same size (volume), storage capacity alone tells you nothing. What you need to look at is energy density.

Here's an energy density chart I found showing how batteries have improved since 1900...

http://www.akbars.net/images/battery energy density.png

If you compare the sizes and capacities of cellphone batteries during the last 15 years you will find out that the energy density evolution is disappointing - at least in practice. Eg, from Nokia 6110 (1997) to Nokia E52 (2009) which I've both owned, it looks like we haven't progressed too much. Their batteries are BP-5M and BP-4L respectively.

 

[Psi Baba]

I'd say the battery technology has hardly moved at all. Here's what Ove was writing 9 years ago:



Ok, so where are we now ? Samsung Galaxy S3 comes with a 2100 Mah battery, and they also have an extended battery extra that goes to 2600 or 3000 Mah. Not very impressive, is it ?

I recently bought a Samsung Galaxy 4 Player. It's not even a phone; it's Samsung's version of the iPod Touch. I bought it as a much player and the ad copy says that a battery charge will go for about 13 hours if just playing music. If I only ever turned on the display to start and stop the music player, I could go for about two weeks on a charge. But because I also play games on it and such, I'm charging ir almost every day. The battery-consumption widget shows that the display uses most of the battery power.

 

[El Greco]

The continuing failure of batteries to meet the expectations of the public, is now the subject of a documentary.

We live in an age when technological innovation seems to be limitlessly soaring. But for all the satisfying speed with which our gadgets have improved, many of them share a frustrating weakness: the batteries. Though they have improved in last century, batteries remain finicky, bulky, expensive, toxic, and maddeningly short-lived. The quest is on for a “super battery,” and the stakes in this hunt are much higher than the phone in your pocket. With climate change looming, electric cars and renewable energy sources like wind and solar power could hold keys to a greener future...if we can engineer the perfect battery. Join host David Pogue as he explores the hidden world of energy storage, from the power—and danger—of the lithium-ion batteries we use today, to the bold innovations that could one day charge our world.

Battery scientists should be ashamed of themselves. Bad, bad scientists. Shame on you. Go hide in a dark, cold and wet place.

 

[commandlinegamer]

Well at least in future they might not explode: https://hardware.slashdot.org/story...um-metal-battery-with-2x-power-of-lithium-ion

 

[Doubt]

The continuing failure of batteries to meet the expectations of the public, is now the subject of a documentary.



Battery scientists should be ashamed of themselves. Bad, bad scientists. Shame on you. Go hide in a dark, cold and wet place.

I watched that last night. They showed a new battery technology for a lithium battery with a plastic electrolyte. This is not a lithium ion battery and will have greater energy density if it ever makes it to market.

At this point the technology development is not in the hands of the scientists. It comes down to business people and engineers. You are shaming the wrong people.

 

[macdoc]

no magic bullets I'm afraid due to physics but I can put a XP-3 in my shirt pocket that will start a car or my motorcycle multiple times and keep a nav cell phone charged running full bright and GPS all day.

Due to a combination of processor efficiency and battery design the new MacBook Pro gets the same battery life from a battery 1/2 the size and weight of the previous gen.

Progress for sure...have you seen how far the hybrids are no going on an EV only basis?

 

[Mike!]

Battery smattery, I hear were just a few months away from a revolutionary compact new power source using some fancy shmancy thing called a "hydrino", and now is the best time to throw all you available money and credit into it. Think nothing of the fact this has been an ongoing promise for over a quarter century now.

 

[alexi_drago]

Maybe this guy is onto something :/

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=OKL8sWO_fMg