retrolefty:
Is there a way to predict how long a battery with a certain capacity will last if I know the current draw of each device that it will be powering?
A one amp hour battery capacity (1000mAH) will power a one amp load for one hour, a 100ma load for 10 hours, a 10ma current load for 100 hours. I think you see a math thing at work in there somewhere?
Lefty
Yes but isn't the voltage slowly falling over that 1 hour period (in the case of a 1000 mAH battery powering a 1 amp load)? Wouldn't the voltage fall to a level that is un-useable before the hour is up? Or does the battery capacity suggest an amount of power that can be delivered before the voltage starts to sag?