Tube🌿Timelatest pickup: a very obscure Microsoft product -- the PCjr BOOSTER!
the battery is very nasty indeed. it needs to come out and i need to remove the corrosion on the holder.
Rue Mohr
Daniele Pantaleo 🦥
@RueNahcMohr @tubetime ive Always wondered, how did it come down to this?
To the point it's cheaper to manufacture 3x1.5v cells in a specialized format, instead of just doing the whole 4.5v pack
Mark J. Blair@ozone89 @RueNahcMohr @tubetime Cell voltage is determined by chemistry. If you want a multiple of that voltage, you build a battery by putting a number of cells in series inside it. A 90V battery for vacuum tube radios, for example, had 60 AA cells inside.
What I find funny is that Duracell didn't see a benefit to making C cells without the markings to make that lantern battery. I guess they sell few enough lantern batteries that it isn't cheaper to build different C cells for them.
@ozone89 @RueNahcMohr @tubetime If I remember correctly, 6V lantern batteries used to be made from 4x carbon-zinc F cells. Then when alkaline cells came around, they could get about the same capacity (and probably build them cheaper) using 4x C cells instead, and filling the empty space with cardboard. It's a shame the didn't fill the battery volume with alkaline F cells and provide a bunch more capacity.
Disclaimer: I might be misremembering the "F" cell designation.
@ozone89 @RueNahcMohr @tubetime I low-effort tried to find a good teardown image of one of the old tube radio batteries such as the ones used with radios like AN/PRC-6, AN/PRC-10, etc, because they're kind of mind-blowing the first time you see them. But I failed. The ones I've been inside were potted with tar and generally badly corroded, so they're not very photogenic in a teardown anyway. Just imagine 60x AA cells in series for 90V and 45V (via a center tap) plate voltages, a bunch of C or D cells in parallel for 1.5V filament voltage, and a few more small cells in series for a -4.5V bias voltage. All packed in tar, wrapped in green cardboard, and with a wacky multi-pin connector.
@tubetime @ozone89 @RueNahcMohr I find it interesting how 9V batteries were previously a stack of rectangular carbon-zinc cells packaged in wax, then turned into 6x metal cylindrical AAAA alkaline cells, and then turned back into a different variant of stacked construction with plastic packaging. I wonder if there were any other variants which I missed?
I love this, so I@NF6X @tubetime @ozone89 @RueNahcMohr the new “USB rechargeable” batteries are a Li-Po pouch and a buck or boost converter for the required voltage. I tore one open a while ago. They give exactly that voltage until the Li-Po undervoltage lockout kicks in and they deliver 0V. Definitely not suitable for things where you want a low-battery warning, like smoke detectors.