What do amps and volts measure

Wh is calculated by multiplying the number of Amps with the battery voltage. So these batteries have the same capacity, only one works on 12 volts and the other on 24 volts. In practice you will notice that these batteries will be around the same dimensions and weight. Example 5: I have a W trolling motor and a battery with a capacity of Wh. I do not even need to know how the trolling engine or battery voltage to calculate this as long as they work at the same voltage obviously.

The attentive reader notes that the runtime of a battery with a device can be calculated in two ways. Either by dividing the number of Amps of the battery by the power draw in A of the trolling motor or by dividing the number of Wh of the battery Wh by the number of W of the trolling engine.

Batteries can be connected together to achieve a higher voltage or higher capacity. This is done by connecting the battery terminals of the batteries with cables. When we say that we connect batteries in series, we connect the plus terminal of one battery to the minus terminal of another battery.

This means that you still have a minus terminal available on one battery and a plus terminal available on the other battery. The electrical device should be connected to these two available battery terminals. If we connect batteries in series, the voltage goes up, and the capacity measured in Ah remains the same.

In the picture above we see two 12V50Ah batteries. As you can see the two batteries are connected in series: the minus and plus terminals are connected together.

You have created a 24V50 battery : 24V due to series connection with 50Ah capacity number of Amps remains the same. When connecting batteries in parallel, we connect the minus terminal of one battery to the minus terminal of the other battery and the plus terminal of one battery to the minus terminal of the other battery.

We connect the minus wire of the electrical appliance to one of the minus terminals and the plus wire to the plus terminal of the other battery see the picture below. The same voltage is now supplied but the number of Amps has increased. In the picture above, the minus terminals of both batteries are connected and the plus terminals are connected. So the battery is connected in parallel.

There is still 12 Volt but the number of Amps has increased from 50 to We have now created a 12VAh battery. So the number of watt-hours always remains the same, whether you connect them in series or parallel. The wires can also be very difficult to work with due to their inherent lack of flexibility. As you can see, amps only represent one part of the electrical equation but are critical to understanding.

To design a proper electrical system, we also need to better understand volts and watts because they all have to work together to become our coveted power supply! Our Reno, Nevada-based sales and customer service team is standing by at to take your questions!

Also join us on Facebook , Instagram , and YouTube to learn more about how lithium battery systems can power your lifestyle, see how others have built their systems, and gain the confidence to get out there and stay out there. I have a Thor quantum sprinter. My concern is charging by chassis alternator. Alternator specs are amps, I think.

Information hard to find. Batteries recharge in about an hour of driving and everything seems fine. I also have watts of solar and 4 kw aux generator. I have watt inverter in the system.

Again everything seems fine. I have not had to run generator for 2 days boondocking at different locations. Do I need to add anything? Hi Alan, thanks for reaching out.

You can give our sales and tech team a call at to assist with your system and see if they have any specific recommendations for your rig. Your email address will not be published. All Rights Reserved. Battle Born Batteries collects personal information for its internal use. We do not share customer information with any third parties. Skip to content Nikki Moylan March 3, 2 Comments.

Amps Vs. What is a Shunt? We take the distance into consideration to calculate the voltage loss. The other half of this calculation is the current. You need a larger wire to move more current.

If you have a choice the higher voltage is best. These formulas are also useful in calculating AC alternating current wattage to determine the size of an inverter, which converts the DC electricity from a solar array to AC that can then be used to power lights and appliances in homes and businesses.

Appliances include a face plate which contains all of its electrical data. Lets suppose you have a microwave oven. The manufacturer will list an amp requirement on the electrical data of the face plate, which is usually attached to the back of the oven. Let's say that the rating on the face plate is 8. To calculate the watts, multiply 8. If you keep the resistance the same and increase the voltage, the current has to increase.

Like in our hose analogy, if you increase the pressure, then more water will flow through it. Resistance works against voltage to slow down the flow of electrons. If resistance increases while the voltage stays the same, the current flowing through the circuit will decrease. Similarly, if you pinch the hose to create a smaller diameter or increase the resistance, less water comes out of the end. To bring together watts power , amps current , and volts voltage , we need one more simple equation.

Looking back at our example of water flowing through a hose, we can now see how power is directly related to current and voltage using this equation. The faster the wheel turns, the more power is generated. If the hose size remains the same, we can make the wheel turn faster in two ways. The first is to increase the flow rate, which means more water and weight are hitting the wheel and spinning it faster. The second way is to increase the water pressure so that the water is hitting the wheel with more force and turning it faster.

In our analogy, the water flow rate is equivalent to current and water pressure is equal to voltage. As the equation above shows, if you increase either the current or the voltage, your power will also increase.