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Rainco asked:


Battery Arrangement and Power

In many devices that use batteries – such as portable radios and flashlights, you do not use just one cell at a time. You normally group them together serially to form higher voltages, or in parallel to form higher currents. In a serial arrangement, the voltages add up. In a parallel arrangement, the currents add up. The following diagram shows these two arrangements:



The upper arrangement is called a parallel arrangement. If you assume that each cell produces 1.5 volts, then four batteries in parallel will also produce 1.5 volts, but the current supplied will be four times that of a single cell. The lower arrangement is called a serial arrangement. The four voltages add together to produce 6 volts.

Normally, when you buy a pack of batteries, the package will tell you the voltage and current rating. For example, a digital camera might use four nickel-cadmium batteries that are rated at 1.25 volts and 500 milliamp-hours for each cell. The milliamp-hour rating means, theoretically, that the cell can produce 500 milliamps for one hour. You can slice and dice the milliamp-hour rating in lots of different ways. A 500 milliamp-hour battery could produce 5 milliamps for 100 hours, or 10 milliamps for 50 hours, or 25 milliamps for 20 hours, or (theoretically) 500 milliamps for 1 hour, or even 1,000 milliamps for 30 minutes.

However, laptop batteries are not quite that linear. For one thing, all batteries have a maximum current they can produce — a 500 milliamp-hour battery cannot produce 30,000 milliamps for 1 second, because there is no way for the battery’s chemical reactions to happen that quickly. And at higher current levels, batteries can produce a lot of heat, which wastes some of their power. Also, many battery chemistries have longer- or shorter-than-expected lives at very low current levels. But milliamp-hour ratings are somewhat linear over a normal range of use. Using the amp-hour rating, you can roughly estimate how long the battery will last under a given load.

If you arrange four of these 1.25-volt, 500 milliamp-hour batteries in a serial arrangement, you get 5 volts (1.25 x 4) at 500 milliamp-hours. If you arrange them in parallel, you get 1.25 volts at 2,000 (500 x 4) milliamp-hours.

Have you ever looked inside a normal 9-volt battery?





Manufacturers caution against disassembling batteries, to avoid personal injury. However, a partially disassembled 9-volt battery would look like this.

It contains six, very small batteries producing 1.5 volts each in a serial arrangement!

Batteries have proven to be one of the most important inventions of the 20th century and are becoming more so as we continue the shift toward a more mobile lifestyle. In the future, batteries will grow smaller, more powerful and longer lasting in order to keep up with our fast paced, portable world.

For more information on batteries and related topics, check out the links on the next page.



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Mike Browns asked:




Most people don’t want to mess with their digital camera’s settings. The rest of us may not understand what they are for and what they can do. Camera manufacturers realize this and are making it easier to take great photos. It is done through a feature called scene modes. Scene modes are mini-programs designed to automatically adjust your camera’s settings that are best suited for the situation. By merely twisting a knob or pushing a button a few times, you are able to quickly and easily adjust your camera to get a great shot nearly every time.

Here are some of the more common scene modes and what they do:

Backlight – eliminates dark shadows when light is coming from behind the subject or when the subject is in the shade.

Beach/Snow – this mode is used when photographing beach, snow and sunlight water scenes. Exposure times and white balance are set to help prevent the scene from becoming washed out looking.

Fireworks – shutter speed and exposure are set for shooting fireworks: pre-focusing and the use of a tripod is highly recommended.

Landscape – this mode is used to take photos of wide scenes. The camera automatically focuses on a distant object.

Macro – is used to take close-up shots of small objects, such as coin, flowers or insects. The lens can be moved closer to the object than in other modes. The use of a tripod is highly recommended.

Night Scene – is used when photographing night scenes – what else? Slow shutter speeds are used. You’ll need that tripod again.

Panning or Action – this mode will “freeze” the action of the subject while blurring the background to give the feel of motion or speed.

Panorama – is used to take a series of shots from one point and “stitch” them together with software to make a wide angle scene.

Party Mode – is used to take photos in a dim lit room. Exposure and shutter speeds are adjusted for room brightness. The camera must be held very steady in this mode.

Portrait – this mode automatically focuses on the subject and puts the background slightly out of focus.

Sports – is similar to action modes. Fast shutter speeds “freeze” the action. Best shots will result when taken in bright lighting conditions and when you are pre-focused on an area.

Sunset – is used to take photos of sunsets and sunrises. This mode helps keep the deep hues in the scene.

Some cameras have as many as 20 different scene modes. Some modes will automatically adjust the size of your photo for on-line auction. Some are supposed to take 10 pounds off the subject. Regardless of how many scenes your camera has, always read the instruction manual. Each manufacturer has their own terminology. By understanding and using scene modes, you will get a great shot every time.

The author is the founder of http://www.camerasatcousinmikes.com. Visit his site and shop for a new digital camera.



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