Formula

For a one-ampere discharge rate, Peukert's law is often stated as:

where: is the capacity at a one-ampere discharge rate, which must be expressed in Ah. is the actual discharge current relative to 1 ampere, which is then dimensionless. is the actual time to discharge the battery, which must be expressed in h. The capacity at a one-ampere discharge rate is not usually given for practical cells. It is useful to reformulate the law to a known capacity and discharge rate:

where: is the rated discharge time, in (hours). is the rated capacity at that discharge rate, in (Ampere-hours). is the actual discharge current, in (Amps). is the Peukert constant, (dimensionless). is the actual time to discharge the battery, in (hours). Using the above example, if the battery has a Peukert constant of 1.2 and it is discharged at a rate of 10 amperes, it

would be fully discharged in time which is approximately 8.7 hours. It would therefore dispense only 87 ampere hours rather than 100. Peukert's law can be written as:

giving rate .

which is the effective capacity at the discharge

Where the capacity is listed for two discharge rates, the Peukert exponent can be determined algebraically. Peukert's law becomes a key issue in a battery electric vehicle where batteries rated, for example, at a 20 hour discharge time are used at a much shorter discharge time of about 1 hour. [edit]References

W. Peukert, ber die Abhngigkeit der Kapazitt von der Entladestromstrke bei Bleiakkumulatoren, Elektrotechnische Zeitschrift 20 (1897) D. Doerffel, S.A. Sharkh, A critical review of using the Peukert equation for determining the remaining capacity of leadacid and lithium-ion batteries, Journal of Power Sources, 155 (2006) 395400

1. ^ http://www.bdbatteries.com/peukert.php Peukert
constant vs. battery type

Battery Types and Battery Efficiency - VRLA vs GEL vs AGM Peukert's Law
Click here for an explanation of the difference in VRLA vs GEL vs AGM battery Construction

Now that we understand the difference in the construction, let's look at the individual batteries efficiencies.
Peukert's Law, presented by the German scientist W. Peukert in 1897, expresses the capacity of a battery in terms of the rate at which it is discharged. Mr Peukert devised this formula to illustrate numerically how discharging a battery at higher rates (amperages) actually removes more power from a battery bank than one would expect (aka shows numerically the battery efficiency). This law explains why a battery discharged at 20 amps does not remove twice as much power as one discharged at 10 amps, the battery actually realizes a slightly larger discharge for the 20 amps due to effeciencies. As the rate of current (amperage) increases, the battery's capacity (ampere hours at current x) decreases. This does not affect the long term capacity of the battery as it remains fairly constant if recharged properly and not overly discharged. The equation below is Peukert's equation. This is the mathematical illustration of battery consumption at various discharge and charge rates. When we compare these outputs at different rates, we can compute the efficiency as a percentage. Peukert's law is as follows:

C_p = is the capacity according to Peukert, at a one-ampere discharge rate, expressed in Ah. I = the discharge current, expressed in Amperes a. k = the Peukert constant, t = the time of discharge, expressed in hours h. The Peukert constant increases with age for any of the battery types

above, but generally ranges from 1.05 - 1.15 for VRSLAB AGM batteries, 1.1-1.25 for Gel, and 1.2-1.6 for Flooded Batteries. To get to a useful derivative of Peukert's law to do your own calculations is a bit tricky. However, the list of equations below should take you through the process painlessly. Start with equation 1 and move forward through the process to get your own numbers. Remember that your system has inefficiencies in the wire, inverters, chargers, and other connections. Each contributes to the overall efficiency, and will affect your calculations.

Equation 1: Peukert's Capacity of your Battery

Hardest part mentally (it looks wrong).... hour rating x (capacity/hour rating) ^ peukerts coefficient = peukerts capacity The equation for a 100 amp hour agm battery rated at 24 hours would look like this 24h*((100ah/24h)^1.1) = 115.339 ah (It looks really wrong at this point, but think of your tax forms, you have to get to the end) With this corrected capacity, we have half the equation to see real power available.

Equation 2: Modified Amperage for Peukert's Equation

I(amps)^k(peukert constant) = corrected amperage usage For the same 100 amp hour battery we are going to discharge at 20 amps, and again at 5 amps. 20a^1.1 = 26.98 amps 5a^1.1 = 5.873 amps With this corrected amperage usage, and corrected capacity we can calculate the time it will run.*
(Depth of discharging batteries has a direct correlation to battery cycle life - deeper discharge = fewer cycles)

Equation 3: Modified Capacity expressed as Minutes of Discharge

The whole point of this operation is to know how long your battery bank will work. This is the equation to determine that number in minutes. Divide Peukert's Capacity above (equation 1) by Modified Amperage (equation 2) to view Capacity in AH C_p / I(amps)^k(peukert constant) = hours of discharge to 100% discharge...... 115.339ah/26.98 amps = 4.27 hrs or 4 hours 16 minutes or 256 minutes @ 20 amps* 115.339ah/5.873 amps = 19.6385 hrs or 19 hours 38 minutes or 1178 minutes @ 5 amps*

NEVER DISCHARGE YOUR BATTERIES TO 100% - YOU WILL DESTROY THEM

Discharge batteries to 50% or face reduced cycle life - NO CHEMICALS LEFT = NO MORE REACTION. Many manufacturers engineer systems to prevent complete and total discharge for your protection.

Equation 4: Modified Capacity expressed as Ampere Hours for amperage discharged

This equation will express the ampere hours of any battery at your amperage. This is helpful for comparing apples to apples when shopping for batteries as well. Equation3 hr x amps discharged = amp hours of battery 4.27 hrs x 20 amps = 85.4 Amp Hours 19.64 hrs x 5 amps = 98.2 Amp Hours

Equation 5: Battery Efficiency

Result of equation 4 / Rated Capacity of Battery High amperage example, the 100 ah battery at 20 amps has an efficiency of 85.4% 85.4ah real /100ah rated = 85.4% efficient at high amperages. Low amperage example, the 100 ah battery at 5 amps has an efficiency of 98.2% 98.2ah real /100ah rated = 98.2% efficient at high amperages.

Temperature Losses
Generally speaking, as a molecule is reduced in temperature, the less active atomically it becomes. This affects many exothermic (heat inducing) reactions including the power generated by lead acid batteries. In cold Colorado winters, be they AGM, GEL or flooded in composition, all batteries efficiency are negatively affected. The graph shows the negative correlation between temperature and battery capacity in an AGM battery. Notice how a 100 amp/hour battery at 90 F has only 55% of that capacity at 4 F and 43% capacity at -22.

Indoor Installations
This raises issues when it comes to building many systems, as you would like to avoid these losses due to the cold. Indoor installations, however, bring their own challenges due to the hazardous materials acid, hydrogen, and lead. Many would rather not introduce these into the living areas of their home, rv, or yacht. In order to properly install batteries into a living quarters, one must take into consideration these 3 things...... Hydrogen Venting, discussed here. Safety and Testing - all our batteries are UL Listed, MILITARY SPEC Mess, Acids, and Battery Choice The proprietary technology in Lifeline & Sun Xtender Batteries solves these and many other isses by physically sealing in the acids, preventing all corrosion on terminals / wires / battery box, and facilitating indoor installation at any angle. This in turn eliminates cold losses in Colorado's winters. This can contribute more than 50% more power from your system and eliminate costs that would otherwise be associated. Flooded batteries are very messy (gassing & acid), need maintenance, and are not the most efficient. GEL batteries are less messy (gassing & acid), maintenance free, but are not tolerant of high amp loads. AGM Batteries from BD Batteries are BOTH maintenance free and amperage tolerant. AGM BATTERIES ARE THE CLEANEST BATTERY FOR SAFE INDOOR INSTALLATIONS WITH PROPER HYDROGEN VENTING.

Manufacturing Considerations
Each manufacturer builds their batteries to fail differently. Some are designed to dissolve all the electrolyte (electrolysis), some are designed to sulphate (crystalize) the electrolyte, some short out the plates, yet others completely decay the anode or cathode in the battery on their way to eventual failure. Each method has pros and cons, some are temporary and others are permanent. Each dictates the cut out points for high and low amperage on the peukert curves toward 100% DOD. Some manufacturers even have methods for preventing complete and total discharge of the battery, allowing the customer to "RECOVER" the battery and continue to use the product. In order for the manufacturers to guard their competitive secrets, we are not allowed to divulge how they do it, and as there are a myriad of technological advancements designed to terminate the current in a battery prior to complete discharge we can talk about it. This is a step toward the protection of "YOUR" investment. Please do not mistake

these protections as a loss in power or reduced AH capacity, reduced battery efficiency, or other way the company is cheating you. Rather these are an insurance policy against your accidental complete discharge and investment loss.

REVIEW: The amp-hour is a unit of battery energy capacity, equal to the amount of continuous current multiplied by the discharge time, that a battery can supply before exhausting its internal store of chemical energy.

An amp-hour battery rating is only an approximation of the battery's charge capacity, and should be trusted only at the current level or time specified by the manufacturer. Such a rating cannot be extrapolated for very high currents or very long times with any accuracy. Discharged batteries lose voltage and increase in resistance. The best check for a dead battery is a voltage test under load.

Notes for Design Engineers: How to calculate how much battery capacity you need.
I know, I feel your pain. The marketing department gave you a specification and all it says is maximize run time, minimize the battery size and cost." But they won't tell you much run time is acceptable, how much size and weight will the market put up with, what cost is acceptable? Hey, the reason that they aren't more specific is they are hoping for a miracle and don't want over-specify in case they don't get the miracle. The miracle you were hoping for was a complete specification, but let's get real here. Your revenge is to wait 2 weeks and come back with Good news, I fit it in a fountain pen for a BOM of only $5000 and by trimming the power budget (i.e. eliminating all but one of the features) we got it to run for over 5.5 seconds before recharging.And then sit back and hope for better guidance from marketing! You already knew that I couldnt help you with your specification, but at least you can use the following design estimation tools to give the marketing department a matrix of choices. How much battery do you need to run your device? Here is how you estimate it.

Step 0. A little tutorial on measurements of charge. After all, it is electrons

that are stored in the battery. In phreshman fisicks we all learned that the measure of charge is the coulomb and that a single electron has 1.602e-19

coulombs of charge. One amp flowing in a wire for one second will use one coulomb of charge, which is 6.24 x 10^18 electrons,. Q = I*t where Q is the charge in coulombs, I is the current in amps and t is the time in seconds. The amount of charge passing through that wire (conducting 1.0 amps) in 60 seconds is 60 coulombs, and in one hour you would have had said hello and good-bye to 3600 coulombs of charge. Batteries were evidently developed by engineers who subscribed to the whatevers easiest system of measurement. They got tired of pulling out their slide rules to divide by 3600 every time they wanted to know how long 24000 coulombs would last them and came up with the unauthorized unit of amphours. Later, when smaller batteries were used they came up with milliamphours. Dont be confused by the hyphen. Amp-hours means amps times hours. Divide by amps and you get hours, divide by hours and you get amps. So it isnt amps, and it isnt amps per hour, it is amp-hours. And, by the way, I have even used the term amp-seconds because when you say coulombs everybody goes glassy-eyed on you. Dont get me wrong, I love amp-hours for units, it is a handy rule of thumb. Amp hours is how much charge is stored in the battery. Since a battery changes voltage during the discharge, it isnt a perfect measure of how much energy is stored, for this you would need watt-hours. Multiplying the average or nominal battery voltage times the battery capacity in amp-hours gives you an estimate of how many watt-hours the battery contains.
E = C*Vavg

Where E is the energy stored in watt-hours, C is the capacity in amphours, and Vavg is the average voltage during discharge. Yes, watthoursis a measure of energy, just like kilowatt-hours. Multiply by 3600 and you get watt-seconds, which is also known as Joules.

As long as we are in the prelude, I might also mention that since the charge in a capacitor is Q=CV that a battery can be rated in farads as well. A 1.5 volt AA alkaline battery that stores 2 amp hours of charge (thats 7200 coulombs) has the equivalent capacitance of 4800 Farads. Of course a battery makes an awfully weird capacitor because the voltage doesnt drop proportionally to the stored charge, it has a high equivalent resistance, and etc.
The following method assumes that you know how many amps you need for the gadget under power. If you know the watts go to Step A below.

Step 1. Back of the envelope

If the current drawn is x amps, the time is T hours then the capacity C in amphours is C = xT For example, if your pump is drawing 120 mA and you want it to run for 24 hours C = 0.12 Amps * 24 hours = 2.88 amp hours

Step 2. Cycle life considerations

It isnt good to run a battery all the way down to zero during each charge cycle. For example, if you want to use a lead acid battery for many cycles you shouldnt run it past 80% of its charge, leaving 20% left in the battery. This not only extends the number of cycles you get, but lets the battery degrade by 20% before you start getting less run time than the design calls for C = C/0.8 For the example above C = 2.88 AH / 0.8 = 3.6 AH

Step 3: Rate of discharge considerations

Some battery chemistries give much fewer amp hours if you discharge them fast. This is a big effect in alkaline, carbon zinc, zinc-air and lead acid batteries. It is a small effect in NiCad, Lithium Ion, Lithium Polymer, and NiMH batteries. For lead acid batteries the rated capacity (i.e. the number of AH stamped on the side of the battery) is typically given for a 20 hour discharge rate. If you are discharging at a slow rate you will get the rated number of amp-hours out of them. However, at high discharge rates the capacity falls steeply. A rule of thumb is that for a 1 hour discharge rate (i.e. drawing 10 amps from a 10 amp hour battery, or 1C) you will only get half of the rated capacity (or 5 amp-hours from a 10 amp-hour battery). Charts that detail this effect for different discharge rate can be used for greater accuracy. For example the data sheets listed in http://www.powerstream.com/BB.htm For example, if your portable guitar amplifier is drawing a steady 20 amps and you want it to last 1 hour you would start out with Step 1: C=20 amps * 1 hour = 20 AH Then proceed to Step 2 C = 20 AH / 0.8 = 25 AH Then take the high rate into account C=25 /.5 = 50 AH Thus you would need a 50 amp hour sealed lead acid battery to run the amplifier for 1 hour at 20 amps average draw.

Step 4. What if you dont have a constant load? The obvious thing to do is the

thing to do. Figure out an average power drawn. Consider a repetitive cycle where each cycle is 1 hour. It consists of 20 amps for 1 second followed by 0.1 amps for the rest of the hour. The average current would be calculated as follows. 20*1/3600 + 0.1(3599)/3600 = 0.1044 amps average current.
(3600 is the number of seconds in an hour).

In other words, figure out how many amps is drawn on average and use steps 1 and 2. Step 3 is very difficult to predict in the case where you have small periods of high current. The news is good, a steady draw of 1C will lower the capacity much more than short 1C pulses followed by a rest period. So if the average current drawn is about a 20 hour rate, then you will get closer to the capacity predicted by a 20 hour rate, even though you are drawing it in high current pulses. Actual test data is hard to come by without doing the test yourself.

If you know the watts instead of amps, follow the following procedure Step A: Convert watts to amps Actually, watts is the fundamental unit of power and watt-hours is the energy stored. The key is to use the watts you know to calculate the amps at the battery voltage . For example, say you want to run a 250 watt 110VAC light bulb from an inverter for 5 hours. Watt-hours = watts * hours = 250 watts * 5 hours = 1250 watt hours Account for the efficiency of the inverter, say 85% Watt-hours = watts * hours / efficiency = 1250 / 0.85 = 1470 watthours Since watts = amps * volts divide the watt hours by the voltage of the battery to get amp-hours of battery storage Amp-hours (at 12 volts) = watt-hours / 12 volts = 1470 / 12 = 122.5 amp-hours. If you are using a different voltage battery the amp-hours will change by dividing it by the battery voltage you are using. Now go back to Steps 2-4 above to refine your calculation.