The Basic lessons · Station assembly, practice and safety · B-003-016

Powering Your Station: Batteries and Safety

Learn how batteries provide power for your radio, why voltage drops under load, and the critical differences between battery types. Discover the rules for connecting batteries in series and parallel to get the right voltage and capacity for your needs.

This lesson is part of SignalPrep Pro. The subsection's 11 exam questions are free to practise: practise B-003-016.

What this subsection asks

• What approximate voltage does a standard automobile starter battery usually supply?
• Which of the following has a positive terminal and a negative terminal?
• A battery, that can be repeatedly recharged by supplying it with electrical energy, is known as a:
• Which of the following is a source of electromotive force (EMF)?
• Why is the NiMH battery often preferred over a conventional alkaline battery?
• The voltage at a battery's terminals will drop when it supplies current. What is the cause of the drop?
• For portable operation, what is the primary advantage of lithium-based batteries over lead-acid batteries?
• Battery capacity is commonly stated as a value of current delivered over a specified period of time. What is the effect of exceeding that specified current?
• What voltage and capacity will you achieve by connecting two 12 volts, 20 ampere-hour batteries in parallel?
• What voltage and capacity will you achieve by connecting two 12 volts, 20 ampere-hour batteries in series?
• A lithium-ion battery should never be: