Power Tools Q&A

3 Responses to “ can a power tool battery 7.2v/1.4Ah use a 7.2v/1.5Ah battery or even 7.2v/1.2Ah without damaging the power too ”

1. # 1 david m Says:
   January 15th, 2008 at 11:21 am

   apms per hour

2. # 2 Doug Says:
   January 18th, 2008 at 7:56 pm

   Ah is the “Ampere Hour” rating of the battery. It’s a measure of how much current (amps) can be drawn from the battery for a period of time (hours). So a 1.5Ah rated battery would provide .3A for 5 hours, .5 A for 3 hours, or 1.5A for one hour.

   While it is important that the Voltage rating matches (7.2V),
   the Amp-Hour rating indicates the relative capacity of the rechargeable battery - with a higher number being better. The batteries you have should be interchangeable.

   If your power tool draws .7A under normal use, the 1.4Ah battery would last about 2 hours. The 1.5Ah battery would last maybe a few minutes longer. If your tool draws 1.5A, then both batteries would last about an hour.

   Since batteries vary, the Ah rating is only an estimate under typical conditions. My guess is that you would not see much difference between a 1.2Ah, 1.4Ah, and 1.5Ah battery in a typical power tool.

   See the section on battery capacity in the Wikipedia link below for more info.

   The second link below is for two replacement batteries for the same 7.2v cordless drill. Both are listed as a 1.3Ah battery, even though one is actually 1500mAh (1.5Ah) and the other is 1700mAh (1.7Ah). They are interchangeable. Both should last longer than the original, and the 1700mAh battery should last about 10-15% longer than the 1500mAh battery.

3. # 3 Jeff B. Says:
   January 20th, 2008 at 2:21 pm

   Ah = Ampere hours
   In a nutshell, for a given voltage rating (7.2v), the greater the Ah rating, the longer the battery will last between charges. This is really just a “capacity” rating. (how much charge it will deliver under load, and for how long)