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Why are battery monitor ICs such as STC3115 (datasheet) called a gas gauge? This name seems pretty illogical and I was wondering the reasoning/story behind it.

EasyOhm
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1 Answers1

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I guess it's derived from the American term for vehicle fuel being referred to as gas. Many countries refer to it as fuel or petrol. The Wikipedia article Fuel gauge starts off with the following:

A fuel gauge (or gas gauge) is an instrument used to indicate the level of fuel contained in a tank

So I guess from that point of view it makes sense, when a car runs out of gas / fuel it will no longer operate and the same applies to a battery.

PeterJ
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    It'll start making sense again when people start using fuel-cells. – Connor Wolf Jan 12 '15 at 08:46
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    I do wish Americans wouldn't use "gas" like that. [Gas is a physical state](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gas), and by the way that state isn't a liquid like "gas". I wish they would use the proper word "[Gasoline](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gasoline)" like they actually mean. It saves so much confusion with people that speak proper English. – Majenko Jan 12 '15 at 10:31
  • @Majenko Right...because only American English has homonyms. – Phil Frost Jan 12 '15 at 12:17
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    "gas" for "gasoline" is an abbreviation, not a homonym. – Majenko Jan 12 '15 at 13:01
  • http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/39778/why-does-gasoline-have-the-word-gas-in-it-if-its-never-gaseous – Passerby Jan 14 '15 at 01:26
  • This comment thread gives me gas. – dext0rb Jan 30 '15 at 13:52