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How much current can be drawn from a A23 12V battery?

I've looked at the Energizer datasheet, this Wikipedia page and on this answer: Powering 5W generator with A23 but I haven't found the exact maximum current rating for these batteries.

The datasheet suggests the typical range is 2 mA - 15 mA but what is the maximum current it can deliver?

Hearth
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Basj
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  • What are you hoping to draw? These are basically a stack.of little button cells, so if you have to ask they are probably not suitable. – Chris Stratton Dec 08 '19 at 00:47
  • @ChrisStratton Oh I didn't know it was just a stack of little button cells, good to know! – Basj Dec 08 '19 at 10:01

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If you're designing for short pulses at moderate currents, then you're limited by the internal resistance of the battery stack over its lifetime and how much that drops the output voltage. At some point, you won't be able to effectively extract power from the battery. The archived datasheet for the similar Duracell MN21 battery gives a spec for a 0.1 s, 400 ohm load, giving a suggested peak load for this type of battery.

The full Energizer application note and this discussion of destructive testing of alkaline batteries indicate that overloading the batteries is a fairly bad idea.

Basically, if you're operating outside of the datasheet specs, you're not getting much guidance from the manufacturers. You haven't given much context about your application, but suffice to say you should consider alternative batteries.

user2943160
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  • The datasheet doesn't really specify a maximum values, it just gives examples with 2, 5, 10, 15 mA, do you think we should understand this as "15 mA is the maximum"? – Basj Dec 08 '19 at 10:04
  • @Basj That's a fair judgement. Again, it would be possible to draw more current, but you'll be challenged by the internal resistance of the battery for power extraction. If your needs are outside the datasheet, consider a different battery. – user2943160 Dec 08 '19 at 19:47