When we buy batteries for any professional or commercial application we must almost always strive to get one that has a higher capacity. This is especially so in the case of two way radio batteries because in certain applications two way radios need to be used for longer periods of time without the possibility of recharging. In such circumstances a high capacity battery would be an important advantage. But there are more benefits to be had from high capacity two way radio batteries than just the freedom of not having to recharge them as often. Before we talk about these benefits, let’s first see if everyone is in agreement on what exactly is a battery’s capacity.

Capacity is defined as the quantity of electricity that can be stored on each plate of the battery. Traditionally, the more electrolyte and electrode material there is in the cell, the greater will be the capacity of the battery. This is why a small cell has much less capacity than a much larger cell, even if both work on the same chemistry.

Battery capacity is measured in ampere hours - one unit of electric charge - where one A-h equals 3600 coulombs. The more widely used unit is milliampere-hour or mili amp hrs expressed as mAH which is equal to 3.6 coulombs. Ampere–hours measures the time a disposable or a rechargeable battery will last once it is fully charged. One amp – hour or AH indicates the amount of electric charge that passes through any of the two terminals of a battery when it provides one ampere of current flow in one hour. So, for example, if a battery can pump charges for one hour at a rate of one coulomb/sec or one ampere (1A), it has a capacity of 1AH. Therefore, the higher the AH, the more capacity a battery has and can thus be used for a longer time.

For any battery a higher capacity is beneficial because there will be longer runtimes per charge. Since two way radios are widely used in a variety of public safety applications by police, fire and EMS professionals for emergency work, longer runtimes are very critical. Imagine a scenario in which a lone police officer is suddenly faced with a hostile situation towards the end of his shift and his standard capacity Motorola HT1000 radio battery reaches the end of its discharge cycle. The risk to the officer and any other individuals involved in such a scenario reaches a new high with the officer unable to radio in back-up. The outcome in such a scenario can be life-threatening. One way to mitigate such a risk is for the officer to be equipped with a much higher capacity HT1000 radio battery that would give him two to three times the capacity the standard battery would afford him. While such a battery solution will be marginally more expensive – it will provide greater reliability, security and comfort to the officer in such dangerous scenarios.

Most Two way radio batteries (especially NiCd chemistry batteries) are heavy. That brings us to another advantage of having a higher capacity two way radio battery – it replaces the need for carrying a spare battery as the high capacity batteries will be able to provide greater than full-shift performance.

Not requiring a spare set of batteries means not only traveling light but also having one less battery to maintain. That in turn means fewer occasions of wonderment whether your spare battery has been fully charged and its state of readiness for use.

Finally, opting for higher capacity two way radio batteries means reduced downtime. Reduced downtime means sharper economy of time and that leads to cost savings. Having a higher capacity battery can be equally valuable in non-emergency applications like retail, aviation, hospitality, distribution centers etc. For instance, if a low capacity Kenwood TK360 radio battery were to abruptly stop performing – the employee would suffer downtime which would include walking all the way back to the central office where spare batteries are stored. He would then replace the dead battery with a charged one and make his way back to his original location (add a couple of minutes at the water cooler and exchange of gossip with a colleague!) and you are looking at anywhere from a few minutes to half an hour of lost productivity. Had he been using a higher capacity Kenwood TK360 battery, he would have saved a significant amount of time, done his job faster, jumped off quicker to the next task and been more productive – saving the company from loss associated with downtime Sure, the above scenarios are just examples but situations like these do occur and you can trust high capacity batteries to be a smarter choice for your organization.