ORIGINAL: SV27dayton
The 4 digit value on all batteries is the miliamp x hours the battery is capable of delivering. I understand this to be a combination of time vs power output. There are two things that everyone wants, long runtimes and high speeds. So the bigger the number the better for either, but typically the more of one the less of the other. Correct?
In most cases the higher the mAh the lower the battery internal resistance will be. Or the higher the discharge rate will be. But the displayed figure (mAh) is not particularly related to discharge current.
It only represents how much current can be passed in one hour of time. Of course you can apply a load of 0.1A on a battery for 10 hours and through a simple calculation the capacity is 1000mAh. This particlar battery may not be able to discharge over 100mA but still can output 1000mA in an hour.
The way I understand it is that the best packs have the lowest resistance (meaning good quality cells (still trying to understand what that is) and they are tied together in a way to lower discharge resistance) IE good, thick wires, deans connectors, and bars replacing wire where possible.
Yes, as quality increases, internal resistance decreases. There are a ton of factors that contribute to the internal resistance of a battery. It could be quality of plates used or quality in the chemistry. Impurities in either case will increase resistance. The wires that connect the battery is also important but not as important as the actual cell quality itself.
Also I see refrences to "getting them up to operating temp by topping them off. I assume this makes sure they are maxed out and also warm (does temperature speed the chemical reaction?)
Heat is not particularly desired when discharging/charging batteries. As heat increases, resistance increases. But the major concern here is cold batteries/cold weather will affect discharge performance.
To minimize this issue and maximize run time, top of your pack just before use.
When you charge batteries before using them it helps the catalyst to activate the chemical process. This in turn will warm up your batteries. This process may take 1-10 minutes depending on the cells, chemistry, charge.
Cold weather/batteries will slow the process down - better for storage
Ryan