The 9v labeled as a "C" bugs me more than it should... but otherwise great video!

Why is the "C" battery in the extra's a 9 volt? C batteries are just like D but slightly smaller.

Before transistor radios came out in the late 1950s, portable vacuum tube radios had A batteries and B batteries. The A battery was about 7.5 volts and powered the heater or filaments of the tubes. The B battery was around 90 volts and supplied voltage to the plates (anodes) of the tubes.

The graphic which appears @11:32 shows AA, AAA, C, and D cell batteries. However, the C battery shown is actually a 9 volt type, not an actual C cell. Looking at the graphic a second time, the AA battery has a correct width/height ratio of .28. The battery labeled AAA is actually AA since the width/height ratio is .27. In reality the ratio should be .23. The height of an actual AAA is only 1mm less than a 9 volt battery. Yes, I know, I've apparently got too much time on my hands. But in my defense, it just didn't look right and I had to figure out why.

As a retired electrical engineer, the terms. "B battery", and "B cell", mean two different things. "B cell" refers to s single cell, of a specific size, producing approximately 1.5 volts depending on its internal chemistry. "B battery" is a term used to refer to a multi cell battery used to provide the cathode to plate voltage in battery powered tube radios. These batteries came in several voltages, usually multiples of 22.5 volts. that is, 22.5 v, 45 v, 67.5 v, and 90v. For higher voltages used in the output stage of some early sets, one connected these kind of batteries in series. A similar situation exists with C cells. There were C BATTERIES which were used to provide bias voltage to the tubes in early radios. These were usually made with 3 internal 1.5v cells and could provide a bias voltage to the tube of 1.5, 3, or 4.5 v. Again, if a higher bias voltage was needed one connected these batteries in series. In fact, the term "A cell" refers to a specific size of single cell, but an "A BATTERY" actually refers to a battery which provides the filament voltage in a battery powered tube radio. These can be a single cell, usually a number 6 dry cell, or storage batteries up to six volts

the C battery is actually a 9 volt in your image. a real C battery is is like the D but smaller and is used in electronics and smaller flashlights.

B batteries, or " plate" batteries were used for vacuum tube devices, a number of cells wired in series to get higher voltages, from 15 on up to several hundred. A batteries were low voltage " filament" batteries, powering a vacuum tubes filament. C batteries, or " grid" batteries, were used as " bias" voltage on a tube's grid. C size batteries are between AA and D in size, but the same voltage ( 1.5). Four F size batteries are wired in series for the square 6 volt lantern battery, though an old alarm system at my last job used two F cells as backup. Difficult find then ( 1980s) probably very difficult now. The big 1.5 volt #6 battery was used to heat the glow plugs of model aircraft engines back in the day. 9 volt batteries were #1604...I think.

At 11:31 and again at 14:50 why do you have "C" for a 9V battery? The Alkaline AA,AAA,C,D are all 1.5 volts. The standard rechargeable batteries are 1.3 volts. The 9V battery is in a different category all together.

B batteries were typically stacks of individual cells, built in to one package. They were used on tube-based devices to provide the high-voltage for negative grid or positive anode voltages. A not so uncommon application would be four "D" cells in series to provide 6 volts for tube filaments, a BA battery at 22.5 volts for the negative grid (control) voltage and then a high tension B+ battery to provide from 45, 67.5, 90 volts. I had a device that took four AA batteries, one 22.5 Volt battery and two 67.5 volt batteries that were in series to produce 135 volts. It was a tube-based device (Geiger counter, AN-PDR-27/F) that was used by the US Navy until the 1970's. It had been adapted to take four AA batteries instead of the four, circular Mercury batteries. So, a "B" battery was typically a higher voltage pack that came in a variety of form-factors and voltages.

When I worked for Motorola there was an "N" battery used in the pagers. Going further back a common battery was a square 22.5v used with a "D" cell in portable tube radios, the 22v battery was for the plate voltage and the D was for the heater voltage. Found it! It was the EverReady 505, some brands used this and some used the B battery (Also 22.5v). Union Carbide (9 lives, EverReady) became Energizer and Mallory became Duracell. Rayovac never changed their name (Recently purchased by U.C.)

I enjoyed your approach to and presentation of this subject. You packed in a lot of good information and kept it interesting. One small point. In your graphic of battery sizes, you labelled the 9-volt battery as a C-cell. That is incorrect. A C-cell is a cylindrical battery a bit smaller than a D-cell.

There are “B” batteries. They are brick shaped about 1/3 larger than a package of cigarettes . With snap clips for the positive and negative poles. They were used on many of the first radios, especially for Atwater-Kent radios. While 5he size exists there are no manufacturers currently producing them.

I love how every time Ben Franklin is brought up, the conversation always ends in pure delight.

Having been taught all my life that Henry Ford's combustion engine was first for cars, I was shocked and amazed when you mentioned that we had The Detroit Electric for a full decade before his car. This great research on your part coupled with your enthusiastic cadence while delivering the information is reason enough for a proper subscription of which I did do. Thank you so much for not sounding like an ASMR channel. :)

Part of the confusion is due to the letters being used for SIZE (physical) as well as for FUNCTION (the latter mostly obsolete as vacuum tubes went away). The FUNCTIONAL nomenclature started with the battery designed to heat the filaments of the tubes, called A because you have to heat the tubes before they will do anything at all (except for photo tubes and Geiger counter tubes); these provided small multiples of 1.5 volts, but the cells were larger to supply more current (sometimes a 6V lantern battery was used). After you heat the tubes, you need a plate-to-cathode voltage, hence the B battery, which produced, usually, multiples of 22.5V, with 45V and 90V being most common. These were made of stacks of flat 1.5V cells in a package to add up to the rating desired, and were usually smaller than A batteries, since less current was needed. And most tubes also needed a negative “bias,” or resting no-signal-present, voltage on the grids of the tubes, often supplied by a very low current version of a lower voltage B battery, since the grid usually carried no current, called the C battery. Later circuit designs did not require a C battery. When radios began using household current, the power supplies designed to substitute for batteries (using a transformer to supply multiple voltages in AC areas, or without a transformer to be compatible with DC areas) put out a DC positive high voltage (relative to the chassis, or ground/earth/common) which was called “B+” because it was a substitute for the B battery. The filaments were either heated either by a 6.3V or 12.6V secondary winding, or by AC/DC power with the filaments in series, often with a pilot light that would illuminate the tuning dial. Battery SIZES are completely different. I suspect that among cylindrical cells, there were originally A, B, C, and D cells intended for flashlights (torches), in increasing order of length and diameter, but the A and B went away. Then smaller flashlights were invented, and the AA battery, a bit smaller than A, were developed (also called “penlight” size batteries), and later the even smaller AAA and AAAA sizes. So the use of AAAA, AAA, AA, C, and D to designate SIZE and SHAPE has NOTHING to do with the use of A, B, and C to designate their circuit FUNCTIONS. ************************************** Coincidentally, two completely different power sources, invented about 14 decades apart, were both originally called “piles:” the batteries we have been discussing, and the nuclear reactor (first called an “atomic pile”)!

ACTUALLY, “A” batteries [ 7.5 volts] and “B” batteries [ 67.5 volts] were used extensively in most portable radios in the 1950’s, as they were Vacuum Tube [ or “valve “] and not Transistor-ized. There were various shapes of 9 volt batteries as well, including round 9-volt, used in some early Transistor radios. (( I collect radios, and have [ working] examples of these radios.)) Pretty good video, though. 📻😁

Some stuff shows B-cell batteries were a thing on some old WWII era radio sets. And they seemed to have a longer run in Europe and Russia than the U.S. But they were pretty much obsolete with the invention of solid-state electronics. (Because they were particular to vacuum tube applications and didn't have much longevity in use.)

Daven, another great video. Loved the bonus facts. They had me laughing out loud.

AAAA cells are also a thing. The last device I had that used them was the Cross Pad. (Technically, it was that system’s pen that used them.) They can still be purchased today.

Wow, for such a small channel this is such a great video and I highly recommend for anyone to watch. You are going to be going places if you keep up with your videos. Great job!

After enjoying this one, I watched a few of your previous posts and happily subscribed. Excellent and interesting content wonderfully presented. I can't wait to see what you come up with next!

You totally missed out on the Bagdad Battery, which predates all of these by two thousand years. It was a copper-iron battery, so a hybrid between Edison's cell and a copper-zinc cell, likely using vinegar as the electrolyte. Output was ~1V, and they are still in use today for electroplating in parts of the Middle East.

16:52 Robert Heinlein paraphrased Franklin's view on older women in a book. "Widows are far better than brides. They don't tell, they won't yell, they don't swell, they rarely smell, and they're grateful as hell."

The Leyden Jar was not a battery. It was a capacitor.

Glad to know that if Simon gets hit by lightning or a bus I'll still get my fill of informative entertainment from a great presenter

The picture of battery/cell sizes has an error, showing a 9V battery labeled as a C cell. Otherwise a very good video.

Fascinating🔋

holy shit Benjamin franklin really sold me on older women there. i've never heard someone speak so eloquently horny about the upsides of GILFs before.

A few small corrections: The rectangular cells are 9V, not 6V. Also, C cells are cylinders, like D, AA and AAA. The diagram behind your erroneously shows a 9V as being the "C" cell, that is incorrect.

In French, the word batterie refers to much more than a group of canons or electric cells. It refers to a group of similar things acting as a greater whole. For example, a drum set is also called a batterie. The illustration for the C cell is incorrect, it's that of the 9V battery. The C cell is very similar to the D cell, but shorter and narrower. The A cell is similar to the C cell, but half the length, it's length and diameter being the same. I have an N cell. Same diameter as an AA cell, but, half the length.

There are of course B batteries. They don't find much use in the solid state age, but they were imperative in the early vacuum tube age, as a vacuum tube will not work with out B battery also called plate voltage.

I learned that a B battery was one of the really BIG cylindrical ones used in the old radios along with the large single-A battery, so that blows the size idea out of the water, and you never showed one. What about the E battery? And why do 6V lantern batteries not _say_ "F" on them?

You may be surprised by this fact, but did you know that in Switzerland as of 2008, 2R10 batteries accounted for ONLY 0.003% of primary battery sales? 🤯 Astonishing, I know! This completely changes what is commonly thought about Swiss battery purchases. 🇨🇭 🔋

That anecdote about Ben Franklin combined with this look at batteries finally explains the video for Danger! High Voltage by Electric Six.

Back around 1930 or so, there were A, B, and C batteries in tube-type radio sets. Correct me if I'm mistaken, but I think A drove the tuner, B supplied the current to heat the cathode filaments and C was potential for the tube grids. These batteries were all about the size of a big box of baking soda. I remember back in the day, my grandpa telling me in how he once ordered a B battery eliminator from Sears Roebuck a little transformer that plugged into house current so you didn't need the rather expensive B batteries anymore.

Listen to this while at work. Looking forward to watching it later.

A, AA, AAA, C, D are individual cells. 9 volt batteries are made up of a group (battery) of 6 little cells in one rectangular package.

first video ive seen you in since tifo, the beard looks great, i think you should keep it. awesome video also

This is also great. If you have a metal boat, sacrificial anode are actually a thing I never would’ve imagined.

**AHEM** In the USA the "B" battery is the tall battery with screw caps used in school science class/labs. Find one and read the label, it will say "B Battery Cell." It is a 1.5volt battery as you stated.

Fun fact: There was a short lived AAAA battery in the late 1980s. It was used to power very small flashlights. It was very similar to an AAA battery in length but significantly thinner.

... Daven??? Dude your beard has really filled in since I last saw you on BrainFood YEARS ago. I didn't expect to see and hear you on this new channel that popped up in my recommended feed. Great to see you hosting videos in my feed again!

I had 2 devices that used A & B batteries a portable RCA multiband radio that was the size of a double thick boombox, and a Geiger counter.

5:31 about 40 years ago as a kid I used to play around with a copper pipe vinegar and an aluminum can and cardboard for a simple battery.

The picture of battery sizes makes me wonder if this video was sponsored by Duracell. As others have said, the "C" is incorrectly assigned to 9V batteries. In fact, the C is 1,5V like the others, and the video should be edited to include this and the other rarer sizes. I miss the 4,5V batteries I remember from my youth. I haven't seen them in a long time, but they were commonly used in flashlights, as well as the electronics sets I remember from hobby shops. I believe that they really just consisted of three AA batteries internally (consistent with its size), which I suppose explains why they fell out of use. What's the advantage to this rather than just three 1,5V batteries that could be the smaller AAA size?

Don't forget the quad-A or AAAA battery. You find six of these connected in series inside a standard 9V battery.

What a pleasant surprise! I open a video and bam! Daven Hiskey! My favorite non-British presenter :) Cheers!

4:39 DUUUUUDE, My entire life... Of course I know about galvanized pipes and not to weld on them and such- but you JUST connected the dots for the reasoning behind it. That was cool, you earned my like and I haven't even learned the purpose of the video yet! 0.o

Oh dear. Ben Franklin would (probably did, back then) make a great stand-up comedian. Btw, I just found your channel for the first time. It seems worth following, I'll watch (at least some of) the other 7 videos soon. Keep up the good work!

Pile is French for battery! This sheds light on the fact that batteries started out as piles of metal disks 😇

I came here for the bonus facts. thanks Benjamin!

something's up with the visual at 14:34 and audio desync's at that time as well

In the very early days of portable radios, which used miniature vacuum tubes, a D cell was used to heat the filaments, while a 90V. battery was used for plate voltage. This higher voltage battery was referred to as the "B" battery, a carryover from non-portable radios in which plate voltage was referred to as B+".

For many years, and some manufacturers may still do it, the D cell battery was actually a C battery with a spring at the tip, insulation wrapped around it and then all incased in a larger case. AA, AAA, C, and D batteries all have the same voltage, just different mAh based on the size. If you find a D cell that has the same mAh as a C battery, chances are there's really a C battery inside.

The Baghdad Battery dates from about 150 BC to 650 AD or so.

Your water heater should also have a sacrificial rod for the same reasons stated in the video about ships and pipes.

1996 when I worked at a RadioShack, a man came in and special ordered AAAA batteries (“4 A”) for his tiny laser pointer. that was the first time I had ever heard of an AAAA battery.

Is there an ANSI label for the 9V 'pp3', bearing in mind that 'c' cells were quite common for toys and old torches/flashlights?

15:00 Is that image an error, or has the definition of C battery changed since the last time I bought them?

In Germany the type AA is named "Mignon", the type AA is named "Micro", and the type D is named "Mono". Type N (not in the video but also a round one) is named "Lady". But what the video didn't get right is type C. Type C is also a round type and named "Baby" in Germany. The video claims it's a 9 volt battery but that type has no letter. There used to be a block battery named C but that was not a 9 volt block but a vacuum tube battery, wich also existed as A and B type but those were completely different kind of batteries and not produced anymore since the early 70ties.

3:59 oooo a real blackboard and chalk being used to illustrate in a UKposts video! That deserves a video of its own to teach this new generation how us Gen-Xers were taught in school.

A few Foley (audio video sync) issues, but very fascinating. Thanks.

I had 67.5 volt B batteries in my tube type portable radio. 67.5 was the plate voltage for the tubes. 😊

The ancient Egyptians had batteries they made with crucible, an internal jar in it, and an electrode of copper. They used the DC current to electroplate other metals with gold. Some claimed to have even found instructions on how to make rudimentary electric lighting. Some have put together the light and it has worked. Batteries were not invented by anybody in the last 2000 years.

The C battery was originally used as the grid bias voltage in a triode vacuum tube. It was used backwards, applying a negative voltage on the grid. If the negative C voltage was right, and a variable signal was applied, it produced an amplified signal that was otherwise an accurate copy of the original.

B Batteries I was familiar with were about the size of a brick, perhaps a little larger (gimme a break, this was 60+ years ago), and had a number of Fahnestock clips (look that up) along the top so that the user could tap off a desired voltage. I think they went up to 45 volts. I would get them from the telephone company. I never saw them for sale in any store.

I had a single-B-cell flashlight once, but never have seen the required battery for it, it was useless except for the fun of asking battery specialty shops for a B cell in order to see their less-than-smug blank stare. I’ve never seen a small 6-volt square battery, but I think the largish 6-volt so-called lantern battery consisting of four longer-than-D carbon-zinc cells in series can still be found. (But these have been cheapened by using four D cells with a foam plastic filler to occupy the rest of space in the pack. So as long as D cells remain available, one can replace the cells to keep gear needing lantern batteries running.) there was a widely-available round 6-volt about the size of 1/2 of a AA that was used in photographic gear. These kinds of specialty batteries will probably remain available as long as people are willing to pay outlandish prices for them. In the 1950s, radio parts catalogs listed many high-voltage (about 40 to 90V or so) square batteries to supply the plates of vacuum tube gear before transistors, but I imagine one would be hard-put to find them now. I suppose one could replicate them by using easily-available cells from or entire 9-volt batteries stacked up as required, with only the matter of fabricating some kind of overall packaging being a bother. Otherwise such antique tube gear would become inoperable, even if otherwise functioning perfectly. Small, so-called “battery eliminators” were line-powered supplies sold to permanently solve the problem of the expense of keeping table-top (non-portable) radios running long-term. Another set of letters was used to describe voltages in vacuum tube gear: A for tube filaments, B for tube plates, and C for tube grid-biasing circuits. But those letters were shorthand only for these circuit voltages, had nothing to do with the batteries themselves, and were used even when line-powered supplies meant there were no batteries at all. As such, they are used today only by geezers like myself when discussing now-antique tube gear, and will likely be forgotten lingo when we have finally turned to dust. Chips are available to allow a single cell’s voltage to be boosted to literally any value, so as long as one has the smarts to design such circuits, any single- or multicell pack of batteries using any chemistry can be devised to keep even the most-antique gear running until it’s parts finally expire and they eventually become suitable only for viewing in museums. Yes, even one AAA cell could theoretically power a Tesla vehicle, but only long enough to run over the family cat.

I had a multimeter that took a b-cell. Inconvenient when I had to find a replacement, because I couldn't just grab one from a grocery or drug store. Incidentally I do have one of those 6v lantern battery flashlights, instead of replacing the battery with another 6v,I just bought one of those adapters that use either c or d cells, I don't remember which. Works fine.

Tremendous interesting! BTW, major props for having the cojones to impart wisdom, in this day & age. You, sir, are a scholar and I salute you.

Now I need a collab with technology connections and this channel

Missed you Daven. Wondered what happened to you after you had several videos for a while on TIFO

I found a 45 Volt B battery in a scrap Geiger counter in 1960 when I was 9 years old.

Some nice to know facts, would have liked to see an example of a B cell. Would also have liked to have seen the exposure of 4A cells that used to be in all 9 volt batteries but that have recently been changed to flat cells of which I don't know what they are designated as. Those big lantern batteries which I think pad at the turn of the century. The silly feeling I get by worrying my grandmother by saying "I was born in the last century" That's not so uncommon now but to those 90s children, they'll relish it in years to come. Anyways, thanks for the info. As for Franklin's remarks on older women, in surprised he cut it down to do few reasons but he probably just highlighted what he thought most important, brevity and wit and whatnot.

Feedback: -Your battery infographic must have missed the last round of QC before using. -Audio was not synced with video for some portions. -On screen text has typos and artifacts. I recommend doing a preview watch thru of the content prior to posting to catch these things.

Everyone is commenting on the 9v being titled as C, but not many have said that it also has a minus/negative sign on the lower half too (in addition to the two top posts and plus/positive sign.) Was this a chatgpt image source? Good video though.

Talking of batteries. Great topic suggestion. The mega battery. Get a stack of nearly dead block batteries the 9 volt ones with the 2 connectors on one end. Daisy chain them together. Then like the sparks fly! IE solder a pair of thick wires on each end of chain. And then see how far the lightning will jump thru air and other interesting targets eg pop a balloon. Of course taking safety precautions. Do remember a vid a few years ago but forget where.

Very interesting video, especially the last 3 minutes 😊

There use to be a 45 volt B battery. EverReady No.455, NEDA201

Ol benji there certainly had some 'Observations concerning the increase of mankind', thats for sure :P

There battery info was good. The Ben Franklin info was wise and as true as ever.

Who remembers the J ALKALINE BATTERY? As a kid I would find them in TV remotes like zenith

I heard that the numbers and sizes where the different voltages for the required sections of the vacuum tube!

The first batteries ever made were clay jugs that ran off of vinegar. Archaeologists actually found the broken remains of some of them.

A lithium-zinc battery would likely be very effective.

I should try that basket trick Benji mentioned.

Ben Franklin, love that old hound dog.

What’s the book set directly behind you?

"The first electrical battery as we recognize it today would not be invented..." Since the invention of something already IS developing and making the _first_ of it, then FFR: * "The _electrical battery_ as we recognize it today would not be invented..."

Wise man Ben. :)

Was disappointed with a 6V lantern battery that didn't last long. Upon cutting it open, there were 4 D-cells inside. So, the battery case had a large open space. About 30 to 40 percent less capacity. 🤬

Wrong image for "C" size. What showing is a 9volt battery. True C size is shaped the same as an AA or D size, but sized much larger than AA and about 2/3rds the size of a D.

The rectangular 9.v battery is not a C class battery . The C class is smaller than the D , and 4 times larger than a AAA battery .The C is also a cylinder like the D .

Batteries were invented far far earlier than the 1700s. There were versions made using clay pots far earlier that were discovered in Afghanistan, as well as China and Japan.

I think we had some B cells back when I was a kid. I remember that they were too close in size to the popular ones.

Based Ben Franklin out here slayin' with class

I don't know where @Origins are from, but he said "rectangular 6v batteries". Here in Denmark, rectangular batteries are 9 volt.

There were B~cells , in size between AA (mignon) and D-cells (mono). They were not as common as the others and B= Baby-cells.

Did anyone else notice that in the slide showing battery size, and name nomenclature - the image labeled as the 'C' battery - Is actually a '9 volt'?

"Old women don't swell, don't tell, and are grateful as hell!"

In Australia a 9v battery is referred to as a “9 volt battery”. A C battery, as many people have already mentioned is a slightly smaller version of the D battery. Can you confirm if this is just an international or Australian way of labelling batteries?