Battery mAh and device operation

Question

If a small signal electronic load is designed for normal operation by using say 1.2 V 630 mAh battery and if the same battery is replaced with say 600 mAh or say 700 mAh rating battery, does it affect the normal operation of the load in anyway?

Ignore that the battery may deplete fast or slow based on the capacity.

What factors go into the design consideration that this load should operate with say 630 mAh batteries?

Just hypothetically if I have say 1.2V 600 mAh battery and load demands say 630 mA of current at a time, will 600 mAh capacity battery would be able to provide it or will it fail?

Answer 1

You can use either type. The only difference you might notice is how long the base station works when running only on batteries. Compared to the 630mAh batteries when they were new the 600mAh will give slightly less operating time, the 700mAh slightly more. The base station should still work just the same and give the same signal strength whichever you choose.

The current drawn by the base station is not dependent on the capacity of the battery, just the time for which it can draw it.

Answer 2

The battery will go flat sooner.

Thanks for the comment, however will it impact the functioning of the device? E.g. if the device needs say 630 mA of current, will the battery be able to supply it with its 600 mAh capacity?

We don't say 630 mA "of current" in the same way we don't say 65 km" of speed" although we can say it the other way around, "a speed of 65 km" and "a current of 640 mA".

600 mAh tells us the capacity at a certain discharge rate as given by the datasheet, typically 1/10 the mAh capacity, 60 mA in this case. Discharging at a higher rate will reduce the capacity somewhat. This means that at 600 mA discharge current it will last < 1 hour. At 630 mA it will last marginally less.