Coin Cell Battery – Why Voltage Drops 50% When Using Small Battery

batteriesembeddedlow-powerpower supplyvoltage

I recently made a small coin cell battery powered bluetooth board. I get full voltage when using a dev kits 3.0V output but only 1.5V when using a 3V coin cell battery.

Circuit summed up pic below. To be exact:

  • Using a Nordic NRF52 Dev Kit's 3.0v VDD/GND output pins attached to battery holder + / -, I am getting correct voltage (2.93V) as expected.
  • Using CR927 coin cell in battery holder I am getting 2.93V to the RTC while the switch is off (expected,) but switched on I only get 1.5V everywhere (including the RTC.)

I am a hobbyist and don't know much about power/load/draw, but I am speculating/wondering if these small coin cell batteries must have some sort of maximum load that they can handle at once.

coin cell circuit

All components used are advertised as low power consumption.

Best Answer

Batteries have an output impedance and when a battery is not designed to provide high currents it has a high internal impedance.

That means there is basically a resistor in series with the output of the ideal voltage source that is the battery. So the more current you try to draw from it, the more voltage is dropped across the resistance and lost.