A battery eliminator is a device powered by an electrical source other than a

battery Battery most often refers to: * Electric battery, a device that provides electrical power * Battery (crime), a crime involving unlawful physical contact Battery may also refer to: Energy source *Automotive battery, a device to provide power t ...

, which then converts the source to a suitable DC

voltage Voltage, also known as electric pressure, electric tension, or (electric) potential difference, is the difference in electric potential between two points. In a static electric field, it corresponds to the work needed per unit of charge to ...

that may be used by a second device designed to be powered by batteries. A battery eliminator does away with the need to replace batteries but may remove the advantage of portability. A battery eliminator is also effective in replacing obsolete battery designs. Some examples of battery eliminators include the nine-volt mains

power supply A power supply is an electrical device that supplies electric power to an electrical load. The main purpose of a power supply is to convert electric current from a source to the correct voltage, current, and frequency to power the load. As ...

, the size and shape of a PP12 battery, originally intended to replace the battery in portable radios in the 1960s. A

solar panel A solar cell panel, solar electric panel, photo-voltaic (PV) module, PV panel or solar panel is an assembly of photovoltaic solar cells mounted in a (usually rectangular) frame, and a neatly organised collection of PV panels is called a photo ...

providing power for a portable appliance may also be considered a battery eliminator. The term is also sometimes used as a misnomer when using a bigger battery for more runtime when branching out a power supply to wired electrical equipment using DC input.

History

Early commercial battery eliminators were produced by the

Edward S. Rogers, Sr. Edward Samuel Rogers Sr. (June 21, 1900 – May 6, 1939) was a Canadian inventor and pioneer in the radio industry who founded the Rogers Vacuum Tube Company and the CFRB radio station in Toronto, Ontario. His only child, Edward S. Rogers Jr. ...

company in 1925 as a complement to his line of "batteryless"

radio receiver In radio communications, a radio receiver, also known as a receiver, a wireless, or simply a radio, is an electronic device that receives radio waves and converts the information carried by them to a usable form. It is used with an antenna. Th ...

s. Another early producer of battery eliminators was the Galvin Manufacturing Corporation (later known as

Motorola Motorola, Inc. () was an American multinational telecommunications company based in Schaumburg, Illinois, United States. After having lost $4.3 billion from 2007 to 2009, the company split into two independent public companies, Motorola ...

), which was opened on September 25, 1928 by Paul Galvin and his brother Joseph E. Galvin, to build battery eliminators for radio receivers installed in automobiles. The first car radio receivers were based on

vacuum tube A vacuum tube, electron tube, valve (British usage), or tube (North America), is a device that controls electric current flow in a high vacuum between electrodes to which an electric potential difference has been applied. The type known as ...

technology which required two or three different voltages to function: * "A"/LT (Low Tension (UK usage), low voltage (US usage)) typically 4 or 6.3 volts at high current to power the filaments * "B"/HT (High Tension (UK usage), high voltage (US usage) typically 100 to 300 volts at low current to power the

anode An anode is an electrode of a polarized electrical device through which conventional current enters the device. This contrasts with a cathode, an electrode of the device through which conventional current leaves the device. A common mnemonic is ...

circuitry * "C" Additional voltages were sometimes also required for

grid bias In electronics, biasing is the setting of DC (direct current) operating conditions (current and voltage) of an active device in an amplifier. Many electronic devices, such as diodes, transistors and vacuum tubes, whose function is processing ...

. Batteries designed for these portable vacuum tube receivers were a combination of several different battery types and sizes, combined in a single package and intended to slowly wear out at about the same rate. The battery typically connected to the radio via a specially shaped four- or five-pin connector, keyed so that the plug had to be inserted correctly. A battery eliminator took the typical 6-volt or 12-volt DC power from a car battery and transformed it into the required LT and HT needed to power the vacuum tubes in a car radio. Without a battery eliminator, it was necessary to occasionally replace the

battery pack A battery pack is a set of any number of (preferably) identical batteries or individual battery cells. They may be configured in a series, parallel or a mixture of both to deliver the desired voltage, capacity, or power density. The term battery ...

in the vacuum-tube car radio.

Studio photography

Tripod A tripod is a portable three-legged frame or stand, used as a platform for supporting the weight and maintaining the stability of some other object. The three-legged (triangular stance) design provides good stability against gravitational loads ...

-mounted cameras in

photography studio Photography is the art, application, and practice of creating durable images by recording light, either electronically by means of an image sensor, or chemically by means of a light-sensitive material such as photographic film. It is employed ...

s often use a battery eliminator to avoid having to interrupt lengthy shooting sessions to replace batteries.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Battery Eliminator Power supplies Electric power conversion

History

Studio photography

See also

References