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General Vintage Technology Discussions For general discussions about vintage radio and other vintage electronics etc. |
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11th Aug 2018, 9:10 am | #1 |
Triode
Join Date: Dec 2015
Location: Cirencester, Gloucestershire, UK.
Posts: 15
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My battery is 'flat' ?
Anyone have any idea as to how this expression came about ? 'Empty' or 'low' is understandable but why 'flat' ?
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11th Aug 2018, 11:23 am | #2 |
Octode
Join Date: Dec 2017
Location: Morden, Surrey, UK.
Posts: 1,560
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Re: My battery is 'flat' ?
I have always assumed it refers to use of a hydrometer to test the specific gravity of a lead acid cell, a low or "flat" reading indicating a discharged cell - I could easily be wrong though.
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11th Aug 2018, 11:26 am | #3 |
Dekatron
Join Date: Jul 2008
Location: Charmouth, Dorset, UK.
Posts: 3,601
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Re: My battery is 'flat' ?
That sounds about right.
Peter |
11th Aug 2018, 11:33 am | #4 |
Retired Dormant Member
Join Date: Dec 2007
Location: Shropshire, UK.
Posts: 3,051
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Re: My battery is 'flat' ?
Perhaps by analogy with a flat tyre, car batteries causing perhaps the most obvious trouble when discharged?
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11th Aug 2018, 2:17 pm | #5 |
Nonode
Join Date: Oct 2010
Location: Tintinara, South Australia, Australia
Posts: 2,340
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Re: My battery is 'flat' ?
Perhaps as in when a person is feeling "flat" - IE lacking in energy?
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11th Aug 2018, 6:35 pm | #6 |
Hexode
Join Date: Aug 2017
Location: Taunton, Somerset, UK.
Posts: 318
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Re: My battery is 'flat' ?
Here is another possible answer as derived via the www; it refers:-
"This use of flat for an electric battery was first used in 1951 according to the OED (sense 9c). The others related senses are: 9a) wanting in energy and spirit (1604); 9b) depressed, dull or inactive trade (1831); and 9d) a drink that has lost its flavour or sharpness (1617)." I particularly like the latter anology |
11th Aug 2018, 11:16 pm | #7 |
Nonode
Join Date: Nov 2015
Location: Welwyn Garden City, Hertfordshire, UK.
Posts: 2,015
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Re: My battery is 'flat' ?
Wasn't the Polaroid land camera first to have a "flat" battery but when fully charged?
I think so but happy to discuss. |
11th Aug 2018, 11:57 pm | #8 |
Dekatron
Join Date: Nov 2003
Location: Heckmondwike, West Yorkshire, UK.
Posts: 9,642
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Re: My battery is 'flat' ?
That's physically flat, the question was about electrically flat.
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12th Aug 2018, 12:49 am | #9 |
Dekatron
Join Date: May 2010
Location: Greater Manchester, UK.
Posts: 18,724
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Re: My battery is 'flat' ?
We say flat beer, flat broke, flat tyre, meaning empty or lifeless.
We also say "flat out", meaning quite the opposite!
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12th Aug 2018, 2:05 am | #10 | |
Nonode
Join Date: Oct 2010
Location: Tintinara, South Australia, Australia
Posts: 2,340
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Re: My battery is 'flat' ?
Quote:
So the term itself doesn't seem to be (relatively) that old. Found it:- https://english.stackexchange.com/qu...attery-is-flat and it was 1941 and not a car manual - halfway down the page. |
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12th Aug 2018, 6:37 am | #11 |
Octode
Join Date: Jan 2011
Location: Southwell, Nottinghamshire, UK.
Posts: 1,781
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Re: My battery is 'flat' ?
I think Rambo1152 has it. This is from Google and seems likely to me.
The word “flat” can mean (according to the Google dictionary) “lacking interest or emotion; dull and lifeless.” This definition fits pretty well, in a figurative sense, with a flat battery. ... But an American would be more likely to say they have a “dead battery” |
12th Aug 2018, 9:49 am | #12 |
Rest in Peace
Join Date: Sep 2010
Location: Ripley, Derbyshire, UK.
Posts: 785
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Re: My battery is 'flat' ?
I remember in the 1940s my father referring to warming the failing twin-cell cycle lamp battery off his bike by the fire-side because it was "flat", so the term is not that recent, I think.
(Incidentally, this process would give him one extra trip to and from work before he had to buy a new battery. ) Tony. |
12th Aug 2018, 10:58 am | #13 |
Dekatron
Join Date: Jul 2008
Location: Charmouth, Dorset, UK.
Posts: 3,601
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Re: My battery is 'flat' ?
I remember doing something similar, it effects partial 'depolarization'.
Peter |
12th Aug 2018, 11:13 am | #14 |
Octode
Join Date: Dec 2017
Location: Morden, Surrey, UK.
Posts: 1,560
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Re: My battery is 'flat' ?
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12th Aug 2018, 12:53 pm | #15 |
Dekatron
Join Date: Jan 2012
Location: Brentwood, Essex, UK.
Posts: 5,346
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Re: My battery is 'flat' ?
I remember mum saying that, during the war, they would sometimes put their No.8 torch batteries in a warm oven to get more life out of them: new ones were often in short supply.
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12th Aug 2018, 12:59 pm | #16 |
Administrator
Join Date: Dec 2002
Location: Cardiff
Posts: 9,072
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Re: My battery is 'flat' ?
We did that in the 70s as kids, put radio and cassette recorder etc batteries on heaters and radiators to get more life out of them. It got a few more hours use out of them.
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12th Aug 2018, 1:06 pm | #17 | |
Dekatron
Join Date: Sep 2011
Location: Rugeley, Staffordshire, UK.
Posts: 8,833
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Re: My battery is 'flat' ?
Quote:
But yes, I think if "flat battery" is derived from "dull" or "lifeless", then that's spot on isn't it? I mean, a 'flat battery' is not the same as a 'dead battery', as the former is capable of being re-charged, revived. Whereas a truly dead battery is not. Saying that, people do refer to a dead battery when they mean a flat one. That's just one of those things though.
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12th Aug 2018, 1:10 pm | #18 |
Moderator
Join Date: Jan 2003
Location: Ipswich, Suffolk, IP4, UK.
Posts: 21,289
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Re: My battery is 'flat' ?
I don't think anyone would be so pompous to say "Your battery is discharged", "Your battery is flat" is the common expression.
As for a battery being dead, that's not the term I'd use!
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12th Aug 2018, 3:00 pm | #19 |
Dekatron
Join Date: Apr 2012
Location: Wiltshire, UK.
Posts: 14,007
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Re: My battery is 'flat' ?
I guess it's all a matter of colloquial usage: my Stateside colleagues would say their car wouldn't start because its battery was "dead", not flat. "A flat" to them is a flat tyre (tire!).
"Discharged" is the expression I'd expect to find used in any more-technical discussions about batteries though: my APC UPS-monitoring software talks about 'charge' 'discharge' etc, and says "the unit will signal via the control-interface and a continuous tone on the audible alarm when the battery is 90% discharged". |
12th Aug 2018, 5:39 pm | #20 |
Dekatron
Join Date: Jun 2005
Location: Warnham, West Sussex. 10 miles south of DORKING.
Posts: 9,147
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Re: My battery is 'flat' ?
To add a touch of humour. The Ever Ready 1289 [One of the oldest types] was always known as the 'flat battery' due to it's shape. J.
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