Math Bridge: Battery Self-discharge

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Math BridgeSensorsStruggle-friendly runway

What battery self-discharge does to 14,300 days

One thread from daily sensor charge to microamps, yearly capacity loss, and the chapter's corrected CR2477 lifetime.

Phoebe, the physics guidePhoebe guides
The one targetAdd self-discharge to a current-based lifetime model.
The chapter case1,000 mAh, 0.070 mAh/day, 1% per year.
What it buys youSpot impossible multi-decade sensor-only estimates.

See the relationship before changing it

Set the input, apply the rule, then read the result with its unit.

The retained audit below checks several chapter fixtures. This model keeps those stated values fixed and changes only sensor daily charge, so the numeric fixture does not switch without explanation.

Derive the baseline in four named moves

  1. 1

    Name the input. The chapter baseline is 0.07 mAh/day.

  2. 2

    Name the relationship. life = 1,000 mAh / sensor daily charge

  3. 3

    Substitute with units. 1,000 / 0.070 = 14,286 days

  4. 4

    Read the result. Keep the unit beside the value. Use it only inside the technical boundary on this page.

Predict, then change sensor daily charge

Try Predict the direction of life = 1,000 mAh / sensor daily charge. Test another sensor daily charge, then compare ideal life without cell leak.

0.07 mAh/day
Chapter baseline
Ideal life without cell leak

Observe Larger daily sensor charge shortens ideal life before yearly cell leak. Reset sensor daily charge to 0.07 and compare ideal life without cell leak.

Explain The sensor consumes a fixed charge each day at a chosen setting, so increasing daily consumption depletes the unchanged cell sooner and shortens ideal life inversely.

Check yourself

What should you do before trusting a moved-control result?
Answer: Predict its direction, apply the shown relationship, keep the units, and reset to the worked baseline.
What does this small model leave out?
Answer: Only sensor daily charge moves here. Field effects named in the technical boundary stay fixed.

1. Capacity and current must share units

A battery capacity of 1,000 mAh means it could ideally supply 1,000 mA for one hour, or a smaller current for longer. The chapter gives sensor use as 0.070 mAh each day, so first turn that daily charge into an average current.

Phoebe: “mAh per day” is charge divided by time. Dividing by 24 hours gives the average milliamps that can be added to other steady drains.

2. Reproduce the sensor-only result

1

Average current0.070 mAh/day ÷ 24 h/day=0.00292 mA=2.92 µA.

2

Lifetime hours1,000 mAh ÷ 0.00292 mA=342,857 h.

3

Lifetime days342,857/24=14,286 days, about 14,300.

3. Turn yearly loss into current

At 1% per year, the simple model allocates 1,000×0.01=10 mAh of lost capacity over 8,760 hours.

1

Divide loss by timeI_self=10 mAh/8,760 h=0.00114 mA=1.14 µA.

2

Add the drainsI_total=2.92+1.14=4.06 µA.

4. Try the self-discharge rate

I_sensor=(mAh/day)/24; I_self=Q(r/100)/8,760; days=Q/(I_sensor+I_self)/24

TryMove the simple yearly self-discharge rate from 0% to 3% while capacity and sensor use stay fixed.

Sensor average
Self-discharge current
Total ideal current
Ideal lifetime
Ideal lifetime

ObserveAt 1%, self-discharge is 1.14 µA; total current is 4.06 µA and the simple result falls to 10,267 days, or 28.1 years.

ExplainThe widget converts both drains to average current, adds them, and divides the same 1,000 mAh capacity by that total.

Technical boundaries.

The sensor-only lifetime division fixes a 1000 mAh cell and omits cell leakage; the separate self-discharge comparison treats a yearly percentage as a constant current. Neither accounts for changing voltage, load pulses, temperature, usable-capacity loss, seal and electrolyte ageing, processor current, conversion losses, or shelf-life limits.

Cell voltage, load pulses, temperature, usable-capacity derating, seal and electrolyte aging, MCU current, conversion losses, and shelf-life limits shorten real service
Needs separate evidence

Use field evidence or a deeper model before release.

5. Recompute the corrected division

days=1,000 mAh/(0.00406 mA×24 h/day)=10,267 days
years=10,267/365.25=28.1 years

The self-discharge term alone removes roughly one quarter of the sensor-only 14,286-day result.

6. Stop where the model stops

The answer is still not a deployment promise. The chapter says CR-series cells are commonly rated for roughly a decade of shelf life, and it already warns that the microcontroller dominates real systems. Once the arithmetic exceeds chemical life, report the chemical limit instead of extra false precision.

7. Check yourself

How does 0.070 mAh/day become 2.92 µA?
Answer: Divide by 24 hours to get 0.00292 mA, then multiply by 1,000 to get 2.92 µA.
What current represents 1% yearly loss from 1,000 mAh?
Answer: (1,000×0.01)/8,760=0.00114 mA=1.14 µA.
Is 28.1 years a promised field lifetime?
Answer: No. It is the result of the simple two-current model and omits chemical aging and system loads.
Honesty boundary.

The sensor-only lifetime division fixes a 1000 mAh cell and omits cell leakage; the separate self-discharge comparison treats a yearly percentage as a constant current. Neither accounts for changing voltage, load pulses, temperature, usable-capacity loss, seal and electrolyte ageing, processor current, conversion losses, or shelf-life limits.

1,000 mAh CR2477
Nominal coin-cell charge capacity
0.070 mAh/day
Daily sensor charge consumption
about 14,300 days
Ideal lifetime before cell self-discharge
catalog-typical 1% yearly self-discharge
Assumed yearly cell-capacity loss
1.14 µA
Equivalent constant current for cell self-discharge
4.06 µA
Combined sensor and self-discharge current
10,267 days
Lifetime including approximate self-discharge current
28.1 years
Same approximate lifetime expressed in years
shelf-life warning come from the chapter
Shelf ageing limits the arithmetic lifetime claim

The constant-current equivalent is useful bookkeeping, not a battery-aging law or warranty.