Battery naming conventions
When you are travelling abroad, or need to order batteries on the net, you might have come across the fact that batteries might have different names in different countries.
I am not sure about where all the different standards come from, but as far as I know, the R-series are used in germany, the "mignon" series are used in france, whereas the rest of the world tends to use the A-series of classification.
Name A LR R E AM Dimensions* voltage**
Special AAAA LR61 42.5 x 8.3 ?
Micro AAA LR03 R03 E92 AM4 44.5 x 10.5 1.5V
Mignon AA LR6 R06 E91 AM3 50.0 x 14.5 1.5V
Baby C LR14 R14 E93 AM2 50.0 x 26.2 1.5V
Mono D LR20 R20 E95 AM1 61.5 x 34.2 1.5V
Lady N LR1 E90 30.2 x 11.7 ?
* Dimensions = length x diameter in millimetres
** The voltage in rechargables is usually around 1.2 - 1.3V
What the different types are used for:
- AAA is most often used in remote controls, voice recorders and similar.
- AA is the most common size, used in remote controls, CD players, digital cameras, small flashlights (mini maglite etc) and other appliances. These batteries are also known as "penlight" batteries
- C is most often used in portable stereos, some flashlights etc
- D is you classical flashlight battery, as used by most baton-shaped flashlights, such as maglite etc.