A cell is a single electrochemical source of electrical potential, or voltage. They come in numerous sizes and chemical types, both of which directly determine the cell’s nominal capacity and voltage rating, respectively. When numerous cells of the same size and chemical type are connected together in various configurations to create higher voltage and/or capacity this makes a battery. Cells are electrically connected together in series to increase a battery’s output voltage and are connected together in parallel to increase a battery’s output capacity.
You can learn the cell configuration of a battery by the industry designation XSYP, which declares the number of series and parallel connected cells in a battery (e.g. 4S3P is a battery with 4 series and 3 parallel cells). Some batteries are known as “dual voltage mode” batteries. These batteries (like the Ultralife UBI-2590 family) actually have two independent batteries in one package. Many users incorrectly refer to the two internal, independent batteries of the UBI-2590’s as cells. In accordance with IEEE 1625 and 1725, to portable power source for a single-cell powered device must include its own protection circuit module and be encased to prevent tampering.
As cellular phone technology vastly grew in the late 1990’s, the term “battery pack” was created as a way to distinguish between a single bare cell used to make a battery and a single cell encased with a PCM designed for a single cell powered device, such as a cell phone.
