Mouse rating 1.5V | Can I use a 1.2V rechargeable battery safely?

My mouse rating is 1.5V, I've been using it with alkaline AAA batteries which provide 1.5V. My question is, if I have a 1.2V rechargeable battery, is it going to work anyways without issues? I'm just concerned the 0.3 Volts difference will damage something over time.

Thank you,

Matias.

Your 1.2V rechargeable battery should work perfectly well.

An alkaline battery starts of with a terminal voltage somewhere between 1.5 - 1.6 Vdc which decays as the battery is discharged. End of life is a terminal voltage somewhere between 0.7 - 1.0 Vdc (depends on the equipment using the battery).

Your 1.2V rechargeable cell starts off with a terminal voltage around 1.2 Vdc which remains fairly constant as the cell discharges. Only when the cell charge is exhausted does the terminal voltage drop significantly.

I can't be 100% sure without having the exact model and schematic but my best guess would be: there's no problem in using a 1.2V when it's rated for a 1.5V battery. The reason is that I'm pretty sure the mouse has a boost or any other switching power supply that increases the input voltage to any voltage needed by internal circuitry to work. The only downside on using a smaller voltage battery is that you might experience a shorter operation life. But, anyway, as the battery is rechargeable, that's not a problem. You might need to recharge it more often than replacing an ordinary disposable battery. Hope it helps clarifying the issue.

Just to feed your curiosity you might read: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boost_converter

Had same question ... I tried 1.2 volt rechargeable battery and it is working perfectly fine. Go ahead and start using that rechargeable battery it will be a little help to environment.