CR2032 coin cells and peak current draw

Informative app note by TI talking about peak current draw from CR2032 batteries.

Most important findings:

  • you can draw 30mA from a battery, and it doesn’t reduce battery capacity significantly (as opposed to 15mA).
  • after half the capacity is used (100mAh), the internal resistance rises steeply from 20Ω to 1kΩ.
  • use a big storage cap to prevent voltage droop during high draw episodes.

According to research by Jack Ganssle, big storage caps leak too much current (several uA) and therefore are not a good solution.