Lithium Batteries

Capacity

Although LiFePO has 25% less capacity than other lithium batteries, such as Lithium Polymer (LiPo), is is safer and has a very flat power output curve.  Due to LiFePO4’s material structure, it has 70% more than nickel-hydrogen batteries.

Safety

The major differences between LiFePO batteries and ordinary lithium batteries are that LiFePO batteries do not have safety concerns such as overheating and explosion, that they have 4 to 5 times longer cycle lifetimes than the lead acid batteries 8 to 10 times higher discharge power and 30 to 50% less weight.

Replacement of Lead Acid

Because of the nominal 3.2V output, four cells can be placed in series for a nominal voltage of 12.8 V. This comes close to the nominal voltage of six-cell lead-acid battery (conventional car battery). The good safety characteristics makes LiFePO technology a great replacement for lead-acid batteries in many applications such as automotive and solar applications, provided the charging systems are adapted not to damage the LiFePO cells through excessive charging voltages, temperature-based voltage compensation, equalisation attempts or continuous trickle charging. The LiFePO cells must be at least balanced initially before the pack is assembled and a protection system also needs to be implemented to ensure no cell can be discharged below a voltage of 2.0 V or severe damage will occur in most instances.