Chuck,
Yes the capacity is lower than Li-ion, but has many other advantages :
Low self discharge rate so similar to the Hybrid niMH (Eneloops),can leave on
shelf for a month or
two and still has most of capacity without recharge.
High rate capability so much better for high power aplications like cars and
power tools.
(For example the small cells I put into the Metz can produce 70A continuously. )
Can fully recharge in 10mins,means you don't need to have multiple batteries
for many purposes.
Very good Cycle life >1000
easier to charge.
Long shelf life, (many years unlike Li-ion which are 2-3years)
Non combustible electrolyte and no li metal formed unbound( even if abused
unlike Li-ion
etc.),does not burn easily and does not explode.
Even though the high rate is not that important for Metz (The flash draws about
12A pk) the
impedance is low and constant so capacity is independent of usage pattern
unlike SLA.
There are two different technologies used for LiFePO4 cells, one uses
microparticle and are
capable of very much higher currents. Curently these are being used in some new
Dewalt power
tools. There is a huge patent war brewing on who owns the technology. The big
application is going
to be in Electric Vehicles and hybrid vehicles.
Tim Hughes
--- Chuck Norcutt <chucknorcutt@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
> I've never heard of lithium iron phosphate batteries before but located
> this MIT tech blurb on the web. According to the article Li-FePO
> batteries have about 1/2 the capacity of Li-ion cells. I assume your
> comment about increasing the number of full dumps is relative to SLA cells?
> <http://www.technologyreview.com/read_article.aspx?id=17362>
>
> Chuck Norcutt
>
> Tim Hughes wrote:
> > The Lithium-ion and regular Lithium rechargeables are extremely flammable,
> > but the new
> generation
> > of high power LiFePO4 cells are not, but I am sure the TSA is not going to
> > differentiate!
> >
> > I have just converted one of my Metz CT60 flashes to Li-FePO4 and it cut
> > the weight by about
> > 1.5lbs and actually increases the number of full dumps. Charge time with an
> > external charger
> is
> > 15minutes, this really is a huge improvement over the normal sealed Lead
> > acids.
> >
> > Tim Hughes
>
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