Any users of LiFePO4 batteries ?
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Just received LiFePO4 batteries in AA size today, with claimed capacity of 700mAh (Soshine brand).
Bought a "Miboxer C4" charger on AliExpress to charge them and it's really great to charge and to rest capacity, so that's what I'll test first and then next week I will make one or two nodes, but it will take some time to have an idea about the self discharge :)
With the charger I tested some other batteries and no surprise with the cheap AliExpress batteries: 1000mAh CR123 li-ion is 300mAh and 3800mAh 18650 is only...400mAh so just 1/10th of the claim.I also tested 18650 cells from a 2011 laptop. I charged them over 6 months ago and left them in the drawer and surprise they were still nearly full, only a few minutes needed to charge. And they can still provide 2400mAh of the claimed 2600. So probably a good li-ion battery could power a node for over a year too, with a ldo like a 3V xc6206.
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@gohan said in Any users of LiFePO4 batteries ?:
Chinese capacity and capacitance of supercaps are not to be trusted
Well I just tested the Soshine LiFePO4 and my charger measured over 600mAh when rated at 700 so I guess they are honest as it discharged at 400mAh which is quite high, and I'm not sure it went as low in voltage as it could.
So some Chinese batteries can be trusted :) -
@gohan said in Any users of LiFePO4 batteries ?:
The soshine charger is junk, there are some videos about that.
I'm using a MiBoxer C4 which is I think not related in any way with Soshine. It gave me valid results on branded li-ion and nimh batteries and measured very poor capacity on Chinese li-ion batteries so I don't think it's cheating when measuring those batteries.
For the Soshine charger, no idea about it but if I remember the prices seen on AliExpress it was less than 10$ added cost to have them with the batteries so for this price it's not a surprise if it's not a good product.I'm interested in the capacity of batteries and for that Soshine keeps it's promises.
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@gohan said in Any users of LiFePO4 batteries ?:
The soshine charger is junk, there are some videos about that.
It may well be, but their LiPOs are good, really good. I have several 9V batteries powering Mega 2650 and they last for a few months (on and off). They are rated 9V 600mAh.
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I read somewhere (can't find it now) tht some LiFePO4 batteries were found to be spiked with Li-MnO2 or similar to give them better mah ratings. Plainly, that somewhat defeats the purpose of using them in the first place. Not saying that is the case here. However, if you have LiFeP04 batteries whose mah seems too good to be true.... In the end, it's such a non-obvious thing to verify, that I wouldn't be surprised if it's happening a lot, as we already know there are a lot of fake batteries out there of one kind or another.
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I read somewhere (can't find it now) tht some LiFePO4 batteries were found to be spiked with Li-MnO2 or similar to give them better mah ratings. Plainly, that somewhat defeats the purpose of using them in the first place. Not saying that is the case here. However, if you have LiFeP04 batteries whose mah seems too good to be true.... In the end, it's such a non-obvious thing to verify, that I wouldn't be surprised if it's happening a lot, as we already know there are a lot of fake batteries out there of one kind or another.
@NeverDie said in Any users of LiFePO4 batteries ?:
I read somewhere (can't find it now) tht some LiFePO4 batteries were found to be spiked with Li-MnO2 or similar to give them better mah ratings. Obviously, that somewhat defeats the purpose of using them in the first place. Not saying that is the case here, as I have no idea. However, if you have LiFeP04 batteries whose mah seems too good to be true.... In the end, it's such a hard thing to verify, that I wouldn't be surprised if it's happening a lot.
I can't find the disadvantages of LiMnO2 batteries, any link ? Do they have a high self discharge ?
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@NeverDie said in Any users of LiFePO4 batteries ?:
I read somewhere (can't find it now) tht some LiFePO4 batteries were found to be spiked with Li-MnO2 or similar to give them better mah ratings. Obviously, that somewhat defeats the purpose of using them in the first place. Not saying that is the case here, as I have no idea. However, if you have LiFeP04 batteries whose mah seems too good to be true.... In the end, it's such a hard thing to verify, that I wouldn't be surprised if it's happening a lot.
I can't find the disadvantages of LiMnO2 batteries, any link ? Do they have a high self discharge ?
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@NeverDie said in Any users of LiFePO4 batteries ?:
@Nca78
No links. Just the usual "burst into flames" safety concerns.I see, then I'm not too worried. Soshine seems to sell a lot of batteries and I didn't see any report of explosions or related things.
And when charged and discharged quickly (for capacity testing) they seem to stay much cooler than even my brand name 18650 cells.The guy from Lygte has tested a bunch of batteries and results are good for all the soshine, and it means capacity measurement on my charger is not bad, I measured 600mAh for the LiFePO4 AA and he has 550.
Every other battery brand that is available on AliExpress and he tested has completely bullshit claims about capacity. What's worrying is they also lie about having protections, and some brands like TrustFire rewrap some old batteries from powerpacks and hide marks/rust/... with new tops and bottoms, this is mainly the case for 18650. Old rusty batteries without protection, and all different despite behind inside the same wraps :o
Page for small batteries :
http://lygte-info.dk/review/batteries2012/CommonSmallIndividualTest UK.html
