Since humans made the first rechargeable battery in 1859, battery power has been vital to the modern human lifestyle. These power packs have altered the way we use electrical equipment by allowing us to use stored electricity to eliminate power disruptions. As a result, we can now go off-grid and use our necessary appliances without the restrictions of time and place. The battery backup duration is measured in ampere-hours, abbreviated as Ah. For example, an 80 ah battery denotes a current flow of 80 amperes for one hour at a 1C rate. Before purchasing a battery, it is critical to understand the load power since the battery volts determine how much current it can carry at one time.
Battery Capacity
There are certain factors that will determine the size of the battery, which is calculated in amp hours. An 80ah battery may appear to be insufficient as a backup power source with bigger appliances. The backup time, on the other hand, is determined by how much power the appliance consumes over time. To determine how many ampere-hours you require, consider the power of the appliance(s) you intend to run on battery power.
Battery Backup Time Calculation
The battery capacity advice by experts includes assessing how much power appliances need. To calculate, you need the power consumption of each appliance. For example, you have five 20-watt LED lamps, a 100-watt drone camera, an electric fan of 100 watts etc. When we calculate the watt-hour power, the tally reaches 300 watts.
To meet the power demand of a 300-watt load, a 12v battery will demand 25 amps of discharge current. From a 12v 80ah extreme battery, you will get three hours and twelve minutes of backup time to power a 300-watt load at 100 percent depth of discharge.
A deep cycle battery may be deeply depleted; nevertheless, each battery type has a safe discharge limit. The safe discharge limit for a lead-acid battery is 50% of the rated capacity; hence the safe discharge limit for a flooded-acid battery with 80ah capacity will be reduced to 40ah.
Battery Discharge Rate
An 80ah battery with a complete discharge can generate 80 amps of power for one hour when discharged at 1C. To acquire more amps from the same battery capacity, choose a greater discharge rate, such as 2C discharge, which will give 160 amps of current but only for thirty minutes.
Ventilation and Cooling for Battery for Higher Discharge Rate
The battery will generate a tremendous amount of heat during the greater discharge process, necessitating a better ventilation area surrounding the battery bank, which might be paired with hot air extraction and forced cooling. Continuously discharging batteries beyond 1C can result in a low voltage threshold for some cells owing to heating and ageing.
Features of the Best LiFePo4Hardcore Batteries
Weight Less
Lithium hardcore batteries are lighter than standard lead-acid batteries. In comparison, it may be around one-third lightweight. This can be a significant concern for power users who demand a large battery bank. A lightweight Dual Battery System Lithium becomes even more vital when placed in the RV. A large lead-acid twin battery system will be far heavier than the capacity of the RV, reducing its performance.
Zero Maintenance
Among all battery types, extreme lithium batteries are maintenance-free batteries. Lead-acid batteries require regular inspection to check for the sulfuric acid level. If you leave them with a low level of distilled water, your acid battery will become damaged permanently. The electrolytes in acid batteries must be filled to a marked level all the time for the smooth working of lead-acid batteries. On the other hand, you just need to install the hardcore LiFePo4 batteries correctly, and you are good to go.
Compact Design
Due to the high energy density of a LiFePo4 battery, these batteries are compact and thus can be placed in even smaller locations. So you can place a larger capacity Lithium Dual Battery Systems in a smaller compartment.
Voltage Maintenance
Batteries are subject to voltage abuse which results in poor electronic performance. Among all battery types, lithium batteries are known for maintaining their voltage level all the time throughout their discharge cycle. You will get the same voltage level when the battery is full till you get to the safe discharge limit. So a 12v 80ah lithium battery will provide complete voltages when it is fully charged and when it is 90% discharged, which is the safe discharge limit.
Ventilation Requirements
During the charging and discharging processes, lead-acid batteries emit poisonous and acidic chemicals. This is a constraint of storing acid batteries since they must be kept in a ventilated area to minimise annoyance. Lithium dual batteries, on the other hand, do not require air like lead-acid batteries. Therefore they may be securely stored in sealed interior compartments.
Depth of Discharge
Lithium extreme batteries beat lead-acid batteries when we compare them in terms of depth of discharge and useable amp hours. What that means is a lead-acid battery is subject to 50% discharge only, which is its safe limit. Using further capacity results in reduced lifecycles. Lithium batteries can be deeply discharged all the way to 90% of their rated capacity before their lifespan is reduced.
For example, an LFP 80ah deep cycle battery is safe to discharge 90% of its capacity, which is 72 amperes. When we camper it with a lead-acid battery of the same capacity, you will get only 40 amperes only for one hour. This means you will get more amp hours with a Lithium 80 ah battery than with the same capacity acid battery.
Fast Charge and Discharge
Quick charging and draining batteries improve the number of times and the speed with which you may use your battery bank. Lithium batteries are cutting-edge technology that can be swiftly charged and drained without compromising the life of your LFP battery.
Higher Charge Efficiency
The charge efficiency of a lead-acid battery is around 85%, meaning each ampere sent to the battery for charging will store only 0.85 amps. On the other hand, lithium hardcore batteries offer 100% charge efficiency. There will be no power loss when you charge a super-efficient lithium iron phosphate battery. That means every amp system sent to the LiFePo4 battery for charging is stored correctly.
This charge efficiency is crucial, especially for their integration with solar panels and wind turbines. So you can use smaller solar arrays or turbines with even a 12v 80ah extreme power pack. Conversely, you would need a 15% larger solar array setup to charge the same 80 ah Deep Cycle Battery.
Longer Life Span
Lifespan is yet another significant thing to consider when choosing a battery type. Lithium hardcore batteries are incredible as they can last for around 3000 to 5000 charge and discharge cycles. In comparison with a lead-acid battery, you will get 400 or even fewer charge and discharge cycles. The difference is 10X
The Downside of LiFePo4 Batteries
You may wonder that with tons of benefits, having a lithium iron phosphate battery seems to be a marketing tactic only. Here comes the downside: the higher upfront cost of getting a LiFePo4 battery. A lithium battery bank can cost as much as three times that of a comparable lead-acid battery bank. So at first glance, lithium batteries could be unaffordable. However, despite the higher upfront cost of lithium batteries, the true cost of ownership is much lesser than that of lead-acid or AGM batteries when considering lifespan and performance.
As the lithium battery can last 10X, in the long run, you will save money 10X while only paying 3X the cost of a lead-acid battery.
Deep Cycle Systems Lithium Battery with BMS
A battery management system monitors cell voltages to prevent battery damage from rising temperatures and high and low voltage levels. During the battery discharge process, cell voltages fall. When the battery is nearing complete discharge, the voltages drop quickly, and the BMS display can report cell voltages as low as 2.8 to 2.6 volts. Any additional discharge should be avoided at this time since it might adversely injure the battery. The good news is that our BMS informs you to take action right away. Using our DCS LFP mobile application, you may virtually manipulate battery matrices. This mobile app allows you to control all DCS batteries and set the voltage shutdown threshold. By default, the battery shutdown voltage threshold is 2.8v.
What Can You Do with DCS Battery Management System?
The R&D team at Deep Cycle Systems has created a specialised BMS that outperforms cheap Chinese BMS. The Made in China BMS just provides battery safety and has limited functionality. The majority of BMS built in China are not customisable. Deep Cycle Systems BMS supports Bluetooth and WiFi connectivity, allowing you to monitor battery performance on your smartphone or laptop effortlessly. Our battery packs have pre-integrated BMS for high-temperature electronics and applications.
The DCS BMS takes surplus voltages from cells and transfers them to undercharged voltages when there is a cell difference during rapid discharge, known as cell balancing. So, if you are looking for a reliable extreme battery, place your order now and get the best battery for optimum performance.
