The LiFePO4 battery cycle life is a very important parameter, which can reflect the service time of LiFePO4 batteries. But battery cycle life is just a simple string of numbers in the eyes of many people, which is obviously not correct. Correct treatment and understanding of LiFePO4 battery cycle life can often lead to better benefits.
What is LiFePO4 Battery Cycle Life?
When we refer to the LiFePO4 battery cycle life, we will focus on two aspects: one is life and the other is performance. The LiFePO4 battery cycle life is the number of times that the battery can be repeatedly charged and discharged before the battery capacity drops to a certain value (generally considered to be 80%). The cycle performance of the LiFePO4 battery includes cycle times, discharge capacity, and retention capacity, which is a comprehensive index to measure battery performance.
What can affect LiFePO4 Battery Cycle Life?
- Design logic and manufacturing process of LiFePO4 battery
LiFePO4 batteries are actually standardized batteries because the materials and design logic used is the same. Most battery manufacturers use LiFePO4 as the positive electrode and graphite as the negative electrode. And this has determined the basic performance of the LiFePO4 battery. The place where the difference can be caused is mainly in the electrolyte or the addition of impurities in LiFePO4. This will affect the LiFePO4 battery cycle life.
The manufacturing process is another reason for the difference in the LiFePO4 battery cycle life. The more mature and advanced the manufacturing process is, the better the cycle life will be. This is why some LiFePO4 batteries can have a cycle life of more than 6000 times, and more than ten years; and some LiFePO4 battery cycle life is only more than 4000 times. Of course, cycle life and battery performance are in conflict at some point, and a battery with a shorter cycle life cannot simply be considered bad.
- Use of LiFePO4 battery
This factor is the most important factor. Since LiFePO4 batteries are also a kind of electrical appliances, various improper operations will cause LiFePO4 battery damage with a high probability, such as the most common overcharge, over-discharge, etc., of course, including violently hitting the battery, which seriously damages the battery.
In addition, the ambient temperature also affects the LiFePO4 battery cycle life. Ambient temperatures below 0°C can seriously degrade the performance of LiFePO4 batteries, and if charging is not allowed at 0°C and below without the help of other devices, using the battery in this condition will reduce the cycle life of the battery. Of course, high temperatures will also affect the battery cycle life.
What is the relationship between LiFePO4 Battery Cycle Life and Performance?
In a sense, the cycle life and performance of LiFePO4 batteries are mutually restricted. Longer battery cycle life may mean some degradation in performance, such as a lower discharge rate. By the same token, shorter battery cycle life may mean better performance. Of course, this is not an absolutely accurate answer, because there will also be LiFePO4 batteries with long cycle life and good performance, and there will also be LiFePO4 batteries with short cycle life and poor performance.
Summary
The LiFePO4 battery cycle life is a very important battery parameter, which can not only reflect the service time of the battery but also know the performance of the battery to a certain extent. Properly learning the relevant knowledge, the probability of purchasing a LiFePO4 battery with better performance will be relatively high, and the benefit obtained from it will be greater.