By Eric Reyes
Lithium-ion technology has revolutionized the way we energize our electronic goodies over the years. In the old days, you popped some batteries in and you replaced them when they wore down. Nowadays, you’ve got rechargeable lithium-ion batteries that you plug in and recharge at will.
They have been used in all kinds of technologies that people would have never dreamed the lithium-ion revolution would come in handy for (https://www.gemenergy.com.au/solar-panels-cairns). Here are a few ways that lithium-ion tech is changing the world today.
- Amps
A regular lead acid battery is going to give you less amp hours than a lithium-ion battery, so you’ve got a major advantage right off the bat by using a lith-ion battery. For example, a 100 amp hour battery, if it’s a lead acid battery is good for about 30-50 amp hour.
A lithium-ion battery is going to power out 90-100 amp hours. That’s the potential to be a 100% amp battery, something you’d never see with a lead acid battery. For solar power, you really need the strong, steady amps of a lith-ion battery.
- Recharging Advantages
The final 20% charge of a lead acid battery can be especially challenging. Not so with a lithium-ion battery. You’ve got “fast” charging that powers out that final 20% of the charge like clockwork and with very little effort. It gives you an easy way to recharge the lith-ion battery with few worries that the end of the charge will take a long time.
- Efficient Energy
Lead acid batteries tend to waste a lot of their power, but a lithium-ion power is as efficient as it gets, using their charge at about 100% efficiency. Compare that to a lead acid battery’s efficiency: 85%. You can see the clear winner here.
- Storage Issues
Lead acid batteries tend to need to be stored upright and kept away from colder temperatures (lithium-ion batteries also lose come charge in colder environments, but they can hold their own). Compare that to a very easily stored lithium-ion battery that doesn’t need to be treated with kid gloves as much.
- Maintenance Free
Lithium-ion batteries need absolutely no maintenance whatsoever. They have a Battery Management System that takes care of everything for you automatically, freeing you to enjoy your solar power technology or rechargeable devices without losing a single minute’s sleep.
- Light
Lithium-ion batteries are much lighter than their counterparts, allowing you to easily handle them with no worries whatsoever. You can store them easily and never have to worry about the big, bulky batteries of the past. They’re smaller, lighter, and just more manageable.
- No Memory Effect
If you’ve never heard of memory effect, it might interest you to learn about it. Once you realize that memory effect is a negative thing, it’s a breath of fresh air to know that Lithium-ion batteries have little to no memory effect on their performance record. Some other types of batteries can have a really high memory effect, so lithium-ion is blessed not to suffer with this type of phenomenon.
- They last Longer
Thanks to at least 1000 recharge cycles that are at the disposal of most lithium-ion batteries – and as much as 5000 cycles in the more advanced lith-ion batteries – they simply last longer and retain their charges longer than the majority of other types of batteries out there.
Battery types are much more diverse than you might first think, so it’s very telling that lithium-ion batteries have become the battery of choice for solar powered devices and technology.
With less weight, less upkeep, and little or no memory effect, lithium-ion batteries have emerged as one of the brightest technologies in the world of solar powered technologies. They’re powering forward a more environmentally conscious era and making the world a much more convenient place.
Thanks to the mobile devices most people are glued to these days, a lithium-ion solution is inevitably going to take us into a brighter future, with less maintenance and more convenience than we’ve ever experienced before. Gone are the days of old, dead batteries in drawers. Lithium-ion batteries have taken over.
