Power failures do occur at times in our places of residents, businesses, and workplaces. This power failure can last for an extended period. And as we know, without electricity, all our work or pleasure will stop. Therefore, there is the need to have backup systems so that our work is protected from damage or data loss.

Also, backup systems help us minimize the financial loss caused by blackouts, low voltages, and other power supply problems.

Therefore, let us learn one excellent backup system known as an Uninterruptible power supply (UPS).

What is the UPS Backup Battery?

An Uninterruptible power supply (UPS) is also known as a battery backup, is an electronic device that provides emergency power when your regular power supply fails. UPS provides instant protection from input power interruptions by giving out the stored energy in batteries, robust capacitors, and flywheels.

Instant loss of power and power surges are two leading causes of damage to your devices. Thus, UPS protects hardware components of machines such as computers, data centers, telecommunication equipment, and all other electrical equipment. Power disruption can cause damage, fatalities, severe business disruption, or data loss.

UPS comes in different sizes, ranging from those meant to protect one computer without a monitor to those large units used to power entire data centers or buildings. Cheap power strips can protect your electrical devices but do not offer protection against drops in voltage, brownouts, blackouts, and other power supply problems.

Let us take, for instance; you are dealing with a project at home on your laptop with it plugged into an appropriate surge protection strip. You are busy with your work, and then suddenly, there is a power blackout. Although all the devices go off, your work won’t be interrupted since the laptop has a battery. This offers time to save your work then shut down your computer.

But for desktop computers, it is a different case. If you worked on your project on a desktop computer during the outage, then the system goes off when power is interrupted. This leads to loss of unsaved work and also gives your computer a lot of stress. UPS now plays its role here. It offers a window of time to save your work then shut the computer down in the right way.

You can also work for the entire period of interruption using the power stored in the UPS. Even in your absence, many UPS units come with software that enables them to detect a power outage and enables the computer to shut down automatically.

Main Types Of UPS Units

There are three main types of UPS units, namely:

A standby UPS unit – This type of battery backup charges its battery and then waits for the main power to be interrupted. When there is a power outage, the Standby UPS switches to the battery backup. It can support the device for a period of between 20-100 milliseconds, which is within the acceptable tolerance threshold.

A Line-Interactive UPS unit has the same design as a standby UPS unit, but a special transformer is included. This particular transformer makes this type of UPS better in dealing with brownouts and power surges. If you are residing in an area frequently affected by brownouts, this is the device to purchase.

An online UPS unit – this is the most expensive type of UPS. It completely separates the device attached to it from the wall power. There is never a single millisecond of power interruption with this backup system when there is power loss. The device is effectively an electronic firewall between your devices and the world, scrubbing and stabilizing all the electricity your devices are exposed to.

Can UPS Work Without the Battery?

UPS works mostly on batteries. Most UPS runs on batteries, and they cannot operate on dead or missing batteries. But in case you have the one that runs without batteries, then you will get the same voltage regulation and surge as you will be working with batteries.

Without batteries, the UPS will offer minimal protection, and even only the UPS’s surge side will work. You will not get line conditioning without a well-functioning battery. It is good to always have healthy batteries in your UPS for maximum protection of your hardware devices.

How do You Pick the Right UPS Backup Battery?

Picking the right battery for your home or device is always crucial. But these are the factors to consider when purchasing a UPS battery;

Durability

When choosing your UPS batteries, you should consider the batteries that can last for an extended period. Batteries that last for a short period are costly because you will require frequent replacements of your battery.

Size

Know the size of the battery that your UPS backup system requires. Do not purchase before checking because you can end up purchasing over-sized or under-sized batteries.

Appliances To Be Protected

It is always excellent to know the number and size of the appliances you want to protect using your UPS. If you are using the UPS in your computer, only then pick the small units UPS, but if used to support the entire building or home, you will need to have UPS with higher units.

Cost

Cost always plays a crucial role in the purchase of any product. It is good to purchase batteries that will not affect your budget. But the price should not be considered so much that the quality is left out. What benefit will you get if you purchase a battery at a lower price but dies after a few days? You will get a significant loss from cheaper batteries.

Type Of UPS

There are three main types of UPS discussed above. They have different power consumption rates. Therefore, it is good to know the type of UPS’s power consumption rate that you are currently using.

Conclusion

It is said that preventing an accident before it happens is wise. Therefore, it is crucial to protect your devices before becoming a victim of damages or data loss. Install a UPS in your workplace, home, or business, and get the best results. Always ensure that your UPS has healthy and working batteries. (Article cited: large.net)

The positive electrode of lithium-ion batteries is lithium iron phosphate material, which has great advantages in safety performance and cycle life. These are one of the most important technical indicators of power battery. Lifepo4 battery with 1C charging and discharging cycle life can be achieved 2000 times, the puncture does not explode, it is not easy to burn and explode when overcharged. Lithium iron phosphate cathode materials make large-capacity lithium-ion batteries easier to use in series.

Lithium iron phosphate as cathode material

Lifepo4 battery refers to a lithium-ion battery using lithium iron phosphate as a positive electrode material. The positive electrode materials of lithium-ion batteries mainly include lithium cobaltate, lithium manganate, lithium nickelate, ternary materials, lithium iron phosphate, and the like. Among them, lithium cobaltate is the positive electrode material used in most lithium-ion batteries. In principle, lithium iron phosphate is also an embedding and deintercalation process. This principle is identical to lithium cobaltate and lithium manganate.

 lifepo4 battery advantages

1. High charging and discharging efficiency

Lifepo4 battery is a lithium-ion secondary battery. One main purpose is for power batteries. It has great advantages over NI-MH and Ni-Cd batteries. Lifepo4 battery has high charge and discharges efficiency, and the charge and discharge efficiency can reach over 90% under the condition of discharge, while the lead-acid battery is about 80%.

2. lifepo4 battery high safety performance

The P-O bond in the lithium iron phosphate crystal is stable and difficult to decompose, and does not collapse or heat like a lithium cobaltate or form a strong oxidizing substance even at a high temperature or overcharge, and thus has good safety.

It has been reported that in the actual operation, a small part of the sample was found to have a burning phenomenon in the acupuncture or short-circuit test, but there was no explosion event. In the overcharge experiment, a high-voltage charge that was several times higher than the self-discharge voltage was used, and it was found that there was still an Explosion phenomenon. Nevertheless, its overcharge safety has been greatly improved compared to the ordinary liquid electrolyte lithium cobalt oxide battery.

3. Lifepo4 battery long cycle life

Lifepo4 battery refers to a lithium-ion battery using lithium iron phosphate as a positive electrode material.

The long-life lead-acid battery has a cycle life of about 300 times, and the highest is 500 times. The lithium iron phosphate power battery has a cycle life of more than 2000 times, and the standard charge (5-hour rate) can be used up to 2000 times.

The same quality lead-acid battery is “new half-year, old half-year, maintenance and maintenance for half a year”, up to 1~1.5 years, and the lifepo4 battery is used under the same conditions, the theoretical life will reach 7~8 years.

Considering comprehensively, the performance price ratio is theoretically more than four times that of lead-acid batteries. High-current discharge can be quickly charged and discharged with high current 2C. Under the special charger, the battery can be fully charged within 1.5 minutes of 1.5C charging, and the starting current can reach 2C, but the lead-acid battery has no such performance.

4. Good temperature performance

The peak temperature of lithium iron phosphate can reach 350 ° C -500 ° C while lithium manganate and lithium cobaltate are only around 200 ° C. Wide operating temperature range (-20C–+75C), with high-temperature resistance, lithium iron phosphate electric heating peak can reach 350 °C-500 °C, while lithium manganate and lithium cobalt oxide only at 200 °C.

5. Lifepo4 battery High capacity

It has a larger capacity than ordinary batteries (lead-acid, etc.). The monomer capacity is 5AH-1000AH.

6. No memory effect

Rechargeable batteries work under conditions that are often not fully discharged, and the capacity will quickly fall below the rated capacity. This phenomenon is called the memory effect. Memory like nickel-metal hydride and nickel-cadmium batteries, but the lifepo4 battery does not have this phenomenon, no matter what state the battery is in, it can be used with the charge, no need to discharge and recharge.

7. Lightweight of lifepo4 battery

The lifepo4 battery of the same specification capacity is 2/3 of the volume of the lead-acid battery, and the weight is 1/3 of the lead-acid battery.

8. Lifepo4 batteries are environmentally friendly

The battery is generally considered to be free of any heavy metals and rare metals (Ni-MH batteries require rare metals), non-toxic (SGS certified), non-polluting, in line with European RoHS regulations, is an absolute green battery certificate.

Therefore, the reason why lithium batteries are favored by the industry is mainly environmental considerations. Therefore, the battery has been included in the “863” national high-tech development plan during the “Tenth Five-Year Plan” period and has become national key support and encouragement development project.

With China’s accession to the WTO, the export volume of electric bicycles in China will increase rapidly, and electric bicycles entering Europe and the United States have been required to be equipped with non-polluting batteries.

The performance of the lithium-ion battery depends mainly on the positive and negative materials. Lithium iron phosphate is a lithium battery material that has only appeared in recent years. Its safety performance and cycle life are incomparable to other materials. The most important technical indicators of the battery.

Lifepo4 battery has the advantages of non-toxic, non-polluting, good safety performance, a wide range of raw materials, low prices, and long life. It is an ideal cathode material for a new generation of lithium-ion batteries.

We know why lithium gets all the credit: the chemistry that makes these batteries so amazing wouldn’t work half without this particular metal.

Considerably other rechargeable battery-powered battery plans are constrained in manners lithium batteries aren’t!

What many people don’t understand, however, is that lithium remarkably makes up a little of the battery itself. Lithium-based batteries speak to one of the quickest expanding parts of the vitality business today. These batteries are long-lasting. Their life span is up to 5-7 years.

Why LifePO4 batteries are expensive because of what features they entail and these features even make better choice for you:

Safety And Stability

LiFePO4 batteries are most famous for their Strong security profile, the consequence of amazingly stable chemistry. Phosphate-based batteries offer unrivaled thermal and chemical dependability, which increases the well-being of lithium-Ion batteries made with other cathode materials.

When exposed to unsafe circumstances, for example, collision or shortcircuiting, they won’t detonate or burst into flames, altogether reducing any opportunity of mischief. However, you’re choosing a lithium battery and envision use in dangerous or sensitive situations. LiFePO4 is likely your best decision.

Environmental Impact

LiFePO4 batteries are non-harmful, non-polluting, and contain no rare earth metals, settling on them a naturally conscious decision. Lead-acid and nickel oxide lithium batteries convey noteworthy natural hazards (particularly lead corrosive, as inside synthetic compounds debase structure over the team and inevitably cause spillage).

Compared with lead-acid and other lithium batteries, lithium iron phosphate batteries offer critical features of interest, including improved release and charge effectiveness, longer life expectancy, and the capacity to deep cycle while looking after execution. LiFePO4 batteries frequently accompany a more significant expense price tag. Still, a much better cost over the life of the product, minimal maintenance, and rare replacement makes them a valuable investment and an intelligent long-term solution.

Space Efficiency

Also worth mentioning is LiFePO4’s space-efficient features. At one-third, the mass of most lead-acid batteries and almost half the importance of the prevalent manganese oxide, LiFePO4, provide an effective method to make use of space and weight. You are creating your product more efficiently overall.

Performance

Performance is a significant fact in figuring out which kind of battery to use in a given application. Long life, slow self-release rates, and less weight make lithium iron batteries an engaging choice. They are relied upon to have a more extended shelf life of realistic usability than lithium-ion. Administration life typically times in at five to ten years or more, and runtime substantially surpasses lead-acid batteries and other lithium formulation. Battery charging time is likewise extensively diminished, another effective presentation perk. However, If you’re searching for a battery to stand the trial of time and charge rapidly, LiFePO4 is the proper answer.

Lithium Iron Phosphate (LiFePO4, LFP) is a rechargeable battery ideal for high power applications. They are the immediate substitution for lead-acid batteries. If you’re interested in buying or custom LiFePO4 batteries, then you have come to the right place. Continue reading to find who makes and where to buy or custom LiFePO4 batteries. Email us: sales@himaxelectronics.com

Lithium iron phosphate battery is one of the safest batteries we using, and its durability and safety are definitely superior to other lithium ion batteries. So, can we overcharge lithium iron phosphate batteries? What range of voltage can be allowed it be overcharged? Under normal circumstances, the answer is NO!

What are lithium iron phosphate batteries?

The lithium iron phosphate battery is a lithium-ion battery that uses lithium iron phosphate as its positive electrode material. It is also called a LiFePO4 battery for short.

What is overcharging?

Overcharging a battery means that the battery charger is charging the battery too far past its fully-charged voltage. For example, the full-charge voltage of a monolithic lithium iron phosphate cell is 3.65V. When the charge exceeds 3.65V, it is overcharged.

What will happen when a lithium-ion polymer (LiPo)  battery is overcharged?

Overcharging a battery cell will cause permanent damage to the cell. In terms of testing for safety, we internally test the different overcharge levels of the battery cells. The following are our test standards:

LiPo battery cell: No fire when the charging voltage reaches 4.8V (one of the necessary conditions)

LiFePO4 battery cell: Charging voltage reaches 10V and does not catch fire (one of the necessary conditions)

Charging with a damaged or non-corresponding charger may also cause overcharging. When the voltage is too high, a large amount of lithium ions overflow from the positive electrode, and lithium ions that cannot be absorbed by the negative electrodes can form dendrites on the surface of the battery, which can cause a short circuit inside the battery. The short-circuit current will generate a lot of heat, and the rapid temperature increase may cause the electrolyte as an organic solvent to burn (organic solvents are extremely flammable). In severe cases, it will cause a decomposition reaction of the positive electrode or the reaction of the negative electrode and the electrolyte. This can generate a large amount of gas; this can result in an explosion especially since the cells are enclosed.

If a battery doesn’t have the Battery Management System (BMS), continuously charging the battery will raise the voltage. In this situation, the lithium ions remaining in the cathode are removed and more lithium ions are inserted into the anode than under standard charging conditions.

It has been observed through ARC studies that the thermal stability of a cell is highly dependent on its state of charge. An overcharged Li-ion cell was found to have much lower thermal stability with an onset runaway temperature as low as 40ºC

Source: Science Direct

Since LiFePo4 is safer, can we over-charge it?

Our suggestion is to never over-charge/discharge a cell!

The most common causes for premature failure of LiFePO4 cells are overcharging and over-discharging. Even a single occurrence can cause permanent damage to the cell, and such misuse voids warranties. A Battery Management System (BMS) is required to ensure it is not possible for any cell in your pack to go outside its nominal operating voltage range.

What is a BMS?

The Battery Management System is a piece of hardware with an electronic system on board that manages a rechargeable battery (cell or pack) and is the link between the battery and it’s user. It can more intelligently manage and maintain each cell, improve battery utilization, prevent battery overcharge and discharge, prolong battery life, and monitor battery status.

If you need a customizable BMS to prevent overcharging or other potential issues, please contact us to get more information.