Quote:
Originally Posted by roflwaffle
Li-ion batteries are just rechargeable batteries that have Lithium in the cathode. A123 and TS cells are li-ion just like all the other cathode chemistries are. LiCo, LFP, and so on, are all different types of li-ion batteries, but they're still considered li-ion batteries AFAIK.
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True in a sense... But what is traditionally called Li-Ion are the LiCoO2 which is the usual one in laptops and such... It's fairly "stable" but also fairly easy to kill... Usually you separate out other parts of the lithium family by using their designations... I'd say the others are evolved from the Li-Ion's... But how to designate that is debatable...
LiPO was a follow up, much more energy content for it's weight and faster charge/discharge, but in terms of reliability I'd probably label it "unstable"... It's in the same category as fireworks as far as I'm concerned...
LiFePo4 or LFP is kind of the opposite... A bit less energy per weight (the Fe part is iron phosphate, which is heavy) But much more stable... Unless you deep cycle or rapid charge them during their break in period they are pretty hard to kill... I have had cells come back to life from abuse that would have killed of most other battery cells... I have a few cells in one of my packs for an RC heli that have survived a 50' drop... They are still performing as new (and they look far from it!)... That drop was promptly followed up by severely overcharging them, and later deep cycling them a few times, still they refuse to die... Blowing up a LiFePO4 cell is hardly an issue... At most they will make an evil hiss... No bang... And no flames... Very dissapointing to say the least...
I had a LiPO pack go supernova from a bad landing and destroy an RC plane... Another one decided to have a hissy fit when it was pinched in the exact worst possible spot and melt an RC heli... Several have selfdestructed during charging... One however decided to be an exception and just quietly refused to hold a charge... Other than that all of them have definetly been windictive when they where "mistreated"...