theoldwizard1 wrote:
Ignoring price (very hard to ignore), Lithium Iron Phosphate (LiFePO) batteries are far superior to any lead acid battery for 2 reasons :
• You can discharge them down to almost 0% SOC with no damage (more usable energy for the same rating)
• They will last many more charge/discharge cycles.
3,000 to 5,000 discharge cycles vs 300-400 for lead acid batteries, and those lead acid batteries can only be discharged to 50% without shortening usable life greatly, even for deep cycle batteries. Finally the lithium iron phosphate batteries will weigh only 25% to 30% what the lead acid batteries weigh for the same rated total capacity, and half that for usable capacity. (example, a 100 AH lithium battery comes in at around 25 lbs, vs around 75 lbs for a 125 AH lead battery, but the latter will only tolerate about 62 AH useable capacity.)
