How do you know about li-ion battery circuit?

Lithium-ion batteries are known for their excellent performance. With that in mind, to gain the best experience from lithium batteries, you will need to charge them correctly. In most cases, any miscalculation on the charging process will likely damage your battery. In the end, the output will be greatly reduced.

But don’t worry! This article is at your best interest. We are going to highlight the best way to charge your battery and how you can easily improve it.

Charging a lithium-ion battery

The charging process of the lithium-ion battery is quite different from the process used to charge NiMH batteries or even Ni-Cads batteries. To be more specific, lithium-ion batteries typically are more sensitive to voltage rather than current.

Actually, the charging process of lithium-ion battery is more similar to charging the lead-acid batteries. The only difference is that the lithium-ion battery requires a much higher voltage than the lead-acid battery. On top of that, the lithium-ion battery also require tighter voltage tolerance

One of the most vital parts of lithium-ion is the fact that you need to track when the battery has a full charge. Lithium-ion batteries do not allow float or trick charged. More to that, it is very important to detect the full charge state accurately. That’s because lithium-ion batteries are intolerable to overcharging.

Most of the consumer-based lithium-ion batteries are able to charge to 4.2 volts per every cell. They can also tolerate about ± 50 mV per cell. So, in case you charge beyond this then you are likely to cause stress to the cells and it will result in oxidation.

In turn, the oxidation will reduce the service life and the overall capacity of the battery. In extreme cases, it can also cause safety issues as well. Therefore, this is a very important factor to remember when dealing with a lithium-ion battery.

The charging process of a lithium-ion battery is divided into two sections:

1.Constant Current Charge

This is the first stage of the process involved in lithium battery charging. Here, the current charge is typically controlled. At this stage, the voltage across the lithium-ion cell will increase the constant current charge. What’s more, this process may be around an hour or so.

2. Saturation Charge

This stage will occur when the lithium-ion battery cell reaches a peak of 4.2 volts per cell. When that happens, the cell enters a stage two charging process known as the saturation charge. In this stage, the voltage will remain constant at 4.2 volts while the current will fall steadily.

The end of this stage will be reached when the current falls all the way to around 10%. This process will take about two hours which will be dependent on the type of cell and the manufacturer of the battery.

Another factor that you should note is that the amount of charge that is retained by the battery versus the amount of charge (charge efficiency) entering the cell is quite high. You can actually achieve a charge efficiency of up to 90% to 95%. It also reflects the low levels of temperature rise.

Precautions to Charging lithium batteries

With the high capacity of the lithium-ion batteries and their chemistry, it’s important that you ensure you have the appropriate equipment to charge the battery. Also, you should ensure that the battery is charged correctly.

In most cases, the lithium-ion charger will also include preventive measures that you should take when using the device. If you didn’t get any instruction manual with your lithium battery charger, then this section is for you.

Some of the precautions you should take while charging your lithium-ion battery include

· Generally, the maximum current charge for a lithium battery is 0.8C. However, lower currents are better so that they can give some margin. There are also other faster chargers that can actually work well with the lithium battery.

· The temperature for the lithium-ion battery should always be monitored. When the temperature is lower than 0 or greater than 70 degrees Celsius, then you should stop the charging process.

· Additionally, you should also use a discharge current protection since it will help prevent short circuit cases.

· Also, you need a charge over-voltage protection to reduce any risks that may be caused by over-voltage scenarios.

· Reverse polarisation protection is needed to ensure that the battery is not charged in the wrong direction.

You should also note that when using lithium-ion batteries, always use the manufacturer’s battery charger. That’s because the original charger has different protective elements that will help protect your battery. In turn, the battery will be dependent on the charger. So, in case you change the charger, then there’s a high chance that your battery will get damaged.

Advantages of the lithium-ion battery circuit

· Lithium-ion batteries have high energy efficiency when compared to other rechargeable batteries.

· Additionally, lithium-ion batteries can handle 1000 cycles without losing 30% capacity of their original maximum charge.

· They also have a faster charging system when compared to NiMH and Ni-Cads.

· Lithium batteries are typically smaller and lighter in weight

Limitations of the lithium-ion battery circuit

· They are quite expensive to manufacture

· Lithium-ion batteries typically start to degrade as soon as they leave the factory.

· They may explode when overheated.

How to improve Li-ion battery circuit

As you can see from the facts above, the charging process in this battery has a lot to do with its durability. Therefore, if you love your lithium-ion battery, always ensure that it gets the proper charging. That should effectively ensure that your battery will reach at least 1000 cycles with optimum output.

Additionally, always use the manufacturer’s lithium-ion battery. I don’t have to stress how much this is important to your battery. In case it gets damaged, then the best thing to do is get an original replacement charger.

In Summary…

With the ever increasing demand for lithium-ion batteries, these batteries are here to stay. So, ensure you know how to take care of them. Stick around for more helpful articles that will improve your experiences with batteries.