Jun 30, 2020 Pageview:3967
Lithium-ion batteries recharge fast and last longer hence they save a lot of money, time and they reduce risks during the whole lifecycle of the UPS. It stands for uninterruptible power systems in full. However, lead-acid batteries have been the most preferred storage for the UPS for a very long time.
Lithium-ion batteries have more benefits than lead-acid batteries when it comes to uninterruptible power systems. They are more powerful, safe, and stable and still, they meet the required back up run time. When there is power blackout an interruptible power can still be used to run your business or network. This is why you need to use batteries that you can rely on such as lead-acid and lithium-ion.
It's very important to have a UPS that is reliable and cost-effective at the same time. Valve regulated lead-acid batteries are the ones that have been used for many years. This almost the same technology that is applied in the car batteries. But as the industry is grown, new variations of batteries such as the lithium Ion phosphate are being used.
The LFP applies the same technology with the one used in mobile phones but with very high capacities. Let us look into these two types of UPS batteries into details.
Can you replace the lead-acid battery with lithium ups?
Yes, you can replace the lead-acid battery with a lithium-Ion Phosphate for UPS. Let us look at some of the advantages of using lithium ups
1. Higher Capacity
A lithium-ion phosphate battery holds almost double power as the Valve Regulated Lead Acid batteries. Furthermore, you can get equal power from a relatively smaller unit compared to lead-acid. Apart from small size, lithium batteries weigh relatively less hence making work easy for your system admin.
2. Fast Charge
The best thing about lithium ups is that they charge faster as compared to many other types of batteries. It will take a little time to charge corporate level UPS that runs on an LFP. On the other hand, VRLA consumes up to 24 hours for them to charge fully. In situations like a hurricane, the LFPs are important because power becomes non-reliable for several days.
3. Green Technology
When it comes to the environment, Lithium-ion cells are more friendly than lead-acid. This is mainly because disposing of them properly is not easy. On the other hand, LFP batteries can be recycled hence they become less harmful to the environment.
4. Longer Service Lives
If you own a car then you probably know how a VRLA can die quickly. The solution to this problem is replacing them with an LFP battery. This is because they have at least 3 times as many charges and discharge cycles.
Since they have a greater lifespan you will save a lot of money that you could have used to replace the VRLA batteries. Lead-acid batteries require a lot of maintenance which can be very tiresome. But on the other hand, the LFP batteries require little attention. When you look at the long-term ROI, Lithium-ion cells are the best.
What is the difference between lead-acid battery and lithium ups?
Lead-acid batteries are less expensive compared to lithium-ion. However, they require a lot of maintenance and have a relatively shorter lifespan than the latter. Lithium-ion batteries cost much more but they have a longer lifespan and do not require a lot of attention. Let us look at the main differences between these two types of batteries.
1. Life Span
The lifespan of any battery is measured in terms of charge cycles. This refers to the charging of the battery to 100% and then discharging it again to 0%. The number of charge cycles a battery can handle before it loses quality determines the best one. A lead-acid battery lasts for around for years through 100 cycles. Conversely, a lead-acid battery can go even more than 300 cycles in a single year.
2. Efficiency
Lithium batteries are very efficient because they can store a lot of power. This means that you can be able to run your business efficiently than when using lead-acid batteries. Also, lithium batteries are 95% efficient while the lead-acid is only 80-85% efficient. So this means that even after charging your battery full you end up using only 85% of the charge stored.
3. Charge Rate
Lithium batteries charge faster because they are more efficient. Also, they can handle a higher charger amperage than compared to its counterpart. This means that refilling can be done much faster in lithium batteries.
The lead-acid batteries are limited when it comes to handling the charging current. If you try to charge them faster, they will end up overheating and will not store enough charge. Also, when the lead-acid battery nears full charge, the charging rates get relatively slower
4. Depth of Discharge
Batteries do not discharge fully as we use them. There is a certain percentage of the capacity that is usable and it is referred to as the depth of discharge. This means if you can only use 30% of the battery capacity then that is its rate of discharge.
The recommended rate of discharge for lead-acid batteries is 50%. If you discharge beyond this point, then you are affecting its lifespan negatively.
How do you change to a lithium battery?
Because lithium-ion batteries are better than lead-acid, some people decide to change. Besides, lithium-ion technology has become very popular and most people want to replace lead-acid batteries.
To do this successfully you will need to consider a couple of things. First, you should check and replace the voltage on the battery bank. This is because the low charge will not give you a completely charged battery and very high can damage your newly acquired battery.
So that you can get a reliable reading, you need to set the battery monitoring systems to Ah. Lead-acid uses voltage and this must be changed immediately. Most UPS are designed for a drop-in swap but it is highly recommended to check the connections to avoid unnecessary disconnections.
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