Why lithium-iron-phosphate?
Victron Energy Lithium Battery Smart batteries are Lithium Iron Phosphate (LiFePO4) batteries and are available in 12.8 V or 25.6V in various capacities. They can be connected in series, parallel and series/parallel so that a battery bank can be built for system voltages of 12V, 24V or 48V. The maximum number of batteries in one system is 20, which results in a maximum energy storage of 84 kWh in a 12V system and up to 102 kWh in a 24 V1) and 48 V1) system. A single LFP cell has a nominal voltage of 3.2V. A 12.8V battery consists of 4 cells connected in series and a 25.6 V battery consists of 8 cells connected in series.
Rugged
A lead-acid battery will fail prematurely due to sulfation:
• If it operates in deficit mode during long periods of time (i.e. if the battery is rarely, or never at all, fully charged).
• If it is left partially charged or worse, fully discharged (yacht or mobile home during wintertime).
A LFP battery:
• Does not need to be fully charged. Service life even slightly improves in case of partial charge instead of a full charge. This is a major advantage of LFP compared to lead-acid.
• Other advantages are the wide operating temperature range, excellent cycling performance, low internal resistance and high efficiency (see below). LFP is therefore the chemistry of choice for demanding applications.
Efficient
• In several applications (especially off-grid solar and/or wind), energy efficiency can be of crucial importance.
• The round-trip energy efficiency (discharge from 100% to 0% and back to 100% charged) of the average lead-acid battery is 80%.
• The round-trip energy efficiency of a LFP battery is 92%.
• The charge process of lead-acid batteries becomes particularly inefficient when the 80% state of charge has been reached, resulting in efficiencies of 50% or even less in solar systems where several days of reserve energy is required (battery operating in 70% to 100% charged state).
• In contrast, a LFP battery will still achieve 90% efficiency under shallow discharge conditions.
Size and weight
• Saves up to 70% in space
• Saves up to 70% in weight
Bluetooth
• With Bluetooth cell voltages, temperature and alarm status can be monitored.
• Instant readout: The VictronConnect App can display the most important data on the Device list page without the need to connect to the product.
• Very useful to localize a (potential) problem, such as cell imbalance
