Hi people new guy here and im a LiFePO4 user.
Albeit not in an EV but I have a 12v total loss battery powering the fuel pump and ECU in my Honda CBR1000RR track bike. These 4 cells cost me $195AUD but they are absolutely amazing. They are the gray BMI cells available around the world from a Armin Pauza in Kellyville Sydney Australia. I bought them when the AUD was strong against the USD for $48 each. Now they cost $65 because the USD has miraculously regained its value in spite of the Bush admins efforts to destroy the world.
Heres some pics.
A 12v 10Ah LiFePo4 battery thet weighes 1.4kg will comprise of 4 of the “E” size cells in this pic.
Assembly will look something like this.
Note my bike has an external MotoGP style starter so the cables you see here are low amperage for pump and ECU only
In this shot you can see Ive trimmed back the studs and that they are hollow.
One stud is copper and the other is aluminium. So you will have to take great care in
tightening the aluminium one.
Here is the voltage Data from the first ride day at Eastern Creek.
I did the first 4 out of 6 sessions without recharging and the battery voltage dropped to 12.3v during the 4th session. The four sessions totaled 71 minutes but during the 1 hour breaks the battery recuperated on average 0.1v.
start volts…end volts
engine off…runtime…run volts…engine off…charge time
13.49…15min…12.7…13.15… …0
13.23…17min…12.6…13.03… …0
13.15…20min…12.5…12.97… …0
13.10…20min…12.3…12.87… …55min
13.35…17min…12.7…13.08… …53min
13.78…rain
Heres a few words from the dealer about fire hazard.
Glad you were happy with the performance.
The cells are only new so they will probably gain a bit of performance once you cycle them a few times.
The BMI LiFePO4 cells you have are the safest batteries available. They will not/can not catch on fire. In fact if you put a cell in a fire it will help to smother the fire to put it out. LiFePO4 batteries are a very stable chemistry and are even safer than your old SLA battery. I have seen the tests from the USA where they test the safety of LiFePO4. I have seen the results of where they fire a gun at the cell. The bullet passes through and leaves a hole but the cell is in every other way intact and doesn’t catch on fire. This is in start contrast to a Lithium Cobalt Oxide based battery which is very reactive and can catch on fire or explode if abused or impacted. This is the type of lithium ion battery used in mobile phone batteries, camcorders and many laptop computer batteries. These were the batteries which were recalled by Dell when a few caught on fire. Lithium Polymer batteries act in a similar fashion to cobalt oxide batteries and it would not be advisable to use these either on your bike unless you wanted a special effect of a big flame shooting out the back while you are tearing down the racetrack!
Due to the fire hazard of most lithium batteries they are prohibited to be carried or transported on passenger aircraft. My BMI LiFePO4 cells however are approved for carriage on passenger aircraft since are exempt under IATA regulations and meet the requirements of special provision of A45.
And the construction.
It is all solid, no liquid. This is why the batteries can be operated in any orientation.
It is a white powder which is manufactured in Canada and Germany which goes into making the cells.
Did a whole Drag Race meeting without charging.
6 runs and never went below 12.3v
At the start of the night engine off voltage was 13.6 and the next morning was 13.1.
Heres some more voltage readings from Eastern Creek ride day. Did 5 sessions without charging, thats 92 minutes.
Got to 11.2 volts during the 5th session but engine still ran fine. These figures are similar to the last ride day I did.
