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Lithium Ion Battery Packs

Capabilities:

The Negatives of Lithium Ion Batteries

Lithium Ion Battery Specification Sheet (Rechargeable), Lithium Primary (Non Rechargeable) Battery & Charger Design and Assembly! 

We will quote to build your volume of rechargeable lithium ion batteries for broadcast, DOD, Medical, or any other market.  We will quote only Moli, Panasonic, Saft, and Sanyo's BEST cell options.  No cells used at Rathbone Energy are ever labeled as Name Brand.  We strongly practice and encourage "Buy American, Manufactured in the United States".  Our employees are not slave labor.  They are well trained American mountain craftsmen / women who live modestly at or close to what the US calls our poverty level. 

But Before we start,

You should be aware that rechargeable Lithium Ion batteries have a large downside with several negative attributes Lithium promoters would rather you not know:

Lithium Ion (Li-ON) Brief followed by detail

(Negative points in Red, Positive points in Blue, Information in Black)

1. Lithium Ion Batteries equivalent to Ni-CD and Ni-MH of the same voltage are:

2. Smaller in size

3. Lighter in weight +/- 50%

4. Energy density 1.5 times higher than a Premium Sintered Positive Electrode Ni-CD

5. >50% more expensive

6. Slightly lower (1%) internal resistance than a Premium Sintered Positive Electrode type Ni-CD cell from Panasonic, Saft, or Sanyo, allowing it to hold a charge slightly longer

7. Chemical reaction in itself counter acts any lower internal resistance still reducing the shelf life of the Li-ON cell.

8. Substantially lower charge discharge cycles

   1. Cell temperature, high discharge rates, and charge discharge cycles themselves effect and greatly reduce the cycles of Li-ON making real life charge discharge cycles more accurate at +/- 200

9. Substantially more expensive per watt hour of run time

10. Much more narrow operating temperature range

11. Great inability to handle high discharge rates, period

12. Highly susceptible to reverse polarity

13. Sloped discharge rate creating an unexpected sharper cut-off voltage

14. Higher cut-off voltage, A 14.4V Li-ON will cut off at 12.0V verses a Ni-CD or Ni-MH at 11.0V

15. Additional expense of semi-safe circuitry due to the highly volatile nature of lithium

16. Expense of chargers just for that brand Li-ON battery

17. Expense in the Very Short Warranty period of new Li-ON batteries and their special chargers

18. Even though these Far East babies may be listed as wholesale, factory direct, or by other marketing spin,  they are still high volume, mostly Chinese production with Chinese cells, and for what you really get, are still very expensive due to the

    1. Complexity of the semi-safe circuitry

    2. Special chargers required

    3. Short warranty

    4. Very short number of charge discharge cycles

    5. The actual cost per watt hour of run time

    6. Sloped discharge curve (degrading performance)

19. DOT issues

20. There are more but the above should be enough.  Manufacturers pdf spec sheet links at the bottom of the page

21. What better options do I have? Nickel Cadmium or Nickel Metal Hydride packs using Panasonic, Saft, or Sanyo's "BEST OPTION" battery cells.  Preferably manufactured in the United States of America by Appalachian mountain craftsmen / women.

Lithium Ion (Li-ON) Detail preceded by our brief

1. According to engineering specification sheets Lithium Ion Batteries \ battery cells: (Negative points in Red, Positive points in Blue, Black-Information

   1. Charge-Discharge Cycles:

      1. Li-ON cells are good for +/- 200 full charge discharge cycles.  Panasonic claims +/- 500 CD cycles, Sanyo claims 300-500

         1. Panasonic, Saft, and Sanyo Sintered Positive Electrode Ni-CD cells for 900-1200 charge - discharge cycles.

         2. Panasonic, Saft, and Sanyo Press Negative Cells for 500-700 charge - discharge cycles

         3. Cell temperature, high discharge rates, and charge discharge cycles themselves effect and greatly reduce the charge discharge cycles of Li-ON making real life charge discharge cycles more accurate at +/- 200 charge discharge cycles, less for Chinese / third world cells.

   2. Third world or Chinese cells, (Often referred to as "Name Brand"), Both Sintered or Press Negative Ni-CD or Ni-MH cells for +/- 300 charge-discharge cycles.

   1. Cell Density:

      1. Li-ON cells actually have 1.5 times higher energy density than equivalent Ni-CD or Ni-MH cells producing a lighter battery for the voltage / amperage.

   2. Per Cell Voltage:

      1. Li-ON cells are 3.7V each verses 1.25V for Ni-CD and Ni-MH cells, (14.4V /15V battery requires 4 Li-ON cells verses 12 Ni-CD or Ni-MH cells.

      2. Li-ON Cut-off voltage is 3.0V per cell verses 1.0 on Ni-CD or Ni-NM.  Meaning that a 14.4V Li-ON battery will cut off early at 12.0V where a 14.4V Ni-CD or Ni-MH version will cut off at 11.0V

   3. Self discharge rate:

      1. Li-ON does have a lower self discharge rate factored at 2% per month shelf time, 1% less than # 1 below.

         1. Panasonic, Saft, and Sanyo

            1. Sintered Positive Electrode Ni-CD

               1.  up to 3% discharge rate

            2. Foam Positive Electrode Ni-MH

               1. up to 3% discharge rate,

         2. Panasonic, Saft, and Sanyo

            1. Press Negative Ni-CD cells have 5% or more self discharge.

         3. Third world or Chinese cells (Often referred to as "Name Brand"), Sintered or Press Negative Ni-CD have much greater than 5% self discharge.

   4. Chemical reaction:

      1. Chemical reaction in itself counter acts any lower internal resistance still reducing the shelf life of LI-ON

   5. Operating Temperature Range

      1. Li-ON has the Most narrow temperature range for proper operation, much more narrow than Ni-CD or Ni-MH.

      2. Sintered Positive Electrode Ni-CD cells show the most durability to heat from generated from charging but most importantly from the discharge environment.

   6. High Discharge Rates:

      1. Li-ON has a lower conductivity rate producing a great Inability to handle high discharge, period.

      2. Highly susceptible to reverse polarity

      3. After doing correct math you will find that Li-ON cells are much more expensive than Ni-CD or Ni-MH cells!

   7. Cut-off voltage 

      1. Li-ON cells have an unexpected sharper cut-off voltage than NI-CD or Ni-MH which will catch you off guard and can easily cause reverse polarity.

      2. Even though some manufacturers claim a flat discharge rate when you look at the graphs and test the cells you find a slopped discharge rate similar to the old lead acid battery packs.

   8. Chemical Volatility 

      1. Li-ON is volatile, Ni-CD and Ni-MH are not.

      2. Lithium bombs were produced during the Korean Police Action

      3. Spec sheets stat the Li-ON is a compound of Lithium Cobalt Exide and an organic solvent with no actual lithium metal

         1. The question arises: Why then is the DOT involved?

         2. The pallet of lithium ion cells which caught on fire at LAX, the presentation of water by the fire department, the larger explosion and fire, and then the injuries

      4. The organic solvent creates a disadvantage in over charge and over discharge.  Thus the strong inability to handle any type high discharge rate.

      5. Organic Solvents: Ethyl Acetate; Ethyl Carbonate; DiMethyl Carbonate

   9. Storage Life

      1. When reading the fine print and with experience you will discover that the suggested long storage life is not quite what one may have been lead to believe.  It is too complicated to list here but is in the Sanyo Overview link below.

   10. Additional hidden but incurred expenses of Li-ON cells:

       1. Even though these distributor or "factory direct" Li-ON batteries are mostly produced in China, high volume does not contain the expensive price tag for Li-Ion battery packs.  (I am not aware of any actually being manufactured in the US.  But for the 12% that just have to have them, gives us just a little more time and they will.)

          1. Because of their volatile nature, Each individual Li-ON cell requires it's own thermal circuitry which is an additional expense.

          2. Because of their volatile nature you cannot just pull any brand aftermarket charger off of the shelf to charge lithium ion batteries.

             1. The fact that you are stuck with the additional expense of a charger with a Very Short Warranty period, has nothing to do with the practice of some battery and battery smart charger companies who's philosophy is pretty much, "You have to buy my charger to use my batteries / You have to buy my batteries to use my charger".

          3. You must Always use the same brand charger designed for that particular brand Li-ON battery.  Most, especially those from China have a very short warranty period.

             1. If you can use another brand it is simply a private label of the same technology!

   11. DOT issues: These are listed in pretty much the same standard format at any battery web site.

       1. There are airline travel restrictions for Lithium Ion batteries which include:

       2. Each traveler is allowed an unlimited number Li-ON batteries whose equivalent lithium content per battery is less than 8 grams.  This fits Lithium Ion batteries manufactured by PAG (Manufactured in England), Anton Bauer (Manufactured in Japan), and IDX (manufactured in Asia), 90WH lithium batteries fit into this category.  (The last Dionic 90 insert in Dionic 90 packs we opened for recell say they were made in Japan.) 

       3. Saft: If the aggregate lithium-equivalent content of Li-ON batteries exceeds 8 grams but not 25 grams, the number of spares is limited to two per person.

       4. Lithium Ion batteries with more than 25 equivalent grams of Lithium Ion - equivalent  cannot be carried by passengers aboard aircraft. 

2. What better options do I have? Nickel Cadmium or Nickel Metal Hydride packs using Panasonic, Saft, or Sanyo's "BEST OPTION" battery cells.  Preferably manufactured in the United States of America by Appalachian mountain craftsmen / women.

Because recelling rechargeable batteries is a specialty at rathboneenergy.com we see all the good and all the bad in product design and workmanship.  One event we occasionally see in nickel cadmium, nickel metal hydride, and lithium ion battery assemblies is corrosion on the back of the circuit boards.  Sometimes all we need to do is remove the corrosion and the battery will work fine.  By corrosion I mean corrosion from humidity, exposure, and if using third world or “name brand” low end cells, from those battery cells.  If you ever have corrosion between the wrong two points on the back of the circuit board of a lithium ion battery you will have a serious problem.

For example, if in simply welding the weld tab onto a small 4/5Au size lithium ion cell you used too much power, pressure, time length of the weld, or a combination you could easily burn through the battery cell canister.  If this happens you will see a flame reach out up to 5 or 6 feet from that one small cell.  Then, of course, you will have a domino effect.  Manufacturers of lithium ion battery cell packs have done well in keeping these horror stories under the rug.  At rathboneenergy.com you can count on one thing for sure.  If a user has a problem with a battery pack out of warranty from any manufacturer they call us or visit with us during a trade show and they do tell their horror stories.

If you still Must have Lithium Ion we sell PAG and inik Lithium Ion battery packs for broadcast news, film, and cinema.  We considered the PAG building technique and their “spare no expense” attitude to deliver the only acceptable option.  How do we know?  We dissect and evaluate other lines of Lithium ion batteries and we hear end user opinion and complaints about their lithium ion battery packs. 

PAG places a poly film over their circuit boards during the manufacturing process to prevent corrosion.  The poly film is thick and durable so that if you do use a contact cleaner on your battery packs the cleaner will not break down the poly film used by PAG.  You get what you pay for.

After consideration, lithium ion is basically a 200-300 charge - discharge cycle battery, period.  Since this article was written we have accepted the inik line of Lithium Ion batteries for broadcast and film comparable in battery cell quality to Anton Bauer, IDX, PAG, and Sony at a substantially lower price than the others. 

Panasonic Lithium Ion Charging

Panasonic Lithium Ion Overview

Panasonic Lithium Ion Precautions

Sanyo Lithium Ion Overview

Lithium Ion Transportation Regulations

Backed up by Anton Bauer's notice on transportation regulations found at:

http://www.antonbauer.com/trans_notice_dionic90.htm

Lithium-Ion technology considerations

Lithium Ion Battery Supporting Information in Detail

We do not bother with lower grade name brand Chinese cells.

If the manufacturer’s cell is the very best cell option available their marketing material will list detailed specifications on their battery including the exact battery cell used.

The more you are accurately informed the better you will appreciate rathboneenergy.com

BEWARE..., customer education of the product is NOT in most vendors best interest. 

I am uneasy about showing the email address header or naming this foreign company manufacturing batteries for other companies and also to sell direct but below is an Excerpt from a foreign competitor email to me May 31, 2006:

“dear sir

we are manufacturing lithium ion battery and we put them in battery case then we do water immersion test and put the battery case in water but the anodes which are made of stainless steel  get corroded.

would you tellus why the anodes corrode? and what kind of metal we shoud use to prevent corrosion?

“

Sincerely,

Ron L. Rathbone

President

Rathbone Energy, Inc.

25/95 E Hwy 25/70

Building # 2

Dandridge, TN 37725

Rathboneenergy.com

800-223-1775

865-484-1783

sales@rathboneenergy.com

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