LiFePO4

From Wikipedia.

"Brand new LFP's have been found to fail prematurely if they are "deep cycled" (discharged below 33% level) too early. A break-in period of 20 charging cycles is currently recommended by some distributors."

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Is anyone familiar with this phenomena? The statement is lacking any references.

Thanks,

Dave

I asked the question about Li-Ion cell break-in when I first got into the Li-Ion cells earlier this year and was told by several battery gurus that it is not required.

In AW's sales thread, he notes the lowest discharge voltage is 2.0v.

Here is a post from AW regarding that lowest discharge voltage and how far they will go before no longer accepting a charge.

I did my very best to murder some new LiFePO4 cells, but without success.

I am by no means a LiFePO4 (or any other battery type) expert, but I'd say.... they're tough.

I also didn't see any sign of a break in being needed.
Those ones in that link were new from AW and were deep discharged about as deep as can be, and they were fine.

That is based though on AW brand, I've no idea if LiFePO4 will be weaker if they're a lesser brand.

Thanks, Black. This statement isn't really about breaking in per se, but rather possibly damaging the cells from discharging below 33% until, I guess you could say "broken in". I think we're talking about two different things here. It's something I read a while back, that I've never heard of before. Just wondered if there was any truth to it.

Dave

I smell

What about all the powertools that uses LiFe cells?
No mention in the manual about not running them down fully for the first 20 times.
Thats the "wonderfull" thing about Wiki, no quality control:shrug:

Niconical said:

I did my very best to murder some new LiFePO4 cells, but without success.

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Interesting results Niconical. Seems I've heard similar stories as well.

The Dane said:

Thats the "wonderfull" thing about Wiki, no quality control:shrug:

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Ya, well, I'm aware of that. The only way to verify anything on there, is if they reference the source of their information, which they don't on that particular statement.

Dave

I'm a fan of the LiFe cell, I have 2 sets of 2 diff makes of 26650 cell.

So far no problems. They work great.

Well, there was one problem. When I forgot to set my charger (Imax B6) from Li-Ion setting to the LiFe setting. Overcharged them, one cell died completely. My Bad.
Lucky for me the reputable business I bought them from replaced it.

Conte said:

Well, there was one problem. When I forgot to set my charger (Imax B6) from Li-Ion setting to the LiFe setting. Overcharged them, one cell died completely. My Bad.

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That's good to know Conte. I've never done it, but I've heard that the LiFe's can tolerate overcharging to some degree, but it sounds like trying to charge to 4.10 Volt really isn't a very good idea!

I'm beginning to think that the Wiki statement is wrong. I've been dealing with LiFe's for about a year now, and have researched them for longer than that. That is the only place I've ever read about possibly damaging LiFe cells by discharging them too deep too early. I think I'll just press on!

Thanks to everybody that contributed. :thumbsup:

Dave