does this charge/discharge curve show these batteries are LiFePO4

littlebattery

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Hi all - I was having some trouble having confidence some batteries i received from a well-known vendor were actually LiFePO4 as labeled. They are the less-common cr2 / 15270, labeled as LiFe, but came intentionally with a charger that is intended for normal 4.2v termination / "LiIon" batteries. My SkyRC mc3000 would throw an error when i tried to discharge/store them, as the voltage on the cell is outside it's "safe" range for LiFe.

I'm hoping an expert here can weigh in on what, if anything, is definitive from the below charge/discharge curves. Between each phase several hours passed (eg rest time)

Sequence of events are:
  1. fully charge 2 batteries with the included "LiIon" charger (no picture). They end (after rest) at ~4.15V
  2. put in the mc3000 (slot 1,2) and discharge as LiIon (can't discharge as LiFe directly, the charger catches the 4.15 starting/resting voltage as an error). They end (after rest) at ~3.22V
  3. still in the mc3000, 'continue' discharging as LiFe. They end (after rest) at ~3.10V
  4. re-charge in the mc3000 as LiFe. They end at 3.38V.

From the LiIon discharge (#2 above, curves in first picture below) it looks like the bulk of the discharge happened at 3.2~3.3V in the "discharge as LiIon".

Thank you!!

1) not shown, they were charged in the LiIon charger included by the reseller


2) Shown here, the mc3000 discharges the cells, as "LiIon" from ~4.15V to ~3.22V
jtcdfd7.jpg



3) shown here, the mc3000 does another discharge cycle, this time programmed as LiFe, from ~3.22V to ~3.1V
4NFZ84r.jpg




4) shown here, the mc3000 re-charges the batteries, as LiFe chemistry, to ~3.38V.
CkLlnoW.jpg
 
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littlebattery

Newly Enlightened
Joined
Dec 8, 2016
Messages
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Location
western usa
I found what looks to be a somewhat knowledgeable industry site that shows discharge profiles.
http://www.powerstream.com/lithium-phosphate-charge-voltage.htm

From that site, it appears plausible that these are in fact LiFePO4, despite having a resting voltage of 4.15v out of the vendor-supplied charger.

(again from the site above) The main difference I see is that the voltage of the LiFe's is much closer to constant throughout the discharge curve; LiFe drop quickly to ~3.3v and remain between 3.3v~3.1v for ~90% of their discharge, whereas LiCo experience a steady reduction in voltage throughout their discharge, slowly dropping from ~4.0v to ~3.5v for their ~90% discharge.

I'm still hesitant to have confidence in this subjective look at the graphs, hoping someone with more experience will weigh in!
 
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