LiFePO4 or Lead Acid Batteries?

Which one do/should you use when outdoors and enjoying your hobby? What should you consider before purchasing one?

Connect with my channel by subscribing and commenting,

[MWPNW]

Very interesting Tim. Never understood why some would be so expensive but you’ve nailed it here in simple terms.

[theoldhobbit]

Some fella who set up some 2mtr nets last year convinced me that my SLAB needed an upgrade for longer /P work. Went to Tracer (not a plug) and bought their LifePo4 16amp battery and wow, what a difference. As you say, lightweight easy to use and loads of power for my M6 output, excellent and so glad I invested in my new battery. There is one Con however, for whatever reason, mine apparently cannot be charged from a car cigar charger or solar, my mistake so check before you buy, I should have checked, and for field use, my solar system would have been awesome. Thanks Tim, take care.

[Davidm-MTPT]

Great video, Tim. I have been through a similar "cycle", no pun intended. I started with 2 110 leisure batteries AGM, Then moved on to the 22Ah LiFePO4 golf cart batteries had 3 of them on rotation, and for the 11m nets, they worked fine; one would last me about two weeks and a little bit on the ham bands. With the cost of LiFePO4 batteries coming down in price, I have found them a game-charger, sorry changer.
I use the 55Ah LiFePO4 for driving the radio, and then the 35Ah LiFePO4 to run about 200w from the KL505 went out portable Saturday/Sunday overnight in the Pod no issues. Setup was as above plus another 35Ah LiFePO4 to run the lighting and electrics in the Pod, 22Ah AGM cart battery to run the Diesel heater. The main drain was on the battery driving the amp went down to %85. Happy days Tim take care regards David M0TPT

[aetpagwtom]

Thanks Tim, Every case use is different, as you say, .. Im in the Lead Acid Camp, I always use portable ops, 2-4 hrs a go, I do have the in-line voltage monitor, place bk on charge as soon as arrive home, the cost of purchase, ship, import duty etc, outweigh the convienence, to my qth in Bahrain. Normally operate out the bk of my SUV. Under diff conditions, may have the LiFePO4, cheers n always great content 😀

[mully]

This video couldn't be more timely for me, I've just got my first HF set & want to take it camping, maybe SOTA and just having this debate in my head, thanks Tim 👍

[alzeNL]

very practical and useful information - thanks Tim !

[rogerwilliams]

Very helpful Tim thanks for doing all the hard work 73s

[NICKGAR]

The LCC analysis is very valid especially IF you get a decent warranty on the LiFePO4 and look after it. The game changer for me is the LIFEPO4 ability to hold above 12.5V for much much longer which is especially crucial at 100W with a rig with supply spec 13.8V +/- 10%. With lead acid it become necessary to drop power to try and conserve whereas more forgiving with LiFePO4 (providing you have correctly selected battery able to give the burst of amps required). I went for an Ultramax type for pedestrian portable which needed me to study their discharge curves and data. So far so good. An equally important criteria for pedestrian (off grid) portable is selecting a radio with ability to operate down at 10-11V. Lots of good stuff to (literally) keep the hobby alive.
73

[AndyWragg]

Great points there Tim. A couple more if I may, from a guy whose been building his own and using LiFePo4 batteries for a couple of years now.
Typically you don't need to spec a LiFePo4 battery capacity "like for like" when replacing a Pb battery, as typically you'd normally have been using 50% of that batteries capacity, for the reasons you've already explained. So taking a 100Ah Pb battery for instance, with a discharge of 50% (50Ah if you will) you'd be OK specifying a LiFePo4 battery of about 60Ah, that gives 48ah @80% discharge.
Another way to look at the cost benefit of LiFePo4 would be that you'd be looking to replace a Pb battery at least 5 times based on the cycle count alone (that's based on a conservative 2000 cycles for LiFePo4 and 400 cycles for Pb - YMMV).
And lastly, you will save fuel in the car (and strain in your back) from not lugging around a big heavy lump of Pb everywhere you go.
More Pro's
Faster charging
More efficient charging (less energy is wasted in the charging process)

I must admit since I started using Lithium based batteries, I've very rarely been in a position where power has been an issue. I have my 12Ah 4S pack for QRP (I've built a number of these for my club mates) and a 32Ah 4S4P battery box for QRO.

Cheers and beers

G1AW

[TheNoCodeTech]

Very informative mate, you hit all the good points.
Thanks.

[ReflectingMe]

Very informative video Tim, one that will be extremely useful to radio enthusiasts. Take note folks, Tim is spot on when he says about allowing Lead Acids to discharge significantly will be detrimental to their life span. This is very true. I forgot, and left my motorcycle battery connected over the winter (4 months not used) and which - due to the immobiliser I have on the bike - was obviously totally flat when I tried to start it. After a good steady charge it started first time, and was fine over the days when I used the bike, starting first time each day. However, when I didn't use the bike for 4 days and went to start it - the battery was once again totally flat. New battery needed. Keep up the great work Tim. (This is John by the way, GW3JVB) 😉

[StuartMTTQ]

Excellent video and the cost per charge cycle is an aspect of it which doesn't often get covered. Another characteristic of LiFePo4 is it handles steady discharge at (or above) its stated capacity much better than lead acid.

[leeewyk]

Great, straight forward advice Tim. The Ultramax are currently £139.00 delivered via amazon inc charger so an even better buy at the moment. Informative video as usual.👍

[lmaoroflcopter]

One of the issues that is evident on youtube at least is the prevalence of the use of SLA Yuasa NP-7 batteries which are meant to be used for float charge applications (grey box, red writing) rather than the REC battery you show which is intended for cyclic use.

Discharging the float charge application battery below 80% state of charge regularly is going to massively decrease your lifetime of the battery.

[driverfilmsshortwavechannel]

I used to used LiFe 8400 batteries from Hobby King but i found that they dont hold their charge for very long. I now have 2 12V 18Ah LifePO4 Ultramax golf cart batteries. They are a bit heavier but Ive never had them fall over the voltage drop!

[MJKW]

Thanks for all the info Tim great vid thanks for making and posting 👍👍👍

[joshuanicholasgwnic]

Hi Tim, I use a LiFePO4 battery for portable use where I am required to get somewhere on foot, they're amazingly lightweight and safe, they can be stored upside down if necessary. Something you simply couldn't do with a Lead Acid battery.
When working from the side of the car, down near the coast or up on the mountain I have a 130ah Lead Acid Leisure battery, plenty of power for 50w all day long on a 40% duty cycle. Horses for courses eh?

[vkcrg]

I use batteries for portable amateur radio. I recently had an operation and cannot lift heavy things for a while. I have a 120Ah AGM Battery that weighs nearly 40KG. I recently purchased a 50ah LifePO4 battery and it's only 6.6KG and I get more than enough out of it. I'll never go back to the AGM again for portable radio use. I'll use the AGM for my portable fridge etc.

[stevewheatstone]

Nice video Tim, good information on the discharge voltage profile. I have a 8ah lifepo4 battery £27 which is perfect for my Xiegu g90 running 20w. I paid £22 for a cheap charger from Amazon. Only problem is that the QRM from the charger is terrible, so I can't listen on HF at home when I charge the battery. My advice would be always check the max discharge current meets the requirements for your application. 73s Steve MW0SAW

[paulchapman]

So you do use the Lead Acid battery? The deep cycle Lead acid battery here that I use has charged and discharged over 5000 yes five thousand times and is about 13 years old. A canny look for the cycle type of Lead Acid and beat LiFePO4 on price where weight is not a problem. There are three types of Lead Acid batteries generally; Short cycle as in car batteries [big discharge at vehicle start up then immediate recharge as you drive off]; Deep Cycle as in vehicle traction, forklifts, golf carts, and wheelchairs and mobility chairs. Then there is the Leasure battery halfway between the two. These are available at caravan shop places. All three Lead Acid batteries use the same style of case. The long life Lead Acid battery here is a leisure battery. The Yuasa is a standby battery and should NOT be DEEP DISCHARGED if possible. Another problem with Lead Acid batteries is when discharged for any length of time greater than a couple of days the Lead-Sulfate can change to a different crystal state and this is called sulphation permanently killing the battery. Lead acid batteries over time lose charge so should have some form of float battery charger. The charging voltage is also critical to long life 13.8v for cars; 13.5 for standby; 14.4 for bulk charging and drop down to lower voltage later.