More Battery Chemistry Talk

In ham radio, we pay a lot of attention these days to lithium iron phosphate - known as LiFePo or LiFePo2 - batteries. They are all the rage, and they really are good - great performance, lightweight (compared to lead acid batteries), lots of neat features like Bluetooth integration for battery monitoring, and thanks to the Chinese, remarkably low cost for the larger capacity units.

Before moving on from this brief LiFePo battery discussion, I have to pause to sing the praises of a little company out of California called Bioenno. My observation is that Bioenno, with their very high quality, small capacity batteries (3 Ah up to 20 Ah 12 volt units) is almost singularly responsible for introducing the benefits of the LiFePo battery to the American ham radio community. Bioenno also bends over backwards to support the ham radio community not just with excellent products, but with excellent customer support and expert advice. Whatever success the Chinese LiFePo battery manufacturers have today in the American ham radio market (and it's a lot), they owe credit to Bioenno and its early efforts with ham radio. Now, on to today's real topic.

On this blog I've discussed a lot of battery chemistry types. LiFePo, but also regular lithium ion (ya' know, the ones that catch fire, explode, and can't be extinguished), regular lithium, lead acid (for over 100 years, the ham radio power standard), NiCad (as late as 4 years ago, Yaesu was still selling new production radios with NiCad battery packs), and good, old, leaky alkaline. But one battery chemistry flew under my radar until fairly recently, and now I'm giving it a serious look: nickel-metal hydride, or NiMH.

Actually, I've known about NiMH batteries for a long time, but not by their chemical name. Instead, I've known them by a major commercial brand name - Panasonic's Eneloop brand. While NiMH batteries don't have the capacity or run time of lithium or even alkaline batteries, they come close, plus they are rechargeable and don't leak or burst into flames.

I got re-introduced to NiMH when I purchased my Elecraft KX3. The KX3 comes with an internal battery tray and charger that can take AA size NiMH batteries. It's an awkward charging setup, and it's slow, but it works and it allows you to power the rig at low output levels without an external battery. Plus, there's little danger of leaking cells damaging the radio if they are stored in the radio.

My foray into the world of NiMH batteries has revealed an odd little sub-culture of battery geeks who love testing different chemistries in different devices. It seems that there's a lot of respect out there for the NiMH chemistry, and a lot of respect for the Eneloop brand. So much so that on many forums the terms NiMH and Eneloop are interchangeable. Within the limiting physical envelopes of the AAA, AA, C & D-cell form factors, it seems NiMH offers the best power delivery chemistry that is rechargeable, doesn't leak, and is non-hazardous. 

The undisputed champ of AA-sized power cells are the lithium batteries made by companies like Energizer (Energizer Ultimate Lithium). These things are not just good, they are very good. I've had some installed in my wi-fi enabled smoke detectors that have lasted years, and still put out plenty of voltage. But they are pricey - about $1.75 per cell if bought in bulk through Amazon. If you grab a supermarket 4-pack, expect to pay almost three bucks per cell. And, they are not rechargeable. This makes them uneconomical to use in a high drain device like a transceiver. 

Alkaline batteries still rule when it comes to a 'penny per watt' calculation. I go through a lot of them, and buy them in bulk from Amazon (the Amazon Basics brand). They are a great power source for high drain devices like an HT - good power output for their size, and reasonable run time. Very economical. But the damned things leak. I'll only use alkaline batteries in cheap electronics, or use them in important electronics like HTs for specific events (camping trips, local ham radio event support, etc.), then toss 'em. I throw away a lot of alkaline AA batteries each year, and I feel better for it.

NiMH batteries are not inexpensive, but the are rechargeable and safe, so the total
cost of ownership is actually on-par with alkaline cells

Back to NiMH batteries. Panasonic isn't the only manufacturer. As you can imagine, a lot of companies make them. Some are quite good (like Tenergy), and some 'off' brands that have interesting back-stories. The most famous one is the rumor that the Ikea LADDA brand of rechargeable batteries are actually re-branded Eneloops. But most of the NiMH batteries sold through on-line retailers like Amazon are, in my experience, poorly made garbage. I just stick with Eneloops, and buy them on special.

Right now NiMH batteries power my KX3, I'm testing them in an HT, and I have them installed in two of my larger table-top receivers that I want to have ready to go at all times without worrying about leaking alkaline cells. These table-top radios use D-cells, and I'm running a NiMH battery brand called EBL in them.

Here's my current battery management philosophy. Critical low use devices that I want to have always ready to go without worrying about batteries get NiMH cells installed in them. I don't really expect the NiMH cells to power these devices for very long - a few hours perhaps. But when they do die, I have alkaline cells ready to replace them for the remaining emergency period (power outage bad weather, etc.). When the emergency is past, the alkaline cells get tossed, and recharged NiMH batteries get put back in. This way I know the radios, flashlights, lanterns, etc. are ready to go, but don't have to worry about alkaline batteries leaking and ruining the devices. I've had to throw away far too many expensive electronic devices due to leaky alkaline batteries. I use them, but I no longer trust them.

W8BYH out

Life In The Time Of The Cheap Battery

You young whipper-snappers don't know how good you have it. In my day (like, way back in 2020), if we wanted to power a full-sized rig in the field we'd have to lug around big old lead-acid batteries that barely dribbled out 12 volts for an hour or two, and then would quickly die. Lord help you if you let the voltage drop below 11 volts, or you'd start damaging the cells. Need to keep track of that voltage? Make sure you brought along your multi-meter. And you better have a bottle of distilled water handy to keep the cells topped off - don't want those lead plates getting exposed!

Sure, back in 2020 this new-fangled battery technology called Lithium-Iron-Phosphate (LiFePo) was available, but it was frightfully expensive, particularly large capacity units that could keep a full size radio operating for days. Think prices approaching $1,000 for a 100 amp-hour battery from a well regarded US-based company like Bioenno Power out of California. These sexy new LiFePo batteries offered amazing performance - very safe (LiFePo won't burst into flames like other lithium battery technologies), high energy density, excellent power discharge management, thousands of recharge cycles, built-in battery management systems (BMS), and extremely light weight. It's everything every field operator wanted, except cost. 

Like many, I started small - picking up 3 and 4.5 amp hour batteries to test with my QRP rigs. The performance was amazing. These little batteries effectively eliminated the dreaded battery angst that plagued us - 'do I have enough battery capacity for a long activation?' One local ham reported running his Yaesu FT-817 on regular POTA activations for almost a year before needing to charge his 4.5 Ah Bioenno battery! These small blue-wrapped batteries became ubiquitous at field operation everywhere. The phrase 'just buy a Bioenno' became the modern equivalent of 'just buy an IBM' - a pricey but totally safe purchase decision that came with great performance and manufacturer support

Bioenno makes great products, and they have bent over to support the ham radio community.
These batteries fundamentally changed QRP operations by providing stable, high current output
over incredibly long run times, all in a small and lightweight package.
Operators using radios like the Elecraft KX2, the Yaesu FT-817, the Xeigu G90  and the Icom IC-705
switched en mass to these batteries, and they became ubiquitous at POTA, SOTA
and Field Day activities. One of these batteries, the somewhat beat up 4.5 Ah one on the
middle right, is almost 5 years old and still holds 100% capacity

On a recent camping trip, a Bioenno 4.5 Ah battery powered my KX3 at 15 watts out, 
over the course of several activations

Yet, we continued to lug our boxes of lead and acid out to Field Day, because high capacity LiFePo batteries were beyond most ham's means. We're talking about batteries that cost more than some of the radios they were powering. Lead acid batteries soldiered on because the price/performance ratio was still in their favor, until...

A few years ago, offshore battery manufacturers (i.e., 'China, Inc.') spotted an opportunity, and stared to flood the US market with inexpensive, high capacity LiFePo batteries that offered very good quality and performance. Overnight they broke the lead acid battery lock on the price/performance ratio. There was no longer any reason to choose lead acid over LiFePo. While LiFePo batteries are still more expensive than equivalent lead acid batteries, the price gap had shrunk, and the improved features and performance of the LiFePo battery more than makes up for the price difference. These LiFePo batteries are clearly the better value.

Tracy at Outdoors On The Air lays out the arguments nicely in this video:

So let's look at a current example. The Power Queen (the brand I buy) LiFePo 12.8 volt, 100 Ah battery is on sale right now for $219 direct. Something to point out here is that these Chinese manufactured batteries are always 'on sale'. An equivalent generic lead acid 100 Ah deep cycle battery from Wal-Mart currently sells for $159. That's a $60 difference, but the Power Queen offers considerably more - up to 4000 recharge cycles (vs. hundreds for the lead acid battery), has a built-in battery management system, has a flatter discharge curve (more rated power for a longer period of time), has built-in Bluetooth to monitor battery performance via a smartphone app, is IP67 rated, and is much lighter (by at least 50%) than the lead acid battery. Plus, the LiFePo chemistry is much safer than lead acid. Based on recharge cycles alone, the Power Queen is the cheaper buy. All the other features are free candy. 😊

Power Queen is one of five or more Chinese-based battery manufacturers that do direct sales in the US, and they all offer LiFePo models with equivalent capacities and features. I bought Power Queen based on a personal recommendation from another ham, but I've also heard good things about the LiTime, AmpereTime and other brands. There are a number of YouTubers who revel in tearing these batteries apart to see what's inside,  and they all appear to have the same internal components. Some reviewers claim the manufacturers all buy their battery cells from the same factories in China, and there are only slight differences in the BMS and Bluetooth boards, internal component configurations and construction methods.

In this video, Will Prowse at his DIY Solar Power channel tears apart two LiFePo batteries (one of them a Power Queen) and compares the interior components. I wouldn't be at all surprised if both of these battery brands were owned by the same company, and the batteries came out of the same factory.

BTW, Will's channel is an excellent resource for anyone looking for answers and advice on batteries and solar systems.

There is but one caveat to all this lithium love - LiFePo batteries don't do well in very cold temps, and the cells can be ruined when charging in sub-freezing temperatures. In fact, some LiFePo batteries have built-in heating systems to warm the cells in low temp conditions. This is usually not an issue in the south where I live - if I'm out in the field in sub-zero temps, I'll be in a camper or a tent with a heater going. The BMS in many batteries will also shut the battery down in very cold situations, to protect the cells.

So where does all of this lead us? To me, the clear lesson is that lead acid batteries, in the amateur radio use case, are dead, dead, dead. Say it with me now: 'lead is dead'. There simply is no justification for choosing a lead acid battery over an equivalent capacity LiFePo. These new batteries are an amazing leap in power technology for ham radio, and there's no reason to stick with now obsolete lead-acid batteries.

(Time for a hypocrisy alert? Anyone who knows me, or reads this blog, knows that I loudly state that I do not buy Chinese manufactured products, unless there's no other option. I still stand strongly by that rule, and I practice it daily. The caveat here is 'unless there's no other option'. There are no US-based manufacturers of LiFePo batteries that offer all the features the Chinese manufacturers offer - at any price. There are US-based 'assemblers', like Battle Born Batteries and Dakota Lithium, but the key components - battery cells, BMS boards, etc., are sourced out of China. As far as I can tell, there is no LiFePo battery cell manufacturing taking place in the US - everything comes out of China. So in this case, I feel we're in the 'unless there's no other option' category.) 

W8BYH out 

More Power!

Power's getting cheap! It seems the lithium iron phosphate (LiFePo) battery market is being flooded with relatively inexpensive high capacity batteries. These cheap and lightweight power sources can negate the justification for low power QRP rigs in many applications. I've long griped on this blog and Facebook that manufacturers have gotten lazy when it comes to QRP rigs. Nobody (except Xiegu, with their G90) wants to push past the 10 watt barrier and deliver a portable HF package in the 20 - 50 watt range. The 10 watt mindset (and the silly obsession with stuffing in UHF/VHF just to get the manufacturers' favored digital mode into the mix) has paralyzed the thinking at Icom and Yaesu. The two manufacturers with the resources and skill to deliver a high quality HF field radio are too scared to take the leap.

But it's not all grim news. For a few years I've advocated building a portable rig package around the Icom IC-7300. It offers everything a portable operator needs - excellent performance, lots of output power, integrated digital mode sound card interface, effective cooling and a great tuner, all in a fairly compact package. Yaesu recently answered the IC-7300 challenge with their FT-710, by all accounts also a great radio that matches the IC-7300 feature-for-feature and does some one-ups. Both radios offer everything a field HF rig should have. Although both are a bit large for the role, considering they were initially designed as shack rigs, they are remarkably small and light weight for the features they offer. If these radios have a drawback, it's amperage draw on receive. The IC-7300 will pull about 1.25 amps while just 'idling', and the FT-710 will suck down up to 2.2 (!) amps on receive. These numbers always put a limit on field operations, particularly on extended digital mode sessions. Your choice was small, light weight batteries of limited capacity, or larger capacity batteries that either weighted a lot (think lead acid car batteries), or LiFePo batteries that offered great run times but at a much higher cost (over $300 for a 30 amp hour battery).

But cheaper batteries can change the paradigm. Most battery buyers I've talked to stop considering buying a LiFePo battery at about the 30 amp hour point, based mainly on cost. It's undeniable that these batteries offer amazing performance given their size and weight, but the prices go up almost exponentially as you go up in amp hour ratings. Thirty amp hours seemed to offer an ideal price-to-performance ratio for running a full sized rig in the field, but extended run times can mean having to turn the TX power below 50 watts. We need more (and cheaper) power!  

Now, what if I told you that you can get a really cheap 100 amp hour LiFePo battery? Something about the size of a 30 amp hour lead acid battery, but a fraction of the weight? Well as Tracy, VE3TWM reports below, it's here! The battery Tracy shows off, the LiTime LiFePo4 100 Ah battery is currently on sale from the manufacturer for $199 US. Compare that with Bioenno's current price for the same capacity battery - $862. Bioenno is a highly regarded LiFePo battery manufacturer, and the battery management system boards they build into each battery are considered some of the best in the industry. But that $660 price difference between batteries is extremely compelling. Even if the LiTime battery craps out after a few years and only provides half the recharge cycles the manufacturer lists, it's still a better buy than the Bioenno offering.

So here's Tracy from Outdoors On The Air laying out his argument. There's a lot of merit in what he says. For field operations, cheap high capacity LiFePo batteries make power sipping QRP rigs running on tiny batteries almost irrelevant.

W8BYH out