Lithium batteries are the future - providing excellent performance in golf carts, electric vehicles, solar power storage, ups power back-up systems, forklifts and many other applications. The new 9100L Series of Inteli-Power chargers are low cost and designed to meet stringent voltages required for properly charging & maintaining lithium ion batteries.
Lithium Batteries require special balancing circuits and chargers! 12-volt lithium batteries are composed of 4 cells, each with a voltage rating of 3.2-volts wired in series providing a total output of 12.8 volts. Lithium iron phosphate type cells, are the safest and most common type used however, they must never be charged to a voltage over 4-volts and must never be discharged below 2-volts, or they will be damaged. Note: other cell chemistries require different voltage limits.
Due to manufacturing inconsistencies each lithium ion cell is different (i.e. they will each charge and discharge at different rates). These cell differences make recharging lithium batteries fairly complex and requires that the battery manufacture must install electronic balancing circuits inside the battery to prevent overcharging a cell, or discharging too much. While these balancing circuits protect the cells, they can increase recharge times, depending on the mix of cells in each 12-volt battery pack. This increase in recharge time is especially apparent in higher voltage and or higher current battery packs. Lithium ion batteries also require battery chargers that can produce a higher voltage than provided by standard 12-volt or 24-volt lead/acid battery chargers. Trying to recharge a lithium battery with a standard lead/acid charger will result in a partially charged battery and may REDUCE BATTERY Life!