🇳🇱
@freemo liion for standardized size and longlasting
@wilmhit by long lasting if you mean the number of times you can recharge it then its about the same as NiCd and NiMH in that respect. Lithium metal has, however, about 2.5x or more recharge cycles.
This all assumes you only let your battery discharge to 50% at most. If you discharge to 100% Nickel Cadmium actually has the longest life span.
@freemo I always had opposite experience. I'm not a professional. I only repair my home appliances as a hobby. From my experience liion lasts the longest but this may be due to greater capacity/shallower cycle. I don't do li metal cuz I like 18650.
@wilmhit Its a bit more complicated than that. NiCd has memory the others dont (well NiMH has memory too but its much less noticeable). That means that when it doesnt fully discharge over time it appears as though it is end of life by having a much reduced capacity. In fact this is not a permanent position. The memory of a NiCd is caused by crystallization that is reversible by deep cycling it a few times.
In all liklihood you are seeing the memory effect rather than an end of life scenario.
Li-ion of course has the highest energy density, so that can sometimes make up for the fact that it has fewer cycles since you get more power per cycle.
Lithium metal comes in 18650 just like lithium ion batteries. In fact I'm charging a pack of 18650 lithium metal batteries as we speak
@freemo
Wait lithium metal comes in 18650s? Where would one find these? I have a project that I have been looking for a good way to add a battery. I have an 18650 chamber that I can use but I really have been wanting to test out a lithium metal battery. I just haven't been able to find one that isn't much too large for my project.
@wilmhit
They arent too hard to find, I have several different brands in that chemistry and size. A quick search on amazon gave this result (different brand than my own):
@freemo
About a week ago I searched this on Amazon and just got a bunch of regular Lithium Ion batteries.... grrr... that is so annoying that now they just show up. Thank you for this.
If what I have read is correct, these will last years rather than months on a constant solar charge... which is exactly what I've been looking for.
@wilmhit
If your top concern is how long they last then lithium metal with overcharge and overdischarge protection is the way to go. Of course if you deep discharge one, like lithium ion, you can significantly reduce their life. But as long as they are treated well they will give you the best longevity with all the capacity of a lithium ion. For energy dense applications with low to moderate power draw they are the way to go.
