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LiFePO4 AA questions

Posted: Mon Nov 09, 2015 12:51 pm
by JimW
Heeeelp! :twisted:

I took apart a solar powered LED spotlight that wasn't working and it has a 400mAh LiFePO4 battery in it.
The battery is a standard AA battery size and is marked 1.2V. Looking around and on Amazon it seems all the LiFePO4 batteries in AA size are 3.2V! :?:
:?: :?: :?:
Can this battery be recharged in a standard AA battery charger? If so should the NiCd, Alkaline, or the NiMH setting be used? What are the dangers of trying to charge this battery? (I read about some of the older lithium batteries exploding)
Can I use a standard NiMH battery in place of it? What would be the disadvantages of doing so?

Thanks for any help!!!!
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Later!
Ok, after posting the above I checked the spotlight itself and it has a loose wire going to the battery box. Poor soldering!
Decided to check the battery - it shows 3.6 volts! Ok, break out the magnifying glass! Yep - it reads 3.2 v 14500 LiFePO4!
I previously looked at that several times from different lighting conditions and it looked like 1.2 v! Bad eyes!!!
Guess I answered my own questions. (but why does the battery box say 1.2 volt rechargeable?????)

Re: LiFePO4 AA questions

Posted: Thu Nov 12, 2015 5:30 pm
by techman
The LED light may be rated at 1.2 volts but the battery may be larger. Not sure.

These batteries have their own charge controllers built in. Not sure if you can just dump in a voltage because they have a feedback to tell the charger when they are topped off. But the chargers are super cheap on ebay