FAQ
We are here to help you and highly recommend consulting our FAQ section before any purchasing decision is made. Here at Bioenno Power, we are dedicated first and foremost to satisfying your requirements and helping with your application. The information provided below should provide answers to most common questions. If you do not see an answer to your question, please contact us directly through email and/or phone call.

1. Are your factory is a Battery PACK manufacturer? What’s the advantage of your company or why should we purchase from you?
The company set our own Battery Pack lines with high-quality assurance. Our engineering team has tens of years’ experience in lithium ion battery. The products are featured with military standard quality, consumer standard appearance and industrial standard cost. The company provides the industry-leading service — Feedback within 24hrs, provide solution within 48hrs. The company also provides 3-party testing report for your product.

2. What are the major differences among current market available rechargeable batteries?

Below is a summary to distinguish the batteries difference in terms of energy density, the most important parameters along with important attributes including service life, load characteristics, maintenance requirements, self-discharge costs and safety.

Nickel-cadmium and Nickel-metal-hydride (NiMH): Nickel-cadmium is a mature technology but has moderate energy density. Nickel-cadmium is used where long life, high discharge rate and extended temperature range is important. Main applications are two-way radios, biomedical equipment and power tools. Nickel-cadmium contains toxic metals. Nickel-metal-hydride (NiMH) has a higher energy density compared to nickel-cadmium at the expense of reduced cycle life, and without toxic metals. Its Applications include mobile phones and laptop computers).

Lead-acid: most economical for larger power applications where weight is of little concern. Being inexpensive and rugged, it serves a unique niche that would be hard to replace with other systems. the preferred choice for hospital equipment, wheelchairs, emergency lighting and UPS systems.
Lithium-ion: fastest growing battery system; offers high-energy density and low weight. Protection circuit are needed to limit voltage and current for safety reasons. Applications include notebook computers and cell phones. High current versions are available for power tools and medical devices.

LiFePO4: A good replacement for lead acid, Ni-MH and Ni-CD batteries, due to excellent performance of safety, high energy density, long cycle life and lower cost; very good choice for applications like solar storage, lighting system, portable appliances and UPS back up etc.

3. What are Li-Ion Batteries?
Li-ion batteries are rechargeable batteries that use lithium ions which move from a negative electrode to a positive electrode. They are popular batteries for use in consumer electronics because they provide good energy density, no memory effect, and a slow loss of charge when not in use. These batteries come in a wide variety of shapes and sizes. In addition, compared to lead-acid batteries, Li-ion batteries are lighter and provide a higher open circuit voltage, which allows for power transfer at lower currents.

The term “Li-ion” battery is a general term like the term “car” and refers to many different types of Lithium. There are many different chemistries for Li-Ion batteries including LiCoO2 (cylindrical cell), LiPo, and LiFePO4 (cylindrical/prismatic cell). Aegis Energies currently is focusing on design, manufacturing, and marketing of LiFePO4 (LFP) batteries.

The different types of Li-ion batteries have different characteristics. Typically when the term “Li-ion” is used in a product description what is being sold may be either LiCoO2 (Cobalt Oxide) or LiPo (Lithium Polymer) unless LiFePO4 (Lithium Iron Phosphate) is specifically named. This is the rule of thumb because LiCoO2 and LiPo are the most common types of Lithium. The LiCoO2 in particular is cheaper and has a high power density but as a trade off has drastically shortened service life and is chemically and thermally unstable. Within this lineup LiFePO4 is unique for its aforementioned performance benefits. Compared with the older LiCoO2, LiPo and other chemistry such as AGM, SLA and NiCad, the current state-of-the-art LiFePO4 is essentially a new and entirely different chemistry unique unto itself.

3. Why PCM or BMS is necessary for lithium-ion battery?
PCM or BMS is necessary for lithium-ion battery, because lithium battery is hazardous goods and may cause leakage or fire if misused. PCM or BMS provides a necessary method to protect the battery from over-charge, over-discharge, over-current, over-temperature and short circuit. BMS also has functions of monitoring/performing SOC(state of charge), SOH(state of health), communication and LCD screen etc.

4. What are PCMs and what do they do?
In essence these are a type of single-board microcomputer. PCMs, or protection circuit modules, are a type of battery management system (BMS) for the expressed purpose of regulating output of current from the battery to electrical loads, managing and internally balancing the cell pack in addition to regulating charging. They are there to protect the cells from damage. If your electric load exceeds the power load of the battery the PCM shuts the battery off to protect the cells from damage. This is a safeguard to preserve maximum functionality of our batteries and to, effectively, abuse-proof within a certain extent. Our entire range of batteries all come equipped with top of the line sophisticated PCMs unlike a large number of our competitors. We tested our products. It is almost impossible to screw up our batteries because our integrated intelligent systems automatically shuts off the battery before damage can be done to it. Our PCMS offer the following features:
1. Balancing function for cells
2. Overcurrent protection
3. Overvoltage protection
4. Over-discharge protection (also known as under voltage)
5. Temperature protection
6. Short circuit protection
7. Charging Circuitry integrated

5. Why PCM or BMS is necessary for lithium-ion battery?
PCM or BMS is necessary for lithium-ion battery, because lithium battery is hazardous goods and may cause leakage or fire if misused. PCM or BMS provides a necessary method to protect the battery from over-charge, over-discharge, over-current, over-temperature and short circuit. BMS also has functions of monitoring/performing SOC(state of charge), SOH(state of health), communication and LCD screen etc.

6. What are the possible reasons for zero voltage or low voltage of the battery pack? What are the possible reasons if the rechargeable battery or rechargeable battery pack cannot be charged?
The major reason may because of Short circuit or open circuit of the connector or wrong connection, de-soldering or cold solder joint between the batteries and lead, wrong connection between the batteries, which would result in that the battery is zero voltage or there is battery with zero voltage in the battery pack. Other reasons include wrong connection inside the battery pack, abnormity of electronic components and/or PCB inside the battery pack, failure in charger, and low charging efficiency such as extremely low or high temperature.

7. Can the batteries with different capacity be packed together?
Generally it is not recommended. If the batteries with different capacity or new and old batteries are packaged and used together, leakage and zero voltage might happen. If the batteries are rechargeable and are being charged, some batteries is overcharged and other batteries is not in full charged state. During the discharge, some batteries cannot discharge fully and other batteries might over discharge, which may result in the damage of battery.

8. Can Lithium batteries be used with other-type battery?
A: If different types of batteries are used together, or new batteries are used with old ones, the difference in characteristics of voltage, capacity, etc , may cause over-discharge of the battery which is exhausted first, leading to swelling, bursting or fire.

9. Major warning in Using Li-ion Battery
* Don’t immerse the battery in water.
* Don’t use and leave the battery near a heat source such as fire or heater.
* When charging, use a battery charger specifically for that purpose.
* Don’t reverse the positive and negative terminals.
* Don’t connect the battery to an electrical outlet directly.
* Don’t discard the battery in fire or heater.
* Don’t connect the positive and negative terminal directly with metal objects.
* Don’t transport and store the battery together with metal objects such as necklaces, hairpins.
* Don’t strike, throw or trample the battery.
* Don’t pierce the battery with a nail or other sharp object.
* Don’t leave/ charge/ use a battery at very high temperature conditions (e.g. under strong sunlight or a vehicle in extremely hot conditions).
* If the battery leaks and the electrolyte get into your eyes, don’t wipe eyes, instead, thoroughly rinse the eyes with clean running water for at least 15 minutes, and immediately seek medical attention.
* If the battery gives off an odor, generates heat, becomes discolored or deformed, or in any way appear abnormal during service, charging or storage, please immediately remove it from the device or charger and stop using it.
* In case the battery terminals get dirty, clean the terminals with a dry cloth before use.
* If the battery beyond the useful-life, please fully discharged, sticks the battery poses with insulating tape, then put the cell for recycling.
* Stop charging the battery if charging isn’t completed within the specified time.

10. How do I maintain the Li-ion battery?
Make sure to charge the battery every 8 to 10 weeks in order to keep the cells well equalized and balanced, and ensure that the battery is operable. The PCM pulls a small amount of power to equalize the cells and requires periodic charging to ensure continued operation of the battery.

11. How many Watt-hours of batteries am I allowed to carry-on for aircraft?
All Li-ion batteries must be brought on your carried-on luggage. They cannot be placed in your checked luggage. For domestic flights, you are allowed up to 160 Watt-hours. For international flights you are allowed up to 100 Watt-hours.

12. Why is there a separate DC barrel plug connector and PowerPole Connector on my battery? Can I charge through either connector?
On our PVC Pack Li batteries, there are two separate connectors. The first connector has a DC barrel plug and the second connector has an Anderson Powerpole connector. The two connectors are indeed wired in parallel on the PCM (protection circuit module) that is integrated in every single battery pack. So it is perfectly okay and fine to charge through the PowerPole connectors. Many customers requested two separate connectors in the batteries, in order to keep the battery’s charger attached to the battery, such that the battery and charger can be stored in a portable Go-Box. At the same time, customers can leave the PowerPole connector attached to the radio communications equipment, without having to repeatedly disconnect the charger from the battery, and attach the radio communications equipment. However, we understand customers want to charge through the Powerpole connectors and use various other third party products. We provided the two sets of connectors, simply for convenience purposes.

13. If The terminals/connectors on the battery do not fit my applications, what do I do?
You can change the terminal/connector to whatever type you need without voiding the warranty so long as you do not open the battery or modify the casing*. We can also provide for you any adapters and connectors where possible.
*Please note that putting and/or installing the battery into a third party container such as a Pelican Case, Battery Box or Ammo Can, etc. does not void the warranty. Depending on your application we may actually recommend you purchase a hard-case retrofit.

14. I have a universal lead acid charger with high charging current; can I use it instead to charge Li-ion batteries?
We do not recommend using lead acid chargers for Li-ion batteries. Lead acid batteries charge at 2.30V to 2.45V per cell whereas LiFePO4 batteries require 3.60V per cell. Your battery would potentially be undercharged, so you will not get use of the full capacity of the LiFePO4 battery, nor will balancing be triggered in the LiFePO4 battery pack, both of which are not desired. Furthermore, the floating charge of the lead acid charger is not expected by the battery and can cause problems. We recommend purchasing the battery with the bundled charger.

15. Can I buy another of the same Li-ion batteries to double the voltage or capacity?
We recommend that you purchase a single battery that meets your voltage and capacity requirement to avoid any potential problems. Problems may arise if you attempt assembly of a larger capacity battery from multiple smaller units. The risks incurred may result in injury depending on output of battery. It is important to understand that LFP batteries are not like Legos – you should not attempt to wire them together as such. Our batteries are all computer controlled and should not be confused with the more common SLA, AA, AAA, and other such basic batteries which do not have any type of computer chip control. If your requirements should fall beyond our standard product lines, we have the capability of manufacturing most custom orders. Our experienced staff will assist you to the best of our abilities.

16. What should I do when the battery stops working a few seconds after a high current draw?
Make sure the load is not exceeding the rated continuous output current. If the electrical load exceeds the limits of the PCM, the PCM will shut down the pack. To reset, disconnect the electrical load and troubleshoot your load and make sure that the continuous current is less than the maximum continuous current for the pack. To reset the pack, attach the charger back for a few seconds to the battery.