Server Rack Battery VS. Regular Battery

What is server rack battery?

Server rack batteries are one of the very popular home backup power sources today. In the past, it was heavily used in data stations or factories as an important part of the UPS. Now gradually, server rack batteries are being used by people as home use. Combined with solar panels and inverters to make a solar system for home. From now on, you can start off-grid life and save a huge amount of money.

The most common server rack battery is the 51.2V 100Ah battery. It can store 51,200wh of energy. But compared to a DIY backup power supply, it is smaller and will take up less space. Currently the most common server rack batteries are made with lithium iron phosphate.

What is regular battery?

Regular batteries mean the ones we use every day. In the past, we often used lead-acid batteries for various occasions. Now, lithium iron phosphate batteries are about to become mainstream. Although both lead-acid and lithium iron phosphate batteries are conventional batteries, they each have their own advantages and disadvantages. I will introduce them to you next.

Lead-acid batteries: lead-acid batteries compared to lithium batteries, cheap, good safety, there will be no danger of combustion, discharge current, usually within 5c are easy to cope with, low-temperature resistance, minus 30 degrees Celsius can also release nearly half of the electrical energy. But lead-acid batteries have a low energy density and a very short life span of 300-500 deep cycles. Generally speaking, its life span is only one year. Lead-acid batteries have memory effect, can't be charged at any time and discharged at any time; there is a serious self-discharge phenomenon, the battery is easy to be scrapped after a period of time; discharge multiplier is small, can't be discharged for a long time with high current.

Lithium iron phosphate batteries: Lithium iron phosphate batteries do not have a memory effect, no matter what state the battery is in, it can be charged and used as you go, no need to be discharged before charging. It has higher energy density under the same weight. The volume of lithium iron phosphate battery with the same specification capacity is 2/3 of the volume of lead-acid battery, and the weight is 1/3 of the lead-acid battery, and it can be deeply recycled more than 3,000 times. But it is more expensive, usually the price of 12V 100Ah battery is around 450 dollars. And the price of 48V server rack battery is around 1500USD.

Server Rack Battery VS. Regular Battery

If you are planning to build an off-grid cabin or are going to buy a battery as a backup power source, my recommendation is to buy a server rack battery. There are about a few reasons for this:

Greater Energy Storage: typically a 51.2V 100Ah server rack battery can store 51,200wh of energy for up to 5.7 hours of continuous use for a large appliance like an air conditioner.

Smaller space requirement: server rack batteries have no requirement for mounting orientation and it will not leak. If you buy 4 batteries at the same time, then you can stack them.

Communication interface: If you want to buy further inverters and solar panels later, then the best option must be server rack batteries. Usually, server rack batteries have an RS485 interface and some brands also have a CAN interface. By adapting it, you may be able to control it wirelessly.

LCD screen: Some brands such as Aolithium produce server rack batteries that have an LCD screen. You can view the real-time status of the battery directly through the screen.

Conclusion

Server rack batteries are more expensive compared to conventional batteries. However, it is still the best option if you are on a budget and save more money in the following 10 years.