All Things You Need to Know about Lithium Battery Terminals

Lithium batteries have various electrical uses due to their ability to store electrical energy. Because of this ability, lithium batteries have a wide variety of uses right from the operation of watches, radios, computers, mobile phones, remote controls, and other electronic devices. By the look, a battery may only appear to be a store for electricity but in reality, there is an amazing science that involves the change of energy from one state to another. Because of the conversion of energy within the battery, it is categorized as a type of transducer by physicists. The electrical energy in batteries travels through their terminals the, cathode and the anode, or what we like to call positive and negative terminals. Lithium batteries come in many shapes and sizes, so do lithium battery terminals. The application range of lithium battery is quite wide from bracelet to car. Terminals of lithium batteries are made into different shapes to meet different application need. Maybe you have noticed that, for example, car lithium batteries always have cylinder shaped terminals, motorcycle batteries have square shaped terminals, some other terminals are simple tabs sticking straight out of the top of lithium batteries.

Content

Types of Lithium Battery Terminals
Different Lithium Battery Terminal Connecting Ways
Tips of Maintain Battery Terminals’ Connection
How to Reduce Poor Connection Chances?
What’s the Difference between Terminals and Lugs?

Types of Lithium Battery Terminals

Different types of battery connectors depend on the efficiency, usage, and type of material making up the connector. Here are the various types of battery connectors that you need to know about.

*Auto Mail Terminal (SAE Terminal): This is the most common type of battery terminals. According to its name, we can gain that it is ussually used in cars. When you are replacing your car battery, you can find that there are auto mail terminals. The diameter of negative post is alway smaller than it of positive one in order to avoid wrong terminal connection of reverse polarity. This is a way to avoid short circuit. Another terminal in car battery you can find is Pencil post terminal(common in Janpanese car batteries). Compared with pencil post terminal, the auto mail terminal is larger and more modest.

*Hairpin Terminal(Stud Terminal): The size of hairpin terminal is 3/8 inch. It is designed as a hardened steel threaded clamp for attaching and holding a terminal transfer terminal connection to the lead terminal base.

*Double post terminal/sea terminal(Dual Post Terminal / Marine Terminal): This type of terminal has an automotive post and stud. You can make the connection using either a traditional pressure contact or a ring terminal and wing nut connection.

*Terminal button:Terminal button is also known as embedded terminal or insert terminal.You will find these terminal from M5 to M8 which indicates the metric size of the diameter of the bolt thread. These terminal types are most commonly found in absorbent glass mat batteries used in emergency protection and UPS system. For example, if you have a battery with a M8 terminal, you will need a bolt with an 8 millimetre diameter thread.

*Terminal AT (double terminals type SAE / studs): They are commonly found in traction-type batteries used in heavy-duty cycling applications such as floor scrubbers and self-contained solar panels. This type of terminal has a carport and a hairpin.

Different Lithium Battery Terminal Connecting Ways
Parallel and series more than one lithium batteries in order to get ideal battery capacity and voltage is very common, that is what we said lithium battery pack. lithium battery packs are applicable everywhere. Multiple lithium battery terminal connections require care and precision to avoid confusion and some skills as well. Normally, there are two main types of multiple battery connections and that is the parallel and series type of connection.

Series Multiple Terminal Connections: In a series connection, batteries of the same voltage and amp-hour capacities are connected to make the voltage of the assembly increase. In a series connection, there are multiple terminals and so multiple terminal connectors are used as well. The positive battery terminals are connected to the positive terminal connectors while the negative battery terminals are connected to the negative connectors. This series continues until the required voltage is acquired.

Parallel Multiple Terminal Connections: In the parrel type of connection, several lithium batteries of the same voltage are connected to increase the overall assembly capacity. Unlike in the series connection where the positive terminals are connected to the negative terminals, in parallel multiple connections, the positive battery terminals are connected to the positive terminal connectors and the negative to the negative. the overall voltage and current are the same as the voltage and current of each battery. In this connection, the terminal connections should be by their suitability based on environment, ease of use, or type of machinery the batteries are being used.

Tips of Maintain Battery Terminals’ Connection
When battery-powered vehicle such as cars and e-bike and equipment meet the problem of intermittent performance issues, one of the most common reasons for this is poor connections between cables and terminals. Loose connections can be caused by both under-tightening and over-tightening of the battery terminal connectors, as well as corrosion that can occur over time.

*Keep Connection Clean between Terminals and Connectors: this tip can maintain the best connection state. If corrosion is observed on the battery terminals and connectors, they should be cleaned with a wire brush and a solution of baking soda and water to neutralize any electrolyte that may be on the surfaces. Using corrosion inhibitors after finishing proper connection is a effective way to reduce the corrosion formation on terminals. What you should to be noticed is that don’t apply grease or other lubericants between terminals and connectors because these materials will interfere electricity connection.

*Regularly Check the Cables : Check cables to determine if they are corroded. If cables are corroded, they need to be replaced immediately.Corrosion can often extend under the cable before the corrosion is visible. Studies have shown that wire cables with crimped connectors that are not soldered to the cable ends can corrode faster and create a high resistance connection between the wire cable and crimped connector. This high resistance can cause excessive heating during discharge and melt the lead terminal, causing a loss of connection and permanent damage to the battery. If any of the cables show signs of melted insulation, corrosion under the insulation, or have bare wire showing replace the cables and connectors.

How to Reduce Poor Connection Chances?
*Using appropriately sized wires

*Crimping wires properly

*Proper soldered connectors

*Proper torque settings

What’s the Difference between Terminals and Lugs?
Both of them firmly connect the battery cable to the battery case. For lithium batteries, the area of the posts can be unique. That is what brings us to the fundamental difference between carrying a battery.The function of lithium battery lugs is that they are used to connect the battery cable to the solenoid or starter pin. And the lithium battery terminals are most commonly used to connect a battery cable to a battery. And lithium battery terminals often found in automotive or marine applications. Battery traction systems are regularly used for more significant power consumption or installation applications. Negative and positive terminal would be helpful for proper connection for the battery terminals.