Choosing a comms site battery comes down to load, autonomy, temperature, access and how much a failure costs you. Most comms sites still run on lead acid, and many of them should not. Here is a plain comparison to help you decide.
Lead acid vs lithium at a glance
| Factor | Lead acid (VRLA) | Lithium (LiFePO4) |
| Upfront cost | Lower | Higher |
| Cycle life | Shorter | Much longer |
| Weight / footprint | Heavier, larger | Lighter, smaller |
| Performance in heat | Degrades faster | More tolerant |
| Usable capacity | Lower depth of discharge | Higher usable capacity |
| Total cost over 10 years | Often higher (more swaps) | Often lower |
| Best for | Low-cost standby, easy-access sites | Remote, space-limited, high-cycle, hard-to-reach sites |
Three questions to answer first
- How hard is the site to reach? The harder it is, the more lithium’s longer life pays back in avoided callouts.
- How hot does the cabinet get? Heat shortens lead acid life quickly. Lithium holds up better.
- What does an outage cost? If a coverage gap is expensive, buy the reliability.
Backup power has become a bigger focus for the whole industry. The mobile industry’s own work on network resilience during natural disasters highlights battery backup as a key part of keeping sites on air when the grid goes down.
Getting the comms site battery decision right
Before you choose, gather four pieces of information for each site: the DC load in amps, the backup time you need, the highest temperature inside the cabinet and how long it takes a technician to get there. Those numbers decide both the battery size and which chemistry pays back. Our FAQ on how many hours of autonomy a telecommunications site needs explains how to set the backup time.
If you are switching to lithium, check that your rectifier can be set to the battery’s charge voltage and that the battery management system can report alarms to your monitoring. Also confirm the battery fits the existing shelf or rack, as lithium modules are often a different depth to the lead acid they replace.
For a mixed network, the answer is rarely all one or the other. Many operators keep lead acid at cool, easy-access sites and move their hottest and most remote sites to lithium first, where the savings in callouts and replacements are largest.
Where SOLiCORE fits
For the most critical sites, SOLiCORE solid state lithium adds a further layer of safety and lifecycle certainty. Ask us where it is worth the step up.
Not sure which comms site battery suits your network? Book a battery replacement review.
