Yes there is one big reason; they are being suppressed and have for decades. The corrupt politicians are trying their best to make them illegal. It is difficult to make money out of technology that do not have to be replaced every so often.
Case in point: I do not know how old the two batteries I am experimenting with now are, but they have a label on them saying the next service should be in 1991. So they are at least 34 years old. Hard to make money when products last so long.
Products that last forever carry a bigger price tag, always have. Aviation batteries were a lot more expensive but cost per start was lower.
In a consumer market no one wants 20 year old gear or anything that needs maintenance.
The reality now is lithium is consumer mainstream pricing with decent performance and little skill required.
5 years ago the price point was enormous.
In the last 2 years costs have halved.
I get your point. You’re passionate about the tech, but the reality is you have a rather niche perspective and no innovative company is going to invest time and money into legacy technology when there is an endless innovation todo list.
Short status update.
After doing a full commissioning charge, one of the batteries is measuring very good but one battery still have two cells that are measuring low, pulling up a couple of other cells. That battery could need new electrolyte. Since I have more batteries, I will see if I can replace it because I do not want to mess with electrolyte at the moment.
Regarding the settings. I am still experimenting with it, but setting all settings to 1.55V/cell works very well. When the batteries are fully charged, the resistance limits the charging power to about 10W which these batteries take without being damaged, and they do not seem to consume water. I am currently testing lower float settings. Results to be determined.
I would note that these batteries takes overcharging extremely well. So even though two cells in one of the batteries measure low causing a couple of other cells to measure high, they will not be damaged, and the performance of that battery is more than I need. But I will experiment further.
My first EVE LF304A b grade was 120 euro.
My second was 90 A-grade
My last one was 70 A-grade
They are now 45 euro per cell I think in the dutch/european store I that can recommend.
I started in 2023… And I started because LFP prices dropped and Victron prices dropped.
I had/have a lot of misery with NiCd and now with NiMh eneloops. As such I would not ever considered it a viable storage solution, but I am always open for new experiments.
If my house is finished and my off-grid installation has been moved into the house, I will certainly take a new look. At all chemistries.
My house unfortunately needs AC and that dictates using an MP2 in one way or another and that has a “limited” voltage range. But in my experiments it really doesn’t matter.