kmxtornado
10 kW
With LiFePo4 having a full cell voltage of 3.65 and Li-Ion of 4.2v, I understand I definitely cannot use a Li-Ion charger to charge my LeFoPo4 pack natively. However, if I'm able to set a charge of 80%, would that theoretically work?
In fact, I just noticed that the charger that comes with my battery says 80-85% charge, which makes me wonder if that's what the manufacturer is already doing. Limiting a Li-Ion charger to only charge up to 80-85%. Technically should be 87%, right?
A full LiFePo4 battery is 3.65v per cell. Whereas a full Li-Ion battery is 4.20v per cell. The difference is 13%, meaning the LiFePo4 has voltage of 87% of that of a Li-Ion battery if I'm doing my math right.
To confuse myself further, I'm noticing 48v Li-Ion chargers charge up to 58.8v and 48v LiFePo4 chargers charge up to 58.4v which goes against everything I understood up top. Ugh. Maybe someone smarter than me can explain this to me please?
UPDATE: okay, I think I understand why now. 48v Li-Ion is made up of only 13 cells whereas 48v LiFePo4 is made up of 16 cells. So this explains why the full voltage is so close together for a 48v battery even though the full volts per cell are vastly different between the two chemistries.
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Maybe all this stuff isn't that simple and I'm making it out to be. Educate me. I've run LiPo batteries on RC cars and FPV quads for years, but new to LiFePo4. It just makes me nervous to use a charger where I'm only looking for a green light and not actually knowing the voltage of the battery at any given time. Maybe I'm just paranoid. I'm the guy who storage charges all LiPo batteries when not in use and stores them in fire proof bags inside an ammo can in a metal cabinet off the ground in a concrete garage floor. I know the LiFePo4 batteries are a lot more stable than even Li-Ion which is my reason for selecting it on such a large battery (48v compared to my little 1-4S toy batteries).
Would love to know how you guys are charging LiFePo4 batteries.
ONES I'VE FOUND SO FAR:
There are a couple I found on Amazon by a company called WAOUKS for about $50-60 apiece. They have choice of an alligator clip so I'll need to cut those off and put on a proper connector. Another one has an XLR connector so that's my reason for considering an XLR connector for the charge cable on the battery itself. Neither of those have screens and aren't adjustable from a 5A charge rate (0.5C for my 48v LiFePo4), but at least they're metal shielded and looks like they have a decent fan.
What worries me about this charger though is that it says it's for Li-Ion, Lead Acid and LiFePo4 but is not adjustable. Sounds sketchy. Can't possibly be charging each one correctly that has different voltages for full charge.
In fact, I just noticed that the charger that comes with my battery says 80-85% charge, which makes me wonder if that's what the manufacturer is already doing. Limiting a Li-Ion charger to only charge up to 80-85%. Technically should be 87%, right?
A full LiFePo4 battery is 3.65v per cell. Whereas a full Li-Ion battery is 4.20v per cell. The difference is 13%, meaning the LiFePo4 has voltage of 87% of that of a Li-Ion battery if I'm doing my math right.
To confuse myself further, I'm noticing 48v Li-Ion chargers charge up to 58.8v and 48v LiFePo4 chargers charge up to 58.4v which goes against everything I understood up top. Ugh. Maybe someone smarter than me can explain this to me please?
UPDATE: okay, I think I understand why now. 48v Li-Ion is made up of only 13 cells whereas 48v LiFePo4 is made up of 16 cells. So this explains why the full voltage is so close together for a 48v battery even though the full volts per cell are vastly different between the two chemistries.
---
Maybe all this stuff isn't that simple and I'm making it out to be. Educate me. I've run LiPo batteries on RC cars and FPV quads for years, but new to LiFePo4. It just makes me nervous to use a charger where I'm only looking for a green light and not actually knowing the voltage of the battery at any given time. Maybe I'm just paranoid. I'm the guy who storage charges all LiPo batteries when not in use and stores them in fire proof bags inside an ammo can in a metal cabinet off the ground in a concrete garage floor. I know the LiFePo4 batteries are a lot more stable than even Li-Ion which is my reason for selecting it on such a large battery (48v compared to my little 1-4S toy batteries).
Would love to know how you guys are charging LiFePo4 batteries.
ONES I'VE FOUND SO FAR:
There are a couple I found on Amazon by a company called WAOUKS for about $50-60 apiece. They have choice of an alligator clip so I'll need to cut those off and put on a proper connector. Another one has an XLR connector so that's my reason for considering an XLR connector for the charge cable on the battery itself. Neither of those have screens and aren't adjustable from a 5A charge rate (0.5C for my 48v LiFePo4), but at least they're metal shielded and looks like they have a decent fan.
What worries me about this charger though is that it says it's for Li-Ion, Lead Acid and LiFePo4 but is not adjustable. Sounds sketchy. Can't possibly be charging each one correctly that has different voltages for full charge.