Charging 12volt 100amp hr Litime

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Jan 23, 2023
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I just received my 12volt 100amp hr battery and I am going to charge it with my cellpro powerlab 8V2 charger. I have very little experience with lifpo4 battery's but a good amount with lipo battery's from my RC days. My question is what setting should I use to charge this battery

Thanks in advance
 
markhodges78@gmail.com said:
I just received my 12volt 100amp hr battery and I am going to charge it with my cellpro powerlab 8V2 charger. I have very little experience with lifpo4 battery's but a good amount with lipo battery's from my RC days. My question is what setting should I use to charge this battery

Thanks in advance
Does the battery have a balance connector you can connect to the powerlab along with the main leads? If not, you can't use any mode of the charger that requires cell-level monitoring.

For the chemistry you have, one of the A123 factory presets will probably work. What charge rate does the manual for the battery state it can handle? (or the manufacturer website for that model/brand if there is no info with or on the battery).

Presuming that the battery has only main + and - terminals, the A123 2300mAh Non Bal.1-5s preset should work, if all of it's settings and limits match the specs for your battery (if they don't, or you don't know your battery specs, any of these could be unsafe for it). Set the charge rate to whatever is appropriate for your specific battery (too high and it may damage the battery). Set the number of series cells to 4s for the typical 12v LiFePO4 battery.

Another possible preset is covered in the manual, but the only version I found online has no spaces in the text when copied, so it's not very readable:
https://studylib.net/doc/8091629/cellpro-powerlab-8--v2--manual

A1232300mAhNonBal.1-5sOptimizedfornon-balancechargingA123,2300mAhbatterypacks(balancewiresnotrequiredonthepack).FuelTableisoptimizedforthisspecificbatterytypeandcapacity.Selectablechargeratesinclude1CAUTOor10mAto20Amanual.Optimizationisfor–68–
PowerLab8User’sGuidefasterchargingwithterminationsettingsofC/10andmaxof15mintimeoutforC.V.mode.Thispresetisnotcapableofchargingeverycellinthebatterytoexactly100%becauseitdoesnothaveaccesstoindividualcellvoltages.Imbalancewillbepresentattheendofcharge;however,A123cellsarenotassensitivetothisproblem.Nev-ertheless,chargingA123susingthebalancedchargepreset(s)isrecommendedwhen-everpossible.ThispresetmayalsobeusedforLiFePO4typebatterieswhichhavesimilarchargecharacteristics.WhenusingLiFePO4batteries,FuelGaugereadoutmaynotbeaccurateandAUTOchargeratemaybehigherorlowerthanexpected.MaxAutoAmpsparameterisdefaultto5Aforthispresetwhichmeansthatunlessyoualterit,thispresetwillnotexceed5AmaxchargerateduringAUTOcharge.Defaultchargeratesettingis4.6Amanual.Becausethispresetisnotrestrictedbythebalancecon-nector,itcanhandle1-5cellsofthisbatterytypeonly.Otherdefaults:dischargerateset-tingis2.25A,dischargevoltage2.8V/cell.A1232300mAhNonBal8sFixedOptimizedfornon-balancechargingA123,2300mAhbatterypacks(balancewiresnotrequiredonthepack).FuelTableisoptimizedforthisspecificbatterytypeandcapacity.Selectablechargeratesinclude1CAUTOor10mAto20Amanual.OptimizationisforfasterchargingwithterminationsettingsofC/10andmaxof15mintimeoutforC.V.mode.Thispresetisnotcapableofchargingeverycellinthebatterytoexactly100%becauseitdoesnothaveaccesstoindividualcellvoltages.Imbalancewillbepresentattheendofcharge;however,A123cellsarenotassensitivetothisproblem.Nev-ertheless,chargingA123susingthebalancedchargepreset(s)isrecommendedwhen-everpossible.ThispresetmayalsobeusedforLiFePO4typebatterieswhichhavesimilarchargecharacteristics.WhenusingLiFePO4batteries,FuelGaugereadoutmaynotbeaccurateandAUTOchargeratemaybehigherorlowerthanexpected.MaxAutoAmpsparameterisdefaultto5Aforthispresetwhichmeansthatunlessyoualterit,thispresetwillnotexceed5AmaxchargerateduringAUTOcharge.Defaultchargeratesettingis4.6Amanual.Thisisanexampleofafixed-countpreset.Itwillnotauto-detectthecellcountofabatterypack.Itisdesignedspecificallyforan8cellA123pack.IfyourA123packhasadifferentnumberofcells,copythispresettoanEMPTYpresetslot,renameit,andalterthe“Cells”parameterfoundinthe“Detection”taboftheCCS.Otherwise,youmayfindanA123,fixedcellpresetalreadydesignedforyourbatteryinthePresetLibraryofthePowerLab8orwithintheCCS.Otherdefaults:dis-chargeratesettingis2.25A,dischargevoltage2.8V/cell
 
The battery only has positive and negative with built in BMS no balance cables. here is a picture of the battery specs also in the library of the power lab there is 1 preset for lifpo4 battery

battery.jpg
 
markhodges78@gmail.com said:
I just received my 12volt 100amp hr battery and I am going to charge it with my cellpro powerlab 8V2 charger. I have very little experience with lifpo4 battery's but a good amount with lipo battery's from my RC days. My question is what setting should I use to charge this battery

Thanks in advance
Impossible to answer accurately without knowing the make and model of that particular battery.
As AW said, the manual should have specific recomendations for maximum charge rate and voltage etc.
Is this a typical “Auto/Marine” 12v deep cycle design ?…
…if so , they are normally designed with an inbuilt BMS and intended to operate with conventional alternator based charging systems supplying 14-14.4v and rely on the BMS to limit the charge.
BUT, that is NOT the ideal charge programm which should have some form of CC/CV profile !

EDIT..
OK,..i see we were posting at the same time, and you have now provided the spec sheet..
Note though, that the “nominal voltage 12.6v” stated, is not the 100% full charge, which on most 12v LiFePo4 batteries is around 13.3 v..
12.6v (3.15 per cell) is only about 75-80% capacity.
 
Hillhater said:
markhodges78@gmail.com said:
I just received my 12volt 100amp hr battery and I am going to charge it with my cellpro powerlab 8V2 charger. I have very little experience with lifpo4 battery's but a good amount with lipo battery's from my RC days. My question is what setting should I use to charge this battery

Thanks in advance
Impossible to answer accurately without knowing the make and model of that particular battery.
As AW said, the manual should have specific recomendations for maximum charge rate and voltage etc.
Is this a typical “Auto/Marine” 12v deep cycle design ?…
…if so , they are normally designed with an inbuilt BMS and intended to operate with conventional alternator based charging systems supplying 14-14.4v and rely on the BMS to limit the charge.
BUT, that is NOT the ideal charge programm which should have some form of CC/CV profile !

Its a LiTime 12V 100Ah LiFePO4 with built in BMS. And yes Marine” 12v deep cycle design
 
Hillhater said:
EDIT..
OK,..i see we were posting at the same time, and you have now provided the spec sheet..
Note though, that the “nominal voltage 12.6v” stated, is not the 100% full charge, which on most 12v LiFePo4 batteries is around 13.3 v..
12.6v (3.15 per cell) is only about 75-80% capacity.

I'm thinking that the Nominal voltage 12.6 means it can replace a 12volt battery becouse wouldnt 12.6 be somewhere around 16% for a lifepo4 battery ?
 
LiFePo4 cells vary with voltage ranges between 3.6 and 2.0v
Most operate between 3.0 and 3.6v so that 3.15v could be 17% ..or it could be 75%,..depending on what cell chemistry is used .
You wont know for sure unless the manufacturer suplies the discharge chart , or you do some testing yourself.
EG:-this is one “typical” 100ah LiFePo4 cell…
https://www.rechargeablelifepo4battery.com/test/rechargeablelifepo4battery.com/photo/pl20374866-remark.jpg
 

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I assume you are familiar with that charger and how to set it up ( i am not !)
But you wont be able to sharge individual cells, so you will need to configure the charger for a 4s pack and a charge voltage of 14.5v ( capacity 1280 W) and max charge current of 20A
The cut off current will also need to be reset to 2.0A
There will undoubtedly be other settings to adjust but i am not familiar with that charger system to advise.
PS.. if you are installing this in a boat or camper as an auxillary “house battery” with an alternator chargeing system,..note the recomendation to use a correct Dc/DC charger to ensure correct charging and protection of the battery and alternator .
(Ask me how i know ?)
 
Hillhater said:
I assume you are familiar with that charger and how to set it up ( i am not !)

I'm not as familiar with it as I once was my RC planes have been collecting dust for some years now..

Hillhater said:
But you wont be able to share individual cells, so you will need to configure the charger for a 4s pack and a charge voltage of 14.5v ( capacity 1280 W) and max charge current of 20A

I can set it to 4s and I can adjust the charge voltage by changing the cell voltage. I can also adjust it up to 40 amps if needed. But as for the capacity I would have to leave blank because it only goes up to 800,000mah on the settings so it would cut it short but if I leave blank it shouldn't care about capacity and terminate on bms ?



Hillhater said:
The cut off current will also need to be reset to 2.0A

I'm assuming I would do this on the termination screen?
Termination.png


Hillhater said:
PS.. if you are installing this in a boat or camper as an auxillary “house battery” with an alternator chargeing system,..note the recomendation to use a correct Dc/DC charger to ensure correct charging and protection of the battery and alternator .
(Ask me how i know ?)

This would be on a boat for the depthfinders and GPS only all charging will be done off the boat

Thanks for all your input

Mark
 
Best would be to know each cells voltage. Which would be 2.5v thru 3.6v. But very little stored power above 3.5v or 14v.
It would be nice if you could unscrew the top and find the voltage of each cell as it rests and the voltage of each cell wouldn't fully charged with a voltmeter to test the voltage of each cell to give you peace of mind. Even though lifepo4 is very safe is not fireproof and the worst thing on a boat is fire.
Where do you live in United States. As where do you go boating is it a sailboat or a fishing boat ?
 
999zip999 said:
Best would be to know each cells voltage. Which would be 2.5v thru 3.6v. But very little stored power above 3.5v or 14v.
It would be nice if you could unscrew the top and find the voltage of each cell as it rests and the voltage of each cell wouldn't fully charged with a voltmeter to test the voltage of each cell to give you peace of mind. Even though lifepo4 is very safe is not fireproof and the worst thing on a boat is fire.
Where do you live in United States. As where do you go boating is it a sailboat or a fishing boat ?

This would be on a fishing boat on the James river in Virginia
 
I know this is an old thread here, and maybe I should just start a new one. My question is: how well can one infer state of charge for LiFePO4 batteries, like this one from LiTime?
I use voltage measurement quite a bit with lithium ion bike batteries, and I feel like if you know when to measure the voltage and how to interpret it, you can get a good idea of the state of charge in terms of percentage. I’m wondering to what degree that is also true with the LiFePO4 batteries that are so popular for RVs, etc.
 
See my reply in your other thread for the above:
 
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