Bulk charging?

Fmsplr

100 µW
Joined
Aug 22, 2018
Messages
7
Location
Oklahoma city, Oklahoma
So I'm not clear as to how to charge my battery pack w/o a bms. I think i understand a balance charger setup but, looks like I'll have break up my battery into smaller series connections due to there are no 14s or more balance chargers available to buy or the few that exist are not reliable and not recommended and too high priced to be feasible?

So I hear of "bulk" charging. But can't seem to find any info as to how this exactly works?, type of charger? connect to battery?, charge time? Etc..
I'm sure it's out there I just dont know where or how to look but, if it's just hooking a type of charger to first and last poles on the pack? Wich is what I've kinda gathered, that's what got me in this mess. Bypassing my bms and hook charger up direct. My batts. went crazy and I had voltages all over the place with brand new 25r's. I did this with a vruzend 52v charger that I think is only for packs with bms's??

What I would like to do if posible is, do bulk charging and manually check voltages and.. I Guess? Balance charge every so often or as needed?

To me it seems that you have blindly trust a bms is doing what supposed to do and if it doesn't like something your just shut down wherever you are and don't know why and no way to quick fix it. sooo...start the peddlin!
Just doesn't seem logical. Well that's my 3 month experience take on that. So any education and recomendations will be of great help, consideration appreciation.

Sorry if this sounds stupid but that the only way i know how to learn this, is to ask the stupid stuff questions so all that's left are the correct questions then the answers start to come easy. I hope.
 
True bulk charging usually means balancing the cells w/ a "passive" discharge device like a Battery Medic.
I do it w/ LiPoly which comes in large "bricks" w/ large capacity pouches(cells). For example, my smaller 10 Ah pack is comprised of only two bricks, each with a 6 cell balance lead so I only need two Battery Medics(they go up to 6 cells).
The actual charger I use is a Mean Well HLG-320-54Am which can charge up to 58 Volts @ approx. 7 Amps.
I'm not a round cell guy, but I suspect that the number of cells required would make the balance wiring rather complicated and the number of Battery Medics needed would make bulk charging a round cell pack of any size impractical.
 
I bulk charge my 22s6p pack of 30Qs with meanwells as well. I charge through the balance wires using 3 meanwells. 2 meanwells charge 6s each and the third meanwell charges 10s. No need to disconnect anything. If i was you and don't want to buy another bms just buy a 14s charger from luna cycles and a cheap balance charger, add balance wires to your pack and monitor manually with a lipo monitor. Your 25r's should not go out of balance very often
 
devo1223 said:
I bulk charge my 22s6p pack of 30Qs with meanwells as well. I charge through the balance wires using 3 meanwells. 2 meanwells charge 6s each and the third meanwell charges 10s. No need to disconnect anything. If i was you and don't want to buy another bms just buy a 14s charger from luna cycles and a cheap balance charger, add balance wires to your pack and monitor manually with a lipo monitor. Your 25r's should not go out of balance very often

I did order another bms cuz i was jones'n for a ride and that was the quickest way to get running again. but looking to build another batt. Anyway so definitely check into this
Thanks for info.
 
Get something like this to monitor the balancing if you will be bulk charging. You will probably need 3 but they cost 10 dollars each. This tenergy monitor will sound an alarm if any cell goes over 4.22 volt. Other monitors only alarm when over discharge. I had too many battery pack go out of balance when they are near fully charge, so I highly recommend something to monitor the pack and set off an alarm if it goes over the limit. Needed especially if you plan to fast charge.

tenergy monitor 6s with overvoltage alarm, this one only alarms at overvoltage 4.22 volts not programmable.
View attachment 1

This is another monitor isdt bc-8s that also has a overvoltage alarm but cost 20 dollars. This one will alarm on li-ion and also lifepo4, over voltage setting programmable.
 
jonyjoe303 said:
Get something like this to monitor the balancing if you will be bulk charging. You will probably need 3 but they cost 10 dollars each. This tenergy monitor will sound an alarm if any cell goes over 4.22 volt. Other monitors only alarm when over discharge. I had too many battery pack go out of balance when they are near fully charge, so I highly recommend something to monitor the pack and set off an alarm if it goes over the limit. Needed especially if you plan to fast charge.

tenergy monitor 6s with overvoltage alarm, this one only alarms at overvoltage 4.22 volts not programmable.
tenergy checker.jpg

This is another monitor isdt bc-8s that also has a overvoltage alarm but cost 20 dollars. This one will alarm on li-ion and also lifepo4, over voltage setting programmable.
isdt bc-8s.jpg
Thanks that will get rid of some apprehension about not knowing if im screwing up my batteries.
 
Those devices only monitor, so what do you do if balancing becomes necessary?
The Battery Medic, while not an alarm, does both.
There are lots of junky BM clones(even Hobbyking sells one). This is the only genuine BM that I know of;
https://www.aliexpress.com/item/150W-3-in-1-RC-2s-6s-Lipo-Li-Fe-Battery-Balancer-LCD-Voltage-Meter-Tester/716017404.html
Idealy, bulk charging doesn't require alarms. Top charge value is controlled by the charger. The Mean Well HLG has adjustable top value setting and is a CC/CV unit(constant Current/constant Voltage). Over-discharging should be prevented by the LVC (low Voltage cut-off) of the controller, at least w/ LiPoly. Other chemistries should use a BMS.
 
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