icecube,
Thank you so much for your patient instruction about LiPo possibilities. I'm starting to see why you might say that LiPo has a bad rap, and from the below see how the correct construction and gear might safely make up for my congenital forgetfulness were I to go this route, i.e., be significantly idiot proof. (g)
icecube57 said:
I personally leave my pack connected to the charger at all times and have medics on the packs doing their thing. I check on them 1 once or twice a day. The charger I had in mind was a simple 3A cc cv charger that terminates charge at a target voltage and when he goes to charge the balance plug and charging plug is 1 plug and the discharge plug is totally separate.
If I could impose on you once more to assuage my idiocy or at least ignorance. 1) what do "cc" and "cv" stand for? 2) In your suggested pack for Mike, how many units of gear are involved in this charging protocol for this unified battery pack. There's a charger and balancer or is this one unit? One or two units, are they AC plug in or is an AC to DC power supply needed to power the charger and/or balancer? Is there a BMS that is part of the pack to prevent over discharge and charge ("medics on the Packs)? Is balancing something that happens each charge cycle or a special procedure every once and awhile? 3) Or to turn it into one big question, where does the smartness in this set up happen? What talks to what to assure optimum charging, the charger, the BMS or other "medics", the individual cells or cell packs? 4) And in your proposed pack is the smartness programmable by computer or controls on the units?
This is what I think I know. With a lead-acid pack the 12 volt batteries in series of however many for various multiples of 12 volt voltages are dumb and to significant degree self balancing, so the smart charger simply senses full charge at a preset max battery voltage and shuts itself off. With an LIFeO4 pack, the charger works much the same as the lead acid charger but the cell pack has a BMS, one task of which is to balance the individual cells as the whole pack comes to max voltage charge and the charger cuts out. The BMS also prevents over discharge in use. If my current understanding is correct as to lead-acid and LiFeO4, how does the LiPo pack you are suggesting to Mike differ?
I've essential asked the same thing about 3 different ways so, hopefully, you can answer relatively simply to one of them. (g) Thanks again,