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FAQ: using an automatic lead-acid charger for a LFP battery pack
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FAQ: using an automatic lead-acid charger for a LFP battery pack Question: I have a charger that worked with a pack of lead-acid batteries. The charger would start automatically when the voltage dropped (bellow 12V) and stop automatically when the battery was charged (some 14V). Now I replaced with the LFP pack, but the charger does not seem to work correctly. The charger would always start to charge for some time and stop (at some 14V) after that the voltage would drop to 12V and after some time the charger would start again. This would always repeat without the full charge of the battery. What to do? First we strongly suggest stopping the charging again and again. The LFP batteries are slowly damaged if they are kept at the full charge voltage by repeated charging again and again. You should always perform a discharge before you charge the cells again. If the batteries are charged to full, we suggest to perform a full cycle to see the discharge characteristics and to see how the voltage behaves. In contrast to the lead acid batteries, the LFP batteries will stay at the “operating voltage” (around 12V) for the majority of the time. Only when the capacity is nearing to the end (to full discharge state), the voltage will drop bellow 12V and will start going down deeply/quickly. Because the voltage levels for LFP cells and for lead acid cells are slightly different, we suggest adjusting the operating voltage of the automatic charger. Perhaps the charging should restart only after dropping the voltage bellow 11.8V and the charging should stop after reaching 14.4V. In some cases the lead acid chargers are not able to make the full charge of the battery pack. Some chargers indicate charging to 14V, but the real voltage is only 13.8V or even less. In such a case the battery is not charged to full and after loading the voltage will drop quickly. In such a case we suggest to make a proper charge with a LFP type charger (to some 14.4V). Summary: we suggest to make a full charge of the battery pack and performing the full cycle. This will help to analyze the voltage levels and will help to set the proper voltage levels on the charger. Check related articles: | |
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