Lipo charger for LIFEPO4 battery

LeeEv said:

Hi everyone

1st post, please be gentle...

Currently waiting for 4 lifepo4 3.2v 105ah cells to be delivered along with a decent BMS. This will be made to be a 12v 4s battery to be used in a DIY solar generator so I can charge my drone batteries out in the field.

My question is, coming from a FPV drone background, I have a Hota lipo charger with a bench power supply function in it where I can set the output voltage to 14.4 and amperage up to 10 amps.

Can I use this to charge my 12v battery whilst I'm home? I take it the BMS will take care of balancing, undercharging and overcharging?

Thanks in advance for any replies.

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Luk88 said:

I come from the same background, but I use a Q8 charger. I'd recommend to charge your pack the same you would charge a 4S lipo with your charger. Make a set of balance leads and heavy gauge main leads. Set the charger to LifePo (hopefully it has this setting) and appropriate top voltage (no more than 3.65V, I set that high only when top balancing, usually 3.6V). Then charge it using the charger balancing feature.

Answering your question. Yes, you probably can use it in a PSU mode to charge, but relying on the BMS's ability to cutoff is not a good practice. If cells are in imbalance and the BMS has no active balance you can balloon one of your expensive lifepo cells. I much prefer to use the charger with balance leads as intended.

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timselectric said:

Yes

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