Lifepo4 quicker charge

5 posts / 0 new
Last post
dogman
dogman's picture
Offline
Last seen: 14 years 5 months ago
Joined: Tuesday, April 29, 2008 - 15:41
Points: 830
Lifepo4 quicker charge

After a few cycles I find that a 4 amp sla charger bought from www.monsterscooterparts.com is doing a fine job charging my 36 volt ping battery. Since I have a back injury I work a maximum of 6 hours a day, and using the 2 amp charger was leaving the battery a little bit low when I left work, resulting in a close to 100% discharge climbing the big hill home. Nothing real scientific here, but the sla charger is about 30% faster putting out a nominal 4 amps at a measured 44 or 45 volts. The lifepo4 charger is putting out a nominal 2 amps at about 48 volts. after a complete charge on the sla charger, putting the battery on the ping charger results in one or two balancing cycles for about 10 -20 minuites. On either charger, the end voltage at full charge is 44 to 45 volts. I had read on another thread, maybe at enless sphere, that charging lifepo4 with simple sla chargers was ok, but resulted in a slight undercharge. From what I'm measuring, it looks more like a full charge, but no balancing. I have trashed a coulple chargers carrying them around over the bumpy route I ride, so now I will be leaving the 4 amp charger at work, and still getting the balancing charge every night at home. In any case I will rarely get a total recharge at work unless I work a longer day. I figure its a lot better to ride home with an 90% charge than a 70% charge. This way, I will get home with about 30% left, or have the reserve for wind or the scenic route home. The ping battery is supposed to be able to charge at 5 amps so I'd love to find a 5 amp 36 volt lifepo4 charger. From a full discharge, the 2 amp ping charger is taking 9-10 hours to charge, and the 4 amp sla charger is taking about 6-7 hours. Too bad the pings can't charge as fast as lifebatt says they can, it would be really cool to have a 36 volt 100 amp power supply so you could sneak charge in about 10 minuites from public parks and restaraunts. That really would be free energy! A setup like that could make real, long distance ebike travel possible. How cool would that be to let the McDonalds or Walmart every 20 miles pay for a long trip. Seriously though, Im saving about 4 bucks a day in gas, and about 10 bucks a day in not putting the miles on the car. I've now spent about $1500 on two bikes, a cheap mongoose mtb, and a schwinn trike, two we brushed hubs, one set of sla's 48 volt and a ping 20 ah 36 volt. This will all take me about 5000 miles of riding to break even compared to driving the subaru, but after that, assuming any of this stuff lasts that long, it will then cost about 15 cents a day to get around. Since mr Bush just sent me $1200, as far as my wallet is concerned, it feels like it's all free now. I was filling up every 5 to 7 days and now I can go two weeks, sometimes even three without filling up. Once in a while I take the trike to work and then I can do light shopping on the way home. My commute is 12 miles one way, and takes 45 to 55 minuites either way, and about 70 minuites home if the trike is used. I still am getting buku excercise, mostly on the uphill home, and have dropped 5 or more pounds and have a lot more stamina. That alone is priceless. My strategy is just to get the subaru to last a few more years. The repairs make 4 buck gas not even matter when you calculate the cost of driving. If I can make the dang thing last another few years maybe lifpo4s for cars will get cheaper and then I can convert it next time it needs a big engine repair. Once its electric, the subaru chassis could go 500,000 miles with a few suspension repairs.

Mountain chen
Offline
Last seen: 7 years 10 months ago
Joined: Wednesday, September 5, 2007 - 19:18
Points: 319
Re: Lifepo4 quicker charge

We can provide 48V10A and 60V10A LFP battery charger with each cell balance performance.

jbird
Offline
Last seen: 15 years 5 months ago
Joined: Saturday, January 20, 2007 - 08:33
Points: 73
Re: Lifepo4 quicker charge

If you have not already done so I would check with Ping to see if he can get you a faster charger for a decent price and to determine the maximum current that the BMS can handle during a recharge. If Ping can't help get you a faster charger, then you may want to contact Falconev who has a 36V 4A LiFePO4 charger advertised.
http://www.falconev.com/batteries.html
http://www.falconev.com/LiFe_chargers-24v_36v_48v.jpg
The price is not cheap at $150 though, and there are no detailed specifications for the charger listed on the site.

dogman
dogman's picture
Offline
Last seen: 14 years 5 months ago
Joined: Tuesday, April 29, 2008 - 15:41
Points: 830
Re: Lifepo4 quicker charge

good idea, i just assumed that ping only had the 2 amp charger he supplies avaliable. the specs say you can charge up to 5 amps so i figured the 4 amp was cool even if it put out signifigantly more than its rating. the bad typing i cuz i broke both collarbones yesterday coming home. at about 5 mph, reaching for the waterbottle, i got the bottle stuffed into the front fork between the tire and fork. DO NOT USE WB CAGES THAT MOUNT UNDER THE FRAME! anyway, by the time i'm riding again good chargers should be more findable. i got into ths just wanting to e trike t the grocery store, but dug it so much i wanted more range, which goes exponential on ya how many amp hours you need to carry to get home if you are stuck charging at 2 amps or less. this use of an sla charger should do little harm as long as i get a balancig charge every night. i will get less cycles faster charging and more cycles never deep discharging. anyway i won't be using any gasoline at all for at least amonth.

Be the pack leader.
36 volt sla schwinn beach cruiser
36 volt lifepo4 mongoose mtb
24 volt sla + nicad EV Global

dogman
dogman's picture
Offline
Last seen: 14 years 5 months ago
Joined: Tuesday, April 29, 2008 - 15:41
Points: 830
Re: Lifepo4 quicker charge

can ya tell i got vicodin on board? i wont be ridig for a long long time now, or driving for about a month.

Be the pack leader.
36 volt sla schwinn beach cruiser
36 volt lifepo4 mongoose mtb
24 volt sla + nicad EV Global

Log in or register to post comments

Buy Ecotric bikes, get free accessories!


Who's online

There are currently 0 users online.

Who's new

  • Skyhawk 57
  • wild4
  • justinsmith07
  • Juli76
  • xovacharging

Support V is for Voltage