I was recently given a lightly used V-Power 48v 20ah Lifepo4 battery. It is a little heavier than I like but hey, it was free. The only charger I have is a Luna 48v for my Li-ion battery on my other bike. I assume I need a different charger for the different battery chemistry? Any advice on a decent, low cost charger to get for it? Thanks for any help!
Need charger help
- Thread starter Xray
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wesnewell
100 GW
Chargers don't know what the heck the battery is. As long as it puts out the right voltage you can use it on both.
dogman dan
1 PW
Yes. What you need to do though, is figure out what voltage your v power battery needs. It's very likely to be similar to a Ping,, that is,, a 16s lifepo4.
This would charge to about 58v. But it may be a 15s,, if so,, 58v will be a bit high charged for it.
Charge it with your 54.6v charger if that is what you have. Then see what the voltage of each cell is. If a 56.4v charge gets all your cells to 3.5v while the charger is still plugged in, green light on,, then you have a charger you can use fine. Your pack is 15s.
If you have a 16s pack, your cells will only charge to 3.4v each.
However,, an old v power pack,, known to be a turd,, it may have lots of cells that only charge to 2v or less, and much of the pack may be a door stop. lightly used or not,, if it sat for awhile,, it may have some dead cell groups in it.
Plug in and try,, If your charger is a 58v,, it won't overcharge it beyond what 15s lifepo4 can handle. Do it outside though, just in case.
This would charge to about 58v. But it may be a 15s,, if so,, 58v will be a bit high charged for it.
Charge it with your 54.6v charger if that is what you have. Then see what the voltage of each cell is. If a 56.4v charge gets all your cells to 3.5v while the charger is still plugged in, green light on,, then you have a charger you can use fine. Your pack is 15s.
If you have a 16s pack, your cells will only charge to 3.4v each.
However,, an old v power pack,, known to be a turd,, it may have lots of cells that only charge to 2v or less, and much of the pack may be a door stop. lightly used or not,, if it sat for awhile,, it may have some dead cell groups in it.
Plug in and try,, If your charger is a 58v,, it won't overcharge it beyond what 15s lifepo4 can handle. Do it outside though, just in case.
Hwy89
10 kW
If there is a BMS circuit board inside the case you may be able to check individual cell voltages from the connector or test points on the board and not have to remove the shrink wrap from the cells. With your negative test lead on one end of the connector you should read positive voltage increasing by 3.5 volts per pin as you step sequentially across the connector. Note that some BMS boards use B- on the board as reference and others use the first pin on the connector.
Write the voltages down then figure out the difference between adjacent pins to get the cell voltages. This should come out something like:
S1 3.5....3.5v
S2 7.0....3.5v
S3 10.4..3.4v
Etc up to S14 or S15
Write the voltages down then figure out the difference between adjacent pins to get the cell voltages. This should come out something like:
S1 3.5....3.5v
S2 7.0....3.5v
S3 10.4..3.4v
Etc up to S14 or S15
dogman dan
1 PW
You will need to reach the plug to the bms to check cells, which likely is inside the wrap. If not, easy.
Hwy89
10 kW
If they are all 3.2 or 3.3 it is a sign that the pack probably has some life left in it. How many series cells did you find when you measured? You need to know this to determine charger voltage.
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