206ah SOK battery only providing 11 volt after charging for days. Please help ! Need this battery to survive on the streets.

[Tjeerdpeerd]

Hi all, hope you're doing well.
I am a beginner and currently without permanent housing trying to fix a houseboat so this thing means a lot to me
I bought this battery 2 months ago and it does not seem to take a charge, I don't know what I'm missing. I've been charging it for 5 days with a Victron 12V 7A blue smart charger.
Checking with volt meter shows the charger outputs around 14 volt, and when disconnecting the charger and charger cables the battery only puts out 11 volt.
I know this is a slow charger only puting out 7A is this the reason or have I killed the battery because I waited too long with charging ?
(I was planning on building a solar system but I got caught up in other things so I decided to buy a charger too prevent the battery from getting damaged from sitting too long without charge)
Thanks so much in advance !! I really need this battery to survive I hope it's still usable. Cheers

 

[NVS]

It sounds to me like the BMS has turned off. You may need more charge current to turn it on again. You could connect it to your car via jumper cables to get more charge current. Then see what what voltage you get.

 

[corn18]

It sounds to me like the BMS has turned off. You may need more charge current to turn it on again. You could connect it to your car via jumper cables to get more charge current. Then see what what voltage you get.

Won't that result in a potential explosion? I was thinking about doing what you describe when my SOK batteries showed up in protect mode but read a lot of info that said it was not a good idea. All it took to get both my 206Ah SOK LFPs going was my 1.5A trickle charger.

To the OP, if it is reading any voltage at the main terminals, the BMS is not in protect mode. If you are up to it, take the top off and measure the voltage of each cell. While you have the top off, look for any damaged balancing wires. My first SOK 206Ah had a pinched balance wire and it would not take a charge. Once I repaired that, it popped out of protect mode and worked great.

 

[DThames]

Does your Victron charger show amps being output? 0 amps = 0 charge.

 

[rmaddy]

Have you installed the VictronConnect app on your phone or computer and properly setup the charger for LiFePO4 batteries?

At 7A it shouldn’t take much more than a day to fully charge 206Ah battery.

 

[Neo Anderson]

Have you installed the VictronConnect app on your phone or computer and properly setup the charger for LiFePO4 batteries?

At 7A it shouldn’t take much more than a day to fully charge 206Ah battery.

Hi Maddy thanks for your response. I have set it up to the Lithium Ion charge algoritm, the charger does not a LiFePo4 option. Do you know if this could be the problem ? I have seen a lot of videos by battle born saying their batteries can be charged with the charger I have. I contacted SOK and they say the charger I have is not suitable wich doesn't make sense to me because this is the charger they recommended to me.

 

[Neo Anderson]

Does your Victron charger show amps being output? 0 amps = 0 charge.

thanks i will have to check this in the app. If it doesn't show amps does that mean the battery blocks it or the charger doesn't put out amps ?

 

[Neo Anderson]

Won't that result in a potential explosion? I was thinking about doing what you describe when my SOK batteries showed up in protect mode but read a lot of info that said it was not a good idea. All it took to get both my 206Ah SOK LFPs going was my 1.5A trickle charger.

To the OP, if it is reading any voltage at the main terminals, the BMS is not in protect mode. If you are up to it, take the top off and measure the voltage of each cell. While you have the top off, look for any damaged balancing wires. My first SOK 206Ah had a pinched balance wire and it would not take a charge. Once I repaired that, it popped out of protect mode and worked great.

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thanks so much for the detailed info i have checked the different cells and they all put out identical voltages. I have found no damaged wires. Do you know if the charger I use is the issue ? I can only set it to Li-ion in the app so i was wondering if that could be the issue