AC charger

[MaximusAnonus]

Please recommend me a nice AC charger for my LiFePO4 48V pack. No Victron. Alibaba links welcome. 30A minimum. Doesn't have to be very smart or anything.

 

[FilterGuy]

Sterling has a good reputation.

Battery Chargers

Market leaders in power distribution for off-grid purposes. Providing class leading AC/DC and DC/DC chargers, highly customisable charge options and high performance lithium batteries. Sterling aims to be an accessible performance brand.

sterling-power.com

Sterling Power PCU4815 Pro Charge Ultra 48V, 15A 3 Bank Battery Charger 887199001656 | eBay

Find many great new & used options and get the best deals for Sterling Power PCU4815 Pro Charge Ultra 48V, 15A 3 Bank Battery Charger at the best online prices at eBay! Free shipping for many products!

www.ebay.com

Since you said 'no Victron' these may be above your price range (particularly since you would need 2 to get to 30A)

 

[SamCF]

I'm looking for the same thing. These 15 amp chargers seem to be a waste when you can buy an all in one inverter with a much larger charger for a bit more money.

 

[FilterGuy]

BTW folks, as you are looking at chargers, keep in mind that a lot of boxes that are sold as LiFePO4 chargers are not much more than power supplies. They will charge up to the specified voltage and then just sit there without going into any kind of float mode.

For some applications where the battery sees daily discharges, this may be fine. However, if the application ends up leaving the battery at the target charge voltage for long periods of time it is hard on the battery.

 

[OzSolar]

I'm looking for the same thing. These 15 amp chargers seem to be a waste when you can buy an all in one inverter with a much larger charger for a bit more money.

It's not quite that simple. From some semi painful experience I can share that, speaking in general terms, most inverters and actually none that I know of will charge a battery that is more than a few volts below it's nominal low voltage cut off.

They need to be hooked up to something pretty close to what they are expecting to see or they won't turn on, end of story. What that means is that when you're trying to recover a severely discharged FLA or LiFEP04 you need to something that will spit out the volts and amps you tell it to.

edit: to clarify low voltage cut off.

 

[FilterGuy]

https://www.aliexpress.us/item/3256803496174910.html

It is only 10A, but it seems to have a 3-stage charge profile. Perhaps you could parallel 3 of them.

It is anybodies guess what the quality and reliability is.

 

[BlackWaterPark]

It's not quite that simple. From some semi painful experience I can share that, speaking in general terms, most inverters and actually none that I know of will charge a battery that is more than a few volts below it's nominal low voltage cut off.

They need to be hooked up to something pretty close to what they are expecting to see or they won't turn on, end of story. What that means is that when you're trying to recover a severely discharged FLA or LiFEP04 you need to something that will spit out the volts and amps you tell it to.

edit: to clarify low voltage cut off.

My Genetry Gs6000 can do all this. I can specify nearly any set points I want with it, and it has a bulk to float function that fully customizable... switching from constant current to constant voltage modes with a timer function of so desired. It's pretty slick, and the designer, Sid, is always improving the unit in one way or another.

There are caveats, however: it is LOUD while charging... like 747 in the tarmac loud, due to the very powerful fans in it, which work to keep the unit quite cool while running my typical 26 amps@242v through it for 4 to 5 hours in a charging session for my kilovault 7.5kwh habs.
The user interface takes some getting used to, as its designed from an electronics designer's point of view (and lexicon), but you get the hang of it after awhile.
Also, as mine stands, the charge efficiency is pretty low at ~63%, but he's been able to improve that number up into the low 70s, last i spoke with him. I just haven't bothered to do the OTA update on the software.

But really, this thing has been in constant service for 10 months now without a hiccup, and it's a 240v true 6000 watt LF inverter with an idle of ~24w, for (at the time) $1,100... WITH unbelievable costumer support. Try to find that anywhere else, right?

 

[MaximusAnonus]

Genetry Gs6000

While extremely neat and very nicely priced they are US only like all his products.

 

[timselectric]

I'm looking for the same thing. These 15 amp chargers seem to be a waste when you can buy an all in one inverter with a much larger charger for a bit more money.

For the money, this option can't be beat.
I actually have two planned for my system.

 

[BlackWaterPark]

While extremely neat and very nicely priced they are US only like all his products.

Ah crap, didn't know that. I wonder if one can't simply get one shipped overseas from here via an intermediary, if one were so inclined. I think they did go up to $1300 recently as well. I myself have been in the market for an external lifepo4 charger, for efficiency gains and less noise (whole system is under my first floor stairs, so i hear it pretty good), but alas, there are no offerings i can find which don't involve having to string multiple expensive 15a units together, rather than just one big one. There are a few out there, but your talking in the upwards of $6-10k for industrial sized units. Seems to me, in the arena of lifepo4 ac chargers, there's a huge market void for residential sized systems.

 

[MaximusAnonus]

https://www.aliexpress.us/item/3256803496174910.html

It is only 10A, but it seems to have a 3-stage charge profile. Perhaps you could parallel 3 of them.

It is anybodies guess what the quality and reliability is.

What about a simple MeanWell PSU, set to a fixed volts and simply automate it with a Shelly or some other IoT device? The price/quality/power ratio can't be really beaten when it comes to MeanWell PSUs and they make really beefy ones up to 100A and beyond. Would it damage the battery bank if I programmed it to come on at a certain point (like cheap electricity during the night on a winter weekend) and turned it off when it reaches like 3.55V/cell?

 

[FilterGuy]

What about a simple MeanWell PSU, set to a fixed volts and simply automate it with a Shelly or some other IoT device? The price/quality/power ratio can't be really beaten when it comes to MeanWell PSUs and they make really beefy ones up to 100A and beyond. Would it damage the battery bank if I programmed it to come on at a certain point (like cheap electricity during the night on a winter weekend) and turned it off when it reaches like 3.55V/cell?

I have not tried to design it, but on the surface that seems like it would work.

 

[OzSolar]

My Genetry Gs6000 can do all this.

Thanks for report on the Genetry. I keep forgetting it's out there but need to remember it. So you've asked it to charge a battery that was so low it's BMS's had engaged the LVD? I'm may be not using the right term. I've had to restart a few LiFEP04's batteries using a power supply because they we're so discharged the inverters refused to turn on.

 

[MaximusAnonus]

I have not tried to design it, but on the surface that seems like it would work.

I mean a simple PSU like the 1500W SE-1500-48 costs the same as a 600W 3-level HEP-600C-48 charger. The only downside is that the max voltage that can be set on that SE-1500-48 is 57V. Which is "only" 3.5V per cell in a 16S configuration. But I mean that should be plenty for this "top up with cheap electricity during months of bad weather" use case.

 

[MurphyGuy]

Get a real charger.
Get a Lester Summit II charger that are used on 48 volt golf carts.

Lester Electrical

www.lesterelectrical.com

Don't go hooking up some Chinese piece of crap to your battery and burning down your investment.

 

[FilterGuy]

Get a real charger.
Get a Lester Summit II charger that are used on 48 volt golf carts.

Lester Electrical

www.lesterelectrical.com

Don't go hooking up some Chinese piece of crap to your battery and burning down your investment.

I downloaded the manual and data sheet. They talk about multi-stage charging profiles but they do not say what the voltages and transition triggers are. Do you have that for LiFePO4 on these?

 

[yabert]

What about a simple MeanWell PSU

I used Meanwell power supply in the past with great success. I used RSP-1000 and RSP-2000 few years ago. Most continuous current power supply will do perfect job to charge lithium.
Interesting fact, I used a RSP-500-12 as DC-DC converter as those unit can take AC or DC input.

Oh, also noted those power supply can output 125% current continuously. So a 21A power supply is in fact a 26A

 

[FilterGuy]

Most continuous current power supply will do perfect job to charge lithium.

Yes..... if the cells are getting cycled regularly or if the power supply is removed after charge. However, I would not want to use one in a situation where it sits at the target voltage for long periods of time.

 

[yabert]

However, I would not want to use one in a situation where it sits at the target voltage for long periods of time.

I have no problem to let the charger in place at target voltage IF the BMS can disconnect the battery from charger in case of overvoltage

 

[MaximusAnonus]

Get a real charger.
Get a Lester Summit II charger that are used on 48 volt golf carts.

Lester Electrical

www.lesterelectrical.com

Don't go hooking up some Chinese piece of crap to your battery and burning down your investment.

I'm not charging a golf cart.