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Can you use an adjustable dumb power supply to charge Lifepo batteries?

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Ok, so I have an adjustable power supply.
It can send out a voltage of anywhere from zero to 16 volts at 30 amps.
If I set the voltage to say 13.8 or even just 13 volts.
Will it be safe to use this as a charger?
As far as I know it will not shut off at any time for any reason though.
It is simply a power supply to supply power to whatever you connect it to.


Second question. Do I just connect the positive from the power supply to the positive on the battery?
In charging is this not reversed?

Thanks guys. :)

EDIT: And no there is not yet a BMS.
Just a paranoid me testing every half an hour LOL.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
SherylinRM said:
Ok, so I have an adjustable power supply.
It can send out a voltage of anywhere from zero to 16 volts at 30 amps.
If I set the voltage to say 13.8 or even just 13 volts.
Will it be safe to use this as a charger?
As far as I know it will not shut off at any time for any reason though.
It is simply a power supply to supply power to whatever you connect it to.


Second question. Do I just connect the positive from the power supply to the positive on the battery?
In charging is this not reversed?

Thanks guys. :)

EDIT: And no there is not yet a BMS.
Just a paranoid me testing every half an hour LOL.
Click to expand...
I thought your pack is going to be 24 volts?

Positive to positive, negative to negative always.
 
LOL sorry about that.
It is 24 volt, 280Ah batteries for a mobility scooter. I use it almost daily.
I need to be able to safely charge it up but not fully charged as that is extremely unsafe right now.
I have no proper power supply nor a BMS.
My goal is to get both of course.

Until I got those pieces, I was thinking to charge up the batteries as high as safely possible and then let them sit in parallel to balance out a bit. I have said this before a few times in other posts, but it bares repeating here also I see.

THIS thread is to find out the safest way to charge the batteries using only a power supply I can plug into the wall. If possible.
 
smoothJoey said:
Safest and safe are 2 different things.
Click to expand...
Safest is to sit in a corner and let others feed and cloth and etc you.
Not interested :)
I like to live life LOL.

But at the same time I am poor and can not afford to destroy perfectly good batteries. So I am looking for the safest way to charge them until I get the proper equipment to do so properly.

But I am sure your comment will be helpful to some one here. :)
 
SherylinRM said:
It is 24 volt, 280Ah batteries for a mobility scooter. I use it almost daily.
Click to expand...
Yes...I know you have a mobility scooter and I thought it was 24 volts. The reason I wanted to confirm is because you can't charge a 24 volt battery with a 12 volt charger. A 24 volt pack is not supposed to be discharged to less than 20 volts.

The only way around it is to make 2 12 volt packs and and charge them independently at the same voltage. Then hook the 2 12 volt packs in series. This would be the safest way IMO. I know there may be other ideas but just checking because I didn't know how you were thinking about doing this..or maybe you already knew? :)
 
Gazoo said:
Yes...I know you have a mobility scooter and I thought it was 24 volts. The reason I wanted to confirm is because you can't charge a 24 volt battery with a 12 volt charger. A 24 volt pack is not supposed to be discharged to less than 20 volts.

The only way around it is to make 2 12 volt packs and and charge them independently at the same voltage. Then hook the 2 12 volt packs in series. This would be the safest way IMO. I know there may be other ideas but just checking because I didn't know how you were thinking about doing this..or maybe you already knew? :)
Click to expand...
True enough. I have to remind myself to never underestimate stupidity. And if I did not say it then you have to check LOL.
But yes, I know enough to not charge a bank of 24 volts with a 12 volt charger.
Not a 36 volt charger hmmmm. Just go faster right? LOLOL.
Kidding , I am kidding. :)

But yes, I would charge them in two sections of 12 volts each. :)
 
Craig said:
You have 8 cells correct. Connect charger leads to 1st cell and 4th cell charge to 13.5.do the same to cells 5 thru 8. You could even charge a bit higher as long as you check your cells often to make sure one dies not get too high.
Click to expand...
From comments on other threads I am not sure if I am even going to go as high as 3.4 volts until I get the proper equipment actually.
 
So to recap and sure we are on the same page the predicament you are in is:

1. You have your 8 cell battery pack
2. You don't have a BMS
3. You don't have a proper lifepo4 AC wall charger
4. You need to use your batteries before you can accomplish point 2 and 3
5. You do have access to an adjustable 0-16v power supply (do you have a link to it?)

Is this correct?
 
Yes correct.
The power supply I have is adjustable from zero to 16 volts. The amps are 30 or 3. Nothing in between.
No link as I do not think it is made any longer.
I can look it up later though.

It is a power supply, no tapering off or any features I am aware of.
 
Dzl said:
So to recap and sure we are on the same page the predicament you are in is:

1. You have your 8 cell battery pack
2. You don't have a BMS
3. You don't have a proper lifepo4 AC wall charger
4. You need to use your batteries before you can accomplish point 2 and 3
5. You do have access to an adjustable 0-16v power supply (do you have a link to it?)

Is this correct?
Click to expand...
This is the power supply I have.
https://www.radioworld.ca/ali-dm330mvt
https://www.dxengineering.com/parts/alo-dm-330fx
Maybe you can see something I can't :)
 
Not seeing anything different.

Sticking with 13.6 is probably best to target 3.4V/cell average. Checking the 4 voltages frequently is a very good idea.
 
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