Charger for initial charging and top balancing 24V 200AH LiFePO4 battery

[Jet]

Has anyone used this power supply? I need one to initially charge and top balance my batteries. It seems to be the cheapest 4 digit digital, fine adjustment, 10A 30V battery charger on amazon. It has a 70% 5 star rating (131 reviews).

https://www.amazon.com/NICE-POWER-Variable-Adjustable-Regulated-Higher-Precision/dp/B08CBT8GNW/ref=sr_1_23?crid=2MBP900UU3NH2&keywords=dc%2Bpower%2Bsupply%2Bvariable%2B30v%2B10a&qid=1638485405&sprefix=dc%2Bpower%2Bsupply%2B%2Caps%2C313&sr=8-23&th=1#customerReviews

This Kungbar is the highest rated similar product on amazon with 77% 5 star ratings. (1,985 reviews) However their are 4 versions 30V 5A, 30V 10A, 60V 5A, 120V 3A making it difficult to know the satisfaction level of the customers buying the 30V 10A model.

https://www.amazon.com/Kungber-Adjustable-Switching-Regulated-Adjustments/dp/B08DJ1FDXV/ref=sr_1_1?crid=4RVD3NM87C5J&keywords=power%2Bsupply%2B30v%2B20a&qid=1638486403&sprefix=power%2Bsupply%2B30V%2B2%2Caps%2C293&sr=8-1&th=1

There are several sellers selling Longwei brand chargers. 72-73% of people give them a 5 star rating.

The Dr. Meter Brand Will Prose recommends has a rating of only 70% (492 reviews).

https://www.amazon.com/Dr-meter-4-Digital-Multifunctional-Switching-Laboratory/dp/B082HXVRNF/ref=sr_1_16?keywords=Dr.meter&qid=1638489522&sr=8-16

Some verified purchasers of the Dr. Meter say it "is extremely poor quality". I fear Will Prose somewhat biased being greatly influenced by which brands are willing to give him affiliate links and not necessary the product of the best quality or value for money.

The Dr. does come with a handle on top as well as some of the Longwei models. Nice-Power is the cheapest, but the name gives me images of cheap chines junk lol. It makes since to go with the highest rated brand Kungbar but I really value the opinions of the users of this forum. I have no idea what features to truly look for in a charger. It seems crazy to spend a fortune on something I will only use once. I've been stressing about this and procrastinating for weeks. I need to determine what multimeter and amp clamp to buy also but that is another post. Please help.

 

[Bvillebob]

I bought the Kungber about a year ago, it's been perfect for me so far. I got the 30 volt 10 amp version.

 

[sunshine_eggo]

Some verified purchasers of the Dr. Meter say it "is extremely poor quality". I fear Will Prose somewhat biased being greatly influenced by which brands are willing to give him affiliate links and not necessary the product of the best quality or value for money.

This is pretty laughable. Will has stopped supporting products the moment he believes they no longer are worthy of it, and he'll make a video about it.

The bottom line is that these PSU you're looking at are all Chinese made junk. They will either work fine for a long time, or you will have problems early on, maybe even DOA. That's how Chinese electronics quality systems work... the end user is the QA inspector.

One thing that will be MANDATORY on all of them is to fabricate your own beefy charge leads. All of the units have poor charge leads, and they have excessive resistance resulting in significant voltage drop. They almost certainly be unable to provide 10A at a 3.6V set point right out of the box.

 

[toms]

The bottom line is that these PSU you're looking at are all Chinese made junk.

And yet a lot of people are happy to recommend connecting all your cells in parallel to one!

 

[sunshine_eggo]

And yet a lot of people are happy to recommend connecting all your cells in parallel to one!

And build batteries from those "grade A" cells.

Happiness is about managing expectations. Expect premium quality out of a $50 Chinese PSU, and you almost deserve disappointment. ?

 

[Bvillebob]

Good grief guys, I know it's tough times out there but the guy is just looking for a cheap charger to top up his new cells, not to run his house off of. I'm as big of believer in buying quality as anyone, No one wants to pay hundreds of bucks for a top notch supply to use a handful of times, no need to take it out on someone asking a simple question IMHO. I have high quality supplies, but they don't go below 5 volts, so I bought one of these cheap units to use a few times and it worked great for that purpose.

 

[Pyrofx]

I have been using the kungbear 60/5 amp.
Works great at 80%.
Above that they crap out.
I finally took one apart. Seems the fail point is the thermistor on the input . Solder a new one one and away we go again.
It's a 5d19 I believe.

 

[Jet]

Good grief guys, I know it's tough times out there but the guy is just looking for a cheap charger to top up his new cells, not to run his house off of. I'm as big of believer in buying quality as anyone, No one wants to pay hundreds of bucks for a top notch supply to use a handful of times, no need to take it out on someone asking a simple question IMHO. I have high quality supplies, but they don't go below 5 volts, so I bought one of these cheap units to use a few times and it worked great for that purpose.

I ended up getting the a open box Kungber from amazon for $65. I'm trying to figure out if I'll need a voltage blocking diode or not? Some people were committing on Wills top balancing video that a crowbar circuit could cause a short circuit across the outputs causing the power supply to fry.

 

[Jet]

I have been using the kungbear 60/5 amp.
Works great at 80%.
Above that they crap out.
I finally took one apart. Seems the fail point is the thermistor on the input . Solder a new one one and away we go again.
It's a 5d19 I believe.

I bought a Kungbear 30/10. Cool what do you use the 60 volts for? Should I use a voltage blocking diode when charging?

 

[Jet]

I also bought a Fluke 117 Multimeter so I can use that to test the accuracy of the bench charger. Battery cells should arrive tomorrow. I'm excited.

 

[Pyrofx]

I use to charge 48v batt.

 

[Jet]

I use to charge 48v batt.

As your primary battery charger? Doesn't that take forever. I'm bought the Kungbear to top balance/charge the cells and the 24V Multiplus to charge them once they are made into a battery.

 

[Pyrofx]

A couple days. Initial charge I dont care how long it takes