Charging parallel LiFePo4 & does not complete a charge.

[KA1J]

5-6 weeks ago I purchased four 12V 100Ah Anlibatt LiFePo4 batteries. I used one in my camper with solar charging and then ran it for 3 weeks with a trickle draw on it from a CO sensor. Two I hooked in parallel to use with a Samlex PST-2000-12 inverter. Those were used for several minutes to see how well a Microwave worked with them (It was perfect).

Yesterday I decided to parallel all 4 to get 12V @ 400Ah and to do so I ran buss bars for each + & - terminal, using equal length 4AWG wires with 125A fuses on each + terminal. Before connecting them I used a Noco Genius G2600 charger to charge each battery fully. This means I charged each till the green, full charge, light came on. Each battery acted the same with the charger: The fan came on through the initial 25% charge & the fan shut off through the 50% 75% & 100% charge led which took 1-2 minutes to achieve.

With all 4 fully charged I paralleled all 4 batteries and waited 1/2 hour for the individual BMS to equalize. I connected the battery charger and it began to charge but the charging went slower, the leds for charging stopped with the 75% flashing on & off, and instead of the Noco fan turning off with 50% charge, it remains on throughout & never starts showing the green light which represents 100% charge. So each individual battery charged 100% within 2 minutes or so and with identical charging characteristics. However, In parallel they make the charger run at maximum and don't seem to take a charge properly. When I remove the clamp from the charger there is a significant arc which shows the charger is still putting out a great amount of charge. More; after disconnecting a battery from the buss and connecting it to the charger it now does not take a full charge from the charger and acts like all the batteries in parallel did. Never showing the green 100% charge LED

Any idea of what is going on here and how to correct it?

 

[sunshine_eggo]

Yesterday I decided to parallel all 4 to get 12V @ 400Ah and to do so I ran buss bars for each + & - terminal, using equal length 4AWG wires with 125A fuses on each + terminal. Before connecting them I used a Noco Genius G2600 charger to charge each battery fully. This means I charged each till the green, full charge, light came on. Each battery acted the same with the charger: The fan came on through the initial 25% charge & the fan shut off through the 50% 75% & 100% charge led which took 1-2 minutes to achieve.

Unfortunately, this green light behavior can't distinguish between a normally completed charge and BMS over voltage protection (OVP)

With all 4 fully charged I paralleled all 4 batteries and waited 1/2 hour for the individual BMS to equalize.

Letting them sit in parallel after charging does nothing.

I connected the battery charger and it began to charge but the charging went slower, the leds for charging stopped with the 75% flashing on & off, and instead of the Noco fan turning off with 50% charge, it remains on throughout & never starts showing the green light which represents 100% charge. So each individual battery charged 100% within 2 minutes or so and with identical charging characteristics. However, In parallel they make the charger run at maximum and don't seem to take a charge properly.

Please quantify this statement.

When I remove the clamp from the charger there is a significant arc which shows the charger is still putting out a great amount of charge.

That just means there's a voltage differential between the charger and the battery. It doesn't necessarily indicate "a great amount of charge."

More; after disconnecting a battery from the buss and connecting it to the charger it now does not take a full charge from the charger and acts like all the batteries in parallel did. Never showing the green 100% charge LED

Any idea of what is going on here and how to correct it?

I loathe Noco. They're not bad, but they don't deserve the adoration they get. I prefer to know exactly how my charger behaves throughout the process. Noco is black box.

26A is a little on the high side for a single battery. The tail current may have been too high to actually charge each 12V individually.

26A is a pretty conservative value for a 400Ah battery.

It's very possible your individual batteries didn't achieve full charge due to the NOCO charge termination criteria - which we don't know.

Bottom line:

If your batteries are under 14.6V, and you can measure current flowing with a clamp DC ammeter, then your batteries are not fully charged.

 

[KA1J]

I connected the battery charger and it began to charge but the charging went slower, the leds for charging stopped with the 75% flashing on & off, and instead of the Noco fan turning off with 50% charge, it remains on throughout & never starts showing the green light which represents 100% charge. So each individual battery charged 100% within 2 minutes or so and with identical charging characteristics. However, In parallel they make the charger run at maximum and don't seem to take a charge properly.

Please quantify this statement.

A: In a normal charge sequence with these the 25% led and fan runs for about a minute. Then the fan stops and the 50%, 75% * 100% take about a minute to come to full charge where the charger shows a solid green LED. All of these batteries charged this way yesterday, before going to parallel. I am using the LiFePo4 setting. That sequence is what I'm calling a proper charge. Now the fan on the charger remains on throughout the charging attempt and the maximum result I see from the charger is 75% with that LED flashing and the fan running full. That's what I'm trying to describe as not taking a charge properly.

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With all 4 fully charged I paralleled all 4 batteries and waited 1/2 hour for the individual BMS to equalize.

Letting them sit in parallel after charging does nothing.

A: I'd read that before putting them in parallel one needs to charge them fully and be within .1% of a volt. So I did that.


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Bottom line:

If your batteries are under 14.6V, and you can measure current flowing with a clamp DC ammeter, then your batteries are not fully charged.

A: I don't have a clamp DC meter but I've wanted one for some time. I just ordered a Uni-T UT210e. My volt meter is showing 13.43V while charging. That's well below 14.6V. Something must be amiss, possibly with the Noco which is 4-5 years old now.

Curious if there's a low RFI LiFePo4 charger that is good for 12V and 48V I want to migrate to a 48V system within the next two years but still retain the 12V system as well.

And thank you for your reply.

 

[MakeMePower]

on the Noco, did all the lights go out except for the green?, or were all of them on and the green blinking? On my noco 10 the green light has to be the only one lit, that means full charge. if all the lights are on its pumping full amperage. the icon's are kind of worthless. you need an amp meter to see whats going on, or watch the bms amperage if you are able to do.

 

[KA1J]

on the Noco, did all the lights go out except for the green?, or were all of them on and the green blinking? On my noco 10 the green light has to be the only one lit, that means full charge. if all the lights are on its pumping full amperage. the icon's are kind of worthless. you need an amp meter to see whats going on, or watch the bms amperage if you are able to do.

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A: When I was charging one battery at a time (12V 100Ah), yes, only the green light. All acted the same way, maybe 2-3 min from connection to green only. After connecting all 4 batteries in parallel after going to one green prior to connection, now none of them go to green individually or in parallel. The 75% light (orange) is flashing and looking at the volt meter I have attached, the voltage is under charge 13.52, this after being attached for 3 hours, starting at 13.43. I have a feeling the charger has some issue; at 25amps charging, it should have been charged by now seeing as the charger showed full charge on each battery before being paralleled.

I just ordered a clamp on DC amp meter to see what's actually being done.

 

[MakeMePower]

brand new batteries are only charged about 50% on being shipped. your comment about them going fully charge in 2-3 tells me something was wrong. it won't charge them that fast. either a setting was wrong or the noco got confused. you put it in lithium mode?

did you check the voltage after you took them off the charger? if the fan is on and the unit is getting hot, they are not done charging especially at that voltage. 25 amps is literally nothing for 400 amp hours of battery. i pushed in close to 60 amps to my 100 ah one for over an hour.

 

[KA1J]

I've had these batteries for maybe 6 weeks now. I've charged them several times and they seem to keep a charge very well so the recharge "touch up" doesn't take very long with this charger. Even the battery in the camper which ran a propane heater for 1/2 hour & supplied lighting & trickle power to a few sensors took 3 minutes to charge. What's going on with this bank & the charger doesn't make sense. I have never seen 14+ volts through the Victron smart shunt or with the voltmeter wired in place. So I wonder if the charger (which is on the lithium position) is faulty.

RFI is an issue for me & I wonder if a different charger is better suited for me that is known to have low RFI? I've read the Victron 12V 30 Amp charger has low RFI, is 30A sufficient charge for a 400Ah bank (soon to be an 800Ah bank)? Or should I look for something with more Ah?