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Convert from FLA to LiFePo

By visiting Internet Archive Wayback Machine you could find the parameters of your WFCO charger.

We purchased our camper in October 2018. Our WFCO 8955 states: 14.4 bulk for up to 4 hours, 13.6 absorption for up to 40 hours, and 13.2 float charge. It seems the WFCO 8900 series is in most smaller campers.

We also have a 100 watt Renogy portable and Zamp port, with three 15' sections of Zamp 10 awg cable, and a Victron 100/20 SCC next to the batteries. With all three 15' sections having a controller on the portable means that it's sending lower voltage to the batteries resulting in an unacceptable cable loss, that's why the SCC is next to the batteries.

The WFCO could probably keep your batteries at 80% or more (just an off-the-cuff estimate), while a portable could be used to keep your LFP batteries charged to 100% many days.

Food for thought,

Perry
Not that the above charging profile won't provide charging to LFP, but found the other day that WFCO has a Lithium replacement converter to swap in the 8900's. https://wfcoelectronics.com/product/wf-8950l2-mba/

Converter TypeTwo Stage Converter Charger
Voltage Output13.6 – 14.6 VDC
Absorption Mode (Nominal Voltage)13.6V DC (nominal voltage)
Bulk Mode (Quick Charging Voltage)14.6 VDC
 
Not that the above charging profile won't provide charging to LFP, but found the other day that WFCO has a Lithium replacement converter to swap in the 8900's. https://wfcoelectronics.com/product/wf-8950l2-mba/

Completely false. 14.4V @ < 0.5C will get a LFP to a very high state of charge.

LFP held at 13.6V will accumulate ~95% SoC.

The larger issue is typically the voltage drop between the converter and the battery in RVs. You'll have the same problem with a Lithium converter, but LFP chargers may have a deliberately longer 14.XV absorption time that overcomes a portion of the issue created by crap wiring.
 
Completely false.
Now I am confused... hahah. I am not arguing or want to get into an argument.

All I was saying is that an FLA/AGM/GEL profile could charge an FLA. If having a dedicated FLA profile with 14.6v bulk and 13.6v absorption is absolutely what you want to go with, there is a relatively inexpensive and easy option for the WFCO 8900's.

I must be missing something or hit my head again. My reply was to a specific post so I may have jumped in too late after the storm. I in no way want to tangle with @sunshine_eggo and his knowledge.
 
I think what mr. waffle is saying is if you can get the charger to stay on bulk 14.4 you'll get your lifepo pack to 95+%
Seems like these chargers don't stay there though, as soon as the battery volts comes up they back off to their float or absorption stage, depending on the model, but a lower voltage like 13.6. That will take a long time to charge a lifepo pack. These profiles were established for old (and slow charging) FLA's.

The new 2-stage WFCO unit looks perfect, and I think the new PowerMax one is too. If you're not getting the charge profile out of your old FLA-centric converter/charger one of these new units might be the ticket.

I just went through the manual on the WFCO and it looks good. It will send bulk charge for up to 4 hours or until the pack level comes up. Not sure how that works in real life, would be curious to get a first-hand report from someone that has one.

The PowerMax one is slated to produce bulk charging at 14.6 for up to 8 hours before backing off to a 13.6 float.

WFCO manual:

From the manual - charging profile for 2-stage. Four hours may not be enough if you have large lifepo pack.

wfco.jpg
 
Now I am confused... hahah. I am not arguing or want to get into an argument.

All I was saying is that an FLA/AGM/GEL profile could charge an FLA. If having a dedicated FLA profile with 14.6v bulk and 13.6v absorption is absolutely what you want to go with, there is a relatively inexpensive and easy option for the WFCO 8900's.

I must be missing something or hit my head again. My reply was to a specific post so I may have jumped in too late after the storm. I in no way want to tangle with @sunshine_eggo and his knowledge.

My bad... I read "Not" as "Note" in the quoted text, which completely changed the meaning.... disregard.
 
My bad... I read "Not" as "Note" in the quoted text, which completely changed the meaning.... disregard.

? ok escaped the wrath.

I do have a question though about voltage and Battleborn's. I keep seeing them mentioned as the sweet spot is 14.4v. Do they have any issue with chargers that provide 14.6v? This is purely an informational question. Unless it's a marine situation where absolute rock solid dependency is required, I think they are overpriced in todays market.
 
The cells BB uses may well spec a slightly lower voltage for charging - they are using cylinder cells not prismatic cells and their charge profile may well be different. Or they run into the same problem with the high-voltage cutoff with the bms in their packs.

Supposedly cylindric cells are more durable than pouch cells - what you find in a Tesla pack. I dunno. ?‍♂️

EDIT: seems to be there was another ebay seller that was either making battery packs or having them made with cylinder cells, cheap too. But quite a few reports from users with bms over-voltage tripping on normal charge voltage levels. Global Power I think. I was going to buy a couple then read too many complaints.
 
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