ICharger x8 charging very slow. Not sure why?

[Famtraveler24]

I am charging 8 280ah LiFePo4 cells in parallel using a TekPower TP1560E power supply and an iCharger x8.

I have all parameters set and the iCharger Life profile at 3.6v and 30A.

All cells are hovering around 3.3 and have been for what seems like forever.

Even though the iCharger is set to charge with 30a of current, as you can see, it is only charging at 2-5A. It is nowhere near 3.65 so I'm confused why the charging current is so low.

Can anyone help?

Thx.

 

[time2roll]

Those look like small wires and flimsy alligator clips.
Need #8 wire and ring terminals.

 

[Bud Martin]

280Ah x 8 = 2240Ah, so if the batteries are at 50% SOC = 1120Ah, at 30A charging rate will take you 1120Ah/30A = 37 Hours.
So what is that 2.83A reading on picture #1? Is that the charging current the batteries are seeing? Only 2.83A of charging current?
You need shorter charger wires, they are way too long, so too much Vdrops on the wires. What is the size of the charger wires? 10 ga?
The wires with red and black alligator are for Voltage monitor, correct?
OP:
"I have all parameters set and the iCharger Life profile at 3.6v and 30A.

All cells are hovering around 3.3 and have been for what seems like forever."
Something is not making sense, iCharge shows 3.797V!

 

[sunshine_eggo]

What is the power supply set to?

Why aren't you doing a balance charge in series?

IMHO, something is up with your connections or equipment. Through the load wires, it's measuring almost 3.8V @ 2.83A.

0.5V increase due to 2.38A? That's about 176mΩ resistance - horrifying.

Did you snug down ALL the nuts?

 

[Famtraveler24]

I'm very new at this so I'll give a shot at answering the questions. The wire I'm using is 12 AWG because that is the size of the output wire from the connector to the iCharger x8. It is long, so I can reduce the size and see if that helps. All nuts are tightened appropriately. Wires with clips are for monitoring voltage only. The power supply is odd. Voltage will only go up to 3.5 and current will not adjust at all when charging. Very odd. Maybe my PS is defective.

 

[Famtraveler24]

I took everything down and am now charging direct from the power supply. Voltage on the PS won't go above 3.5. Current is at 31A.

The batteries are now at 3.32-3.33. I left them off overnight and have just started charging again this morning. I'll write you know what SOC is at the end of the day.

 

[Famtraveler24]

280Ah x 8 = 2240Ah, so if the batteries are at 50% SOC = 1120Ah, at 30A charging rate will take you 1120Ah/30A = 37 Hours.
So what is that 2.83A reading on picture #1? Is that the charging current the batteries are seeing? Only 2.83A of charging current?
You need shorter charger wires, they are way too long, so too much Vdrops on the wires. What is the size of the charger wires? 10 ga?
The wires with red and black alligator are for Voltage monitor, correct?
OP:
"I have all parameters set and the iCharger Life profile at 3.6v and 30A.

All cells are hovering around 3.3 and have been for what seems like forever."
Something is not making sense, iCharge shows 3.797V!

The xCharger uses 12AWG wire for its connections. So I wasn't sure how to connect a larger size wire to the plug that goes into the x8 output. So I just used the same size. Thoughts?

 

[time2roll]

If the amps are 30+ all is good. Still going to be all day for the voltage to rise. Running at max will cause the power supply voltage to sag until the cells catch up.