Is it okay to charge a battery with (much) lower current than recommended?

[tomashubelbauer]

Hi.

I have this SOK 206 Ah battery:

Marine Grade 12V 206Ah Battery, Sealed Plastic Box Bluetooth&Built-in heater | SOK Battery Europe

EU - Pre order. Will be in stock in mid-May. All pre-order can enjoy - €50 discount. Contact cusotmer service to get the refund. UK - Out of stock. Latest V8 version Bluetooth BMS.SK12V206PH designed for cold weather using! Can safely charge at temperatures down to -20°C (-4°F) by a standard...

www.europe.sokbattery.com

The specs say to charge using: 14.4-14.6 V and 40 A

I am not at the spot where my solar system is for a few weeks now but since I have this battery with me I am trying to figure out if I can do the recommended two cycles to synchronize the battery's internal BMS here so that I save time by having it ready for when I am where my system is again.

The problem is I only have this dinky wall charger here whose specs say it can put out 13.6-14.7 V and 1 A.

I am not sure if the voltage ranges overlapping like this is enough or if the wider range on the charger, especially towards the bottom of the range, could present a problem?

Also, the amperage this charger is capable of is super weak. It is meant for keeping the gel starter battery of my non-electric tractor lawn mower topped up over the winter and I happen to have it here with me. Since it only puts out 1 A and the battery says the recommended charging voltage is 40 A, should I avoid using it or will the only problem be the super slow charge time?

The battery came with 12.8 V on it and the BT app says the SOC is 0 % but I think I need to do the two cycles before it will synchronize.

I'm thinking if I can use this charger, I can charge the battery to full, even if it takes like two weeks or something, discharge it and then charge it again and get the two sync cycles done and over with.

Am I liable to run into problems by attempting to slow-mo bulk charge this battery using this charger?

 

[justgary]

I would not use a lead acid charger on that battery. If you must charge it at 1 amp, do it at 13.5 volts (3.375 volts per cell). Note that it will take days to charge it at that rate.

 

[Mattb4]

I am afraid your 1a charger will not do it. In the specs it recommends 40a and a max of 50a. I would say at the bottom end using .1C as reference you would need at minimum of a 20a charger.

 

[tomashubelbauer]

Okay, I'm got gonna try and hack it and I'll get a proper LFP charger instead. I am looking at Victron IP22 and where I live I can get 12 V / 30 A version. 30 A is much closer to the recommended charge current of 40 A so I think I should be definitely in the ballpark with that.

 

[Cdkipp]

Hi.

I have this SOK 206 Ah battery:

Marine Grade 12V 206Ah Battery, Sealed Plastic Box Bluetooth&Built-in heater | SOK Battery Europe

EU - Pre order. Will be in stock in mid-May. All pre-order can enjoy - €50 discount. Contact cusotmer service to get the refund. UK - Out of stock. Latest V8 version Bluetooth BMS.SK12V206PH designed for cold weather using! Can safely charge at temperatures down to -20°C (-4°F) by a standard...

www.europe.sokbattery.com

The specs say to charge using: 14.4-14.6 V and 40 A

I am not at the spot where my solar system is for a few weeks now but since I have this battery with me I am trying to figure out if I can do the recommended two cycles to synchronize the battery's internal BMS here so that I save time by having it ready for when I am where my system is again.

The problem is I only have this dinky wall charger here whose specs say it can put out 13.6-14.7 V and 1 A.

I am not sure if the voltage ranges overlapping like this is enough or if the wider range on the charger, especially towards the bottom of the range, could present a problem?

Also, the amperage this charger is capable of is super weak. It is meant for keeping the gel starter battery of my non-electric tractor lawn mower topped up over the winter and I happen to have it here with me. Since it only puts out 1 A and the battery says the recommended charging voltage is 40 A, should I avoid using it or will the only problem be the super slow charge time?

The battery came with 12.8 V on it and the BT app says the SOC is 0 % but I think I need to do the two cycles before it will synchronize.

I'm thinking if I can use this charger, I can charge the battery to full, even if it takes like two weeks or something, discharge it and then charge it again and get the two sync cycles done and over with.

Am I liable to run into problems by attempting to slow-mo bulk charge this battery using this charger?

I would repost this question in the LifePo4 DIY section. Other than crazy long charge times and probably burning out the charger the only marginal concern I have here would be holding the battery for an extremely long time at 14.7. Remember these batteries are often used in solar applications where the amp charge rate is going to vary throughout the day from 0 to the max of your solar charger. Lifepo4 chemistry has a max charge c rate for extending the life of the battery but the level they are talking about is still low (40 amps) and probably relates more to the limitations of the BMS in the battery. Going lower is not a problem.

 

[tomashubelbauer]

Thanks! I did repost the question there. I also decided to get a proper charger as I expect I will be expanding the battery bank and even if I did charge this one using the 1 A charger, I will want to do the first two cycles of any future batteries faster, so a proper charger will come in handy.