Top balancing using iCharger S6 - charging over voltage

[lifish]

Hi Lads,

I'm new in this hobby and need your help. Apologies if the question is stupid.

I would like to top balance 4 EVE 230Ah lifepo4 cells using iCharger S6.

Setup is as following:
Cells connection:
|1- <-> 2- <-> 3- <-> 4- |
|1+ <-> 2+ <-> 3+ <-> 4+ |

iCharger balance port pins labelled as:
("-", "1", "2", "3", "4", "5", "6", "+")

iCharger is connected to 1- and 4+. Balance leads are connected from "-" iCharger balance pin to 2- and from the next pin to it labelled "1" to 2+. Icharger is powered by 12v power supply capable of 70A. Checked readings from iCharger using multimeter and they are accurate.

I run default "Lifepo4 Charge" iCharger program (which correctly detected setup as 1s, and auto-configured to charge till cell is at 3.6V) and re-configured the current to 35A. Everything went smoothly initially - 35A flowing into the battery, gracefully increasing input voltage and voltage on balance leads. Both were < 3.6A.

However when the leads voltage (measured between 2- and 2+) raised till 3.49V iCharger preferred to keep the charging current at 35A and raise voltage above 3.65V (as opposed to my expectation that it will keep the voltage at ~3.65V and lover the current gracefully). I stopped the process when the charging voltage reached 3.66V.

So, does this rise of charging voltage above 3.65V (the highest charging voltage from the cells spec sheet) is expected and safe, and if no is there any way to limit the charging voltage in iCharger S6 settings? (I read the manual, searched thru iCharger menu as well as tried to Google but did not find an answer to this question)

Thank you in advance.

 

[sunshine_eggo]

Your post is not clear.

Do you have the cells in series or parallel?

If in parallel, there is no need to use the balance ports because parallel cells are essentially one big cell and using the balance port may cause incorrect behavior.

Did you specify LiFe charge? There is no :"Lifepo4" charge. Default for LiFe is 3.60V. If you specified LiPo, default is 4.2V.

The purpose of the balance leads is to charge the cells while in series.

 

[lifish]

I had cells in parallel.

If in parallel, there is no need to use the balance ports because parallel cells are essentially one big cell and using the balance port may cause incorrect behavior.

iCharger didn't want start charging with balance ports not connected to the battery.

Yes, I used LiFe charge.

This voltage "run" above 3.65V was solved by reducing target current to 10A.

 

[sunshine_eggo]

You should only connect balance leads to - and 1 since there is only one "cell."

 

[lifish]

This is exactly what I did - I had only 2 balance leads "-" to the battery (-) and (1) to the battery plus.