Hi guys, for those of you who are familiar with battery chargers, can I get away with using a DC-DC charger meant for lead acid or marine batteries on my lithium battery?
So I have ~1200w solar panel array and a 24v 230ah LiFePo4 custom DIY battery bank with BMS in my campervan conversion. Everything has been running fine for the last three weeks for full time living, but this Seattle weather I'm in is starting to get very cloudy and rainy for extended days, which is a big concern for power. Normally under a sunny day I would be able to get ~600-1000w of charge but on heavy cloudy or rainy days I only get between ~20-100w(my solar panels are also in parallel).
I'm full time city camping and would like to be as self sufficient off grid as possible, so I'm considering ways to charge up my battery more such as using a DC-DC charge from my van's 12v alternator/lead acid batteries to my 24v lithium battery bank. I found a used 12v to 24v, 10a DC-DC charger by Yacht that seems like a good deal for $100, but it doesn't seem to be meant for lithium batteries.
Now I know that lead acid and lithium batteries have different charge profiles, and the biggest difference is that lead acid battery chargers have an equalization mode which overcharges to remove sulfate crystals, and this stage can damage a lithium battery. However, according to the state diagram for this charger, equalization stage has a 28.8 charging voltage, which seems to be within a safe voltage for lithium batteries.
So, am I safe to hook up this 12v-24v, 10a DC-DC charger between my truck's 12v alternator and flooded batteries and 24v lithium battery? Will anything be significantly damaged?
So I have ~1200w solar panel array and a 24v 230ah LiFePo4 custom DIY battery bank with BMS in my campervan conversion. Everything has been running fine for the last three weeks for full time living, but this Seattle weather I'm in is starting to get very cloudy and rainy for extended days, which is a big concern for power. Normally under a sunny day I would be able to get ~600-1000w of charge but on heavy cloudy or rainy days I only get between ~20-100w(my solar panels are also in parallel).
I'm full time city camping and would like to be as self sufficient off grid as possible, so I'm considering ways to charge up my battery more such as using a DC-DC charge from my van's 12v alternator/lead acid batteries to my 24v lithium battery bank. I found a used 12v to 24v, 10a DC-DC charger by Yacht that seems like a good deal for $100, but it doesn't seem to be meant for lithium batteries.
Now I know that lead acid and lithium batteries have different charge profiles, and the biggest difference is that lead acid battery chargers have an equalization mode which overcharges to remove sulfate crystals, and this stage can damage a lithium battery. However, according to the state diagram for this charger, equalization stage has a 28.8 charging voltage, which seems to be within a safe voltage for lithium batteries.
So, am I safe to hook up this 12v-24v, 10a DC-DC charger between my truck's 12v alternator and flooded batteries and 24v lithium battery? Will anything be significantly damaged?