I am pretty much a neophyte here so please forgive me if I am asking the most rudimentary questions of if this has been asked before.
Background:
I have built a little 12v DC only battery box with a 15 ah SLA battery complete with charge controllers. I copied a YouTube video. It was a good introduction.
I am building a much more advanced battery generator based on a 20 ah LiFePo4 battery (this might get an upgrade--didn't want to go too expensive at first) and has a built in inverter. This is built on a rolling tool case. I am about 85% done, BUT
I am already dreaming up a large ammo box build complete with a home-built LiFePo4 battery, meaning constructed from individual cells. All the info I see has an attached BMS which makes sense, but much of the functionality of the BMS seems to overlap with that of a charge controller (low voltage cutoff, etc.). I know that I would need a charge controller in this system somehow, but the builds I have seen don't have them. I assume that the charge controller is some type of outside unit.
My basic question is how do I connect a charge controller to a BMS? Is it as simple as plugging in the Positive and Negative leads from a BMS into the charge controller? Do I plug in leads from the battery unit directly, bypassing the BMS (seems wrong somehow)?
I would love any feedback I can get. And if you need any more details, I will happily provide them.
SIsolar
Background:
I have built a little 12v DC only battery box with a 15 ah SLA battery complete with charge controllers. I copied a YouTube video. It was a good introduction.
I am building a much more advanced battery generator based on a 20 ah LiFePo4 battery (this might get an upgrade--didn't want to go too expensive at first) and has a built in inverter. This is built on a rolling tool case. I am about 85% done, BUT
I am already dreaming up a large ammo box build complete with a home-built LiFePo4 battery, meaning constructed from individual cells. All the info I see has an attached BMS which makes sense, but much of the functionality of the BMS seems to overlap with that of a charge controller (low voltage cutoff, etc.). I know that I would need a charge controller in this system somehow, but the builds I have seen don't have them. I assume that the charge controller is some type of outside unit.
My basic question is how do I connect a charge controller to a BMS? Is it as simple as plugging in the Positive and Negative leads from a BMS into the charge controller? Do I plug in leads from the battery unit directly, bypassing the BMS (seems wrong somehow)?
I would love any feedback I can get. And if you need any more details, I will happily provide them.
SIsolar