LiFePO4 batteries operate a little differently but an appropriate charge is also best for maximum battery life. Multi-stage chargers are considered best for this purpose. While a constant voltage and current will charge a battery quickly, it’s considerably better for a deep-cycle battery’s health if a ‘trickle’ charge is used over a longer period of time. A typical charging voltage for a 12V battery varies between 12.9V and 14.1V. A charger reverses that chemical reaction, thus, recharging the battery.
![lithium battery charger lithium battery charger](https://modcrack.net/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/Rhino-Crack..jpg)
In discharge cycle, or when powering a load, a chemical reaction takes place that causes electrons to flow between the positive and negative electrodes via the battery electrolyte. Constant voltage, constant current or a trickle charge? And that means a LiFePO4 battery can be charged faster while minimising the risk of overcharging. Without getting too technical, the LiFePO4 battery has a much smaller voltage tolerance and, because of that, the ‘trickle’ charge of the deep-cycle battery does not apply.
![lithium battery charger lithium battery charger](https://i5.walmartimages.com/asr/429f4ce7-2c0d-4b41-b4b2-e5facbb5856d_1.91dc8a4e0ae9100e53fe3c8415957c88.jpeg)
At 20% capacity, a lead acid battery will have a voltage around 11.8V, whereas a lithium battery will hold its voltage at approximately 13V.
Lithium battery charger full#
For example, a fully charged lead acid battery will have a voltage of around 12.6-12.7V, whereas a LiFePO4 battery has voltage around 13.3-13.4V at full charge.
![lithium battery charger lithium battery charger](https://ozo-electric.com/5252136-thickbox_default/battery-charger-lfp-24v-20a-.jpg)
So does all that change the way a lithium battery should be charged? And what does the charging profile of a LiFePO4 battery look like? Battery charging profileĪ charging profile is a reference to the way voltage and current vary during a full charge of a battery, and it does differ depending on the type of battery, because they are functionally dissimilar and constructed in different ways. For this reason, any LiFePO4 battery should have its own inbuilt management system to ensure that all cells are charged equally. The problem is that once an individual cell is charged, it turns off the current and, since all the cells are wired in series, they then cease charging. Like most battery types, lithium batteries have individual cells (four, in this case), which are rated at 3.2V each for a total output of 12.8V. And whilst lithium batteries will only have a 3% voltage drop for much of the discharge cycle, all deep cycle/AGM batteries suffer from a constant voltage drop whilst discharging the typical range being 12.75-11.4 volts. However, a LiFePO4 battery will deliver well over 2000 cycles, as shown in a real life experiment held at the BMPRO headquarters. Doing that, a typical lifespan of about 500 – 600 charge/discharge cycles can be expected. The most effective way of getting a good battery life out of those batteries is to never let them discharge below 50% capacity. That might not sound impressive until you compare it with a deep-cycle/AGM battery. One of the major advantages of lithium batteries is that they can deliver a very large current down to about 20% of their capacity without any damage, and with 3% or less voltage drop. To answer that, it helps to have an understanding of how lithium batteries function. But, given that lithium iron phosphate (LiFePO4) batteries have very different characteristics and composition to other batteries, it raises the question as to whether they require different battery chargers. Their power-to-weight ratio is much better than equivalent lead acid / deep-cycle / AGM / Gel Cell batteries, and they have a higher discharge rate than those batteries as well. Lithium batteries have grabbed the attention of the RV market in recent years. However, the question stays:ĭo you need a lithium battery charger to charge your battery? Today, they are the battery of choice for many adventurers. When we wrote this blog post initially, lithium batteries for caravans were the way of the future. This post has been originally published in May 2019 and has been updated in September 2021.