Recommend charger(s) for a 48V 10 AH LiFePo4 battery?

[ebike Richard]

I have a 48V 10 AH LiFePo4 (Lithium iron phosphate) battery and need to buy a charger for it.
Which one(s) would you recommend or good outlets to buy them from?
Would it be best to buy a charger which is especially made for LiFePo4 batteries or does it make much of a difference?
It needs to have a XLR male 3-pin connector.
I'd prefer one made out of metal instead of plastic (if possible), reasonably priced, and one which could be mailed to Thailand.
Thanks!

 

[tomjasz]

Budget? A Satiator is future proof, or as much as a charger can be but it’s a sting on the wallet. IF you intend to have or have other Lithium/SLA batteries it will also work with them. Or if on the tight budget there are a number of international vendors with good reputations. PM and I’ll link any one interested. I do not sell or receive payment for referrals.

 

[ebike Richard]

Thanks!
My budget is $50 or less, but I'm flexible.
I PM'd you.

 

[harryS]

LiFePO4 is a different chemistry than LiPo, which is what's in your newer packs. The nominal cell voltage is different, so a 48V LiFePo4 has a different voltage at full charge.

Using the wrong charger can result in too much voltage, or too low depending on the battery design and its chemistry. Looking on ebay, a nominal 48V LiFePO4 has a full charge of 58.4V, while a Lipo 13S battery has a full charge of 54.6V, Using a LiPo charger on a LiFePO4 battery will leave you undercharged by maybe 20%, Won't hurt anything, but it's only a 10AH pack and you're giving up a lot of of that.

I believe LiFEPO4 has 2X-4X more charge cycles, so there's less incentive to undercharge it. It's heavier for the same power and thus less incentive to use it,

 

[indianajo]

check ebay or ali for 48 v battery charger, then look at the pictures. the label usually shows the charge voltage. 2 a chargers are usually $12 to $22 here + freight. the $12 are the wrong voltage for the popular batteries today. You may have to change the battery connector with a soldering iron. My $12 charger was pictured with IEC connector but came in with round 2.5 mm external contact connector. I had a mating connector, easier to change connector than send it back.
I've got two 58.4 v chargers I'm not going to use since both LiFePo4 batteries were defective, but I'm not shipping the charger to Thailand. Having two chargers, one 100% charge voltage, one 90% charge voltage, is good. Full charge when battery is new and quarterly. 90% charger all other times to extend battery life.
People keep saying LIFePo4 is obsolete, but anything like LI ion that catches fire if the case is penetrated strikes me as a huge hazard. Wikipedia says LifePo4 is less flammable than Li Ion. I tried to buy one, twice, but both only had one or 2 stacks of the 14 working. Couldn't produce the rated 30 a full discharge current. Fraudsters!
I wrapped my Li Ion battery in sheet metal to prevent being poked open by a deer antler. Lots of deer charging across the road where I ride. They explode out of the bushes just when you are hitting 50 kph down a hill. Stupid as rabbits but much more dangerous.

 

[AHicks]

LiPo cells are 3.6v
LiFeP04 are 3.3v
Point being, you need a charger that's set up with an adjustable cut-off voltage, or one that's specific to the number of cells in your battery x 3.3v (NOT 3.6v!).

I don't believe LiFeP04 (often known as just LiFe) are one bit obsolete. Just the opposite in my mind.

 

[MarkF]

Life batteries are very much a popular and used battery today. They only charge to 3.6 volts so they work well in rc radios and as receiver batteries. They are also less prone to fires and can tolerate being discharged to low versus regular lipos. The only downside to life batteries is the lower voltage and higher weight compared to regular lipos. They were the main cells used in the early days of ebike packs. That changed when 18650 cells came out. So if you have a pack with life cells in it, you must have a life specific charger or you risk over charging if a regular lipo charger is used. There's nothing wrong with using life batteries as your bike pack. You will have a heavier battery with less runtime but also a safer one compared to regular lipos.

 

[AHicks]

Mark, I'm pretty sure you meant to say LiFe = 3.3v per cell. 6.6v as used in RC.

 

[MarkF]

3.6 is fully charged and how I rate lipo batteries. 4.2 for regular lipos.

 

[tomjasz]

Mark, I'm pretty sure you meant to say LiFe = 3.3v per cell. 6.6v as used in RC.

LiFePo4 3.2v nominal.

 

[MarkF]

And for those that don't know, nominal is a voltage factories put on the label to represent the voltage under a load. Voltage under load can be many things so I always use the full charge voltage when talking about lipos.

 

[AHicks]

Which seems to be a bit different than what I am used to seeing, which is generally more of a "working" voltage.

The numbers you are using in post 12 (LiFe = 3.6v/LiPo = 4.2v) are almost universally used for the 100% charger shut off voltages.

In RC, the numbers I've seen pretty much since these batteries were introduced are LiPo = 3.6v, and LiFe =3.3v.

So the take away here for newbies is when looking in to this while coming up to speed, it would likely be worth your trouble to make sure you understand which voltage you are reading about. This conversation makes that point pretty obvious. -Al