Solar panel chargers and LiFePo batteries

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I have a Ventus 2CXM with solar panels for charging the batteries. There is a panel mounted selection switch to direct the solar charge to engine battery or to the individual avionic batteries. I am thinking of upgrading my avionic batteries to LiFePo. Does anyone know if my solar panel charger would work with LiFePo batteries or if there be problems doing so? I am aware that the engine battery must remain a lead acid battery.

[JS]

I made the same change a couple of years ago. Strobl chargers work.
Jim

[Eric Greenwell[_4_]]

wrote, On 5/1/2014 5:42 PM:
> I have a Ventus 2CXM with solar panels for charging the batteries.
> There is a panel mounted selection switch to direct the solar charge
> to engine battery or to the individual avionic batteries. I am
> thinking of upgrading my avionic batteries to LiFePo. Does anyone
> know if my solar panel charger would work with LiFePo batteries or if
> there be problems doing so? I am aware that the engine battery must
> remain a lead acid battery.

I would contact the manufacturers of the battery and the solar charge
controller to ask each the same question: are these two items compatible?

--
Eric Greenwell - Washington State, USA (change ".netto" to ".us" to
email me)
- "A Guide to Self-Launching Sailplane Operation"
https://sites.google.com/site/motorgliders/publications/download-the-guide-1
- "Transponders in Sailplanes - Feb/2010" also ADS-B, PCAS, Flarm
http://tinyurl.com/yb3xywl

[MQ]

I agree as what is required is highly dependent on what your battery has and what your solar panels can output. However, this is very common and very doable. Many LiFePO4 batteries now have much of this built in as referred to on the other thread so the simple answer is yes.

For more detail- We have used PWM controllers on LiFePO4 batteries with great results. These are not as efficient as MPPT controllers (Morningstar has some nice ones) but are relatively simple, inexpensive (under $20 like the Kingmys 10A controller), CE listed and most allow you to do things like pump 8A into the batteries through a wired charger and charge them quickly as well as force your solar panels to charge the batteries at the right voltage and then stop whenever the battery is topped off. These can also protect your batteries from over discharging and may include other beneficial features. Cell balancers are also nice and will contribute to the life of the batteries.

[Dave Springford]

The Strobl system used by Schleicher will work fine with the LFP batteries. The only catch is the LFP's need 14.6 V to fully charge and unless the voltage regulator on the Strobl is adjustable, it will likely produce the 13.75 V required by SLA's.

This means that you can connect the Strobl to the LFP's and it won't harm them, but it also won't charge them to full capacity. It will help prolong their working capacity during flight.

[bumper[_4_]]

On Friday, May 2, 2014 7:58:49 PM UTC-7, Dave Springford wrote:
>
> This means that you can connect the Strobl to the LFP's and it won't harm them, but it also won't charge them to full capacity. It will help prolong their working capacity during flight.

go to ebay and search <DC DC Boost>

For less than $5 (including free shipping) you'll be on your way to fully charged batteries :c) Choose one with a suitable DC input range and output voltage (which is trim pot adjustable).

Note that a typical boost or buck boost regulator uses a high frequency switching circuit with fast rise and fall times - fair amount of harmonics. This can be mitigated by adding ferrites to the wiring.

These units work by trading current for voltage and vice versa.

bumper