I am using the Orion 50 buck boost to charge my winston lithium battery pack. The bms shuts the Orion off in and over charge event. Setting the output voltage to ~95% soc should protect the pack sufficiently, however does anyone know if this will be ok, or has tried it before? The lack of any charge algorithms concerns me.
No one has used this buck boost with lithiums!?
I have used it for Winston LiFeYPO4 batteries, but everything is depending on your BMS. When does it balance, etc.
You should be ok with a fixed charging voltage of 3.45V per cell, but some bms systems only balance at higher voltages.
Also, the buck-boost is generally only used when driving, so the battery won't be charged for very long times on end usually.
I don't understand your question. Are you asking if you set your the buck boost to 95% soc voltage should you be okay? Since this doesn't have direct charge algorithms like a normal charger, it's more of a CCCV power supply. If your BMS has the ability to shut off this charger when the battery is considered full, I'd do that. However if your BMS only has the ability to trigger a high voltage (over charge) condition, then you'd be charging this battery to whatever you set in the TSConfig app and since it's basically a power supply with no charge algorithm, you'd essentially be floating your batteries at 14v on a long drive (if this is a van or RV).
It’s the lack of algorithm and auto off that concerns me. I think what I’m really asking is, what is the best way to use this charge source to charge lithium batteries?
One idea I have had is to use the relay on the ccgx to turn it off, however not sure if the ccgx has a voltage level control of its relay feature - does anyone know? I am using it with easy solar and a BMvV-702 so will have accurate voltage info. I’m already using the relay on the 702 for lithium pack low voltage cut off (to van loads, easy solar etc is controlled directly by BMS).
Any info or other suggestions most welcome.
Ps yes it’s in an expedition camper
Thanks,
Anthony
The CCGX relay function doesn't have this feature set, but the multiplus has an assistant that you can use based off total pack voltage. This isn't the preferred method (by me) as this goes off total pack voltage and not individual cell voltage. However if you are okay with that, then it's an assistant you can program on the multiplus. However since you have an EasySolar, I'm not sure if those work the same as a standard Multiplus as it states:
Programmable relay which can be set for general alarm, DC under voltage or genset start signal function
In lieu of using a dedicated charger, you are effectively dictating the charging scheme via your design. As nebulight mentioned, the orion works like a 2 stage CC/CV charger with (unknown?) transition conditions.
For lithiums, that should be ok if you cut off the CV portion when a target voltage is reached (via your BMS?). Don't allow the CV stage to continue indefinitely; its just safer to not float lithiums.
edit: the above should work for your situation, but ideally I would have system where the BMS works independently of the charging system so if either system goes awry the other still keeps the limits in place.
