# On Board Charger choice



## spdas (Nov 28, 2009)

On my Yaris with 144v Lifepo4 180ah, I am looking for a small on board charger that can maybe put back "enough charge to get me home". Something that will hook up to a 110vac source and give me maybe 20-40ah back. Can I just use a lead or agm charger (maybe Gem) that does 72v and bump up the 1/2 pack in an hour or so per side, or is there a good small economical 144v 30amp charger available? Since I am only putting back 20-40ah to a 180ah battery can I use the lead/agm charger safely? thanks
Francis


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## Guest (May 5, 2011)

> can I use the lead/agm charger safely?


No. They go into float mode and you can't leave it unattended. Have you tried one yet? My Quickcharger does not fully charge lithium and does go into a float mode. I won't leave it unattended. Quickcharger will at a nominal fee reprogram your quickcharger to charge your lithium and then shut off. Nominal fee of $50 if you have one already. You pay shipping. I plan on trying that with my 96 volt charger. Can't hurt for $50 bucks. 

Pete


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## spdas (Nov 28, 2009)

Not trying to whip a dead horse, but I was thinking about using the lead/agm charger to give the almost dead pack (20%) a small 1 hour/2 hour boost to just get me home, so the charger should not be even going near float yet. I was not thinking to use this charger to do a proper charge. Or maybe I would take a 2000w Honda generator along if I feel I may be pushing my range. (pull over to the side of the road for a couple of hours near the ocean, etc). Rather than being at 20% charge and need to push the last 15 miles and risk damage to the Lifepo4's. But searches on ebay and google are bringing up some OK 144v 20a lithium chargers. hmmmm.
Francis


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## eva-michael (Apr 13, 2010)

spdas said:


> On my Yaris with 144v Lifepo4 180ah, I am looking for a small on board charger that can maybe put back "enough charge to get me home". Something that will hook up to a 110vac source and give me maybe 20-40ah back. Can I just use a lead or agm charger (maybe Gem) that does 72v and bump up the 1/2 pack in an hour or so per side, or is there a good small economical 144v 30amp charger available? Since I am only putting back 20-40ah to a 180ah battery can I use the lead/agm charger safely? thanks
> Francis


 
There is internal setting difference between SLA and LiFePO4 charger. They have different charge curve.
You should check if your 110VAC can provide 144Vx30Amp=4320W. Otherwise you cant use it and just burn the fuse.
Below have a lot of charger for your infomation.
http://www.evassemble.com/index.php?main_page=index&cPath=3&zenid=m9or4jn38evc9bjqq66q23igb6


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## taken by aliens (May 26, 2011)

Current Ways makes a 3kW EV battery charger. Think they have a 110V and a 220V that you can setup to charge at whatever voltage or current you want. I think they have different cooling options too (air or liquid). Says they are submergeable upto 1 meter for 30 sec too.

I did some research on Current Ways, and they are in the San Diego area of California. Seems to be owned by a company called LHV Power, which is owned by HiTek Power. So they would probably be your best bet since HiTek is a globally known power supply designer thats been around more than 20 years.

Did some more research and found out the guy that built the "2SICC" EV daytona cobra that does 0-60 in 2.9 sec works for them and runs their battery charger for his LFPs.


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## Guest (May 27, 2011)

Sorry to say but that charger is not ready for prime time. Purchase at your own risk. It has been fully reviewed and tried. 

Pete


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## dtbaker (Jan 5, 2008)

be safe, be simple, be cheap... just be safe.  get a little elcon 1500 and have it set for your nominal voltage with a Li curve. Then, you don't have to WORRY and can grab a charge off 110 or 220 wherever.... and not blow any fuses on a typical house circuit.


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## taken by aliens (May 26, 2011)

Current Ways charger seems ready for prime time to me... looks like it even has its own BMS built in, and its UL 2202, GMW 3172, IP67, and FCC class B... doesnt have a price listed though

http://www.currentways.com/ProductView.aspx?PID=1001

TI also has some EV solutions to charging and BMS
http://focus.ti.com/lit/ml/szza058a/szza058a.pdf
http://focus.ti.com/lit/an/slua524a/slua524a.pdf?DCMP=hpa_growth_hev&HQS=Other+OT+powerpump

or a DIY one...
http://www.emotorwerks.com/cgi-bin/VMcharger.pl


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