Does anyone have instructions for Vpower 5-amp LiFePO4 charger?
12-25-09, 03:02 PM
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Does anyone have instructions for Vpower 5-amp LiFePO4 charger?
I got a 48V 20Ah LiFePO4 battery from a chinese company on Ebay, and it came with a Vpower 5-amp 48V charger for LiFePO4. Does anyone have a manual or instruction sheet for this charger?
I think the battery had a fairly full charge when it arrrived, it drove my ebike at fairly good speed with no apparent sagging. I put the battery on the charger, and the two LEDs came on. One was red and stayed that way throughout the charging session (which wasn't very long). The other was yellow when it came on, stayed that way for about 10 minutes, then turned green. A few minutes later it turned yellow again, then green, changing color every minute or two. I disconnected everything after 30 minutes or so, not wantinng to overcharge the battery before I knew what the charger was trying to tell me. The first LED stayed red for the entire 30 minutes, and I don't think the battery ever reached a full charge. Maybe that first LED would have eventually turned green if I let the battery charge all the way up, but I don't know - I'm only guessing about that part.
Does anyone know what these LEDs mean?
I think the battery had a fairly full charge when it arrrived, it drove my ebike at fairly good speed with no apparent sagging. I put the battery on the charger, and the two LEDs came on. One was red and stayed that way throughout the charging session (which wasn't very long). The other was yellow when it came on, stayed that way for about 10 minutes, then turned green. A few minutes later it turned yellow again, then green, changing color every minute or two. I disconnected everything after 30 minutes or so, not wantinng to overcharge the battery before I knew what the charger was trying to tell me. The first LED stayed red for the entire 30 minutes, and I don't think the battery ever reached a full charge. Maybe that first LED would have eventually turned green if I let the battery charge all the way up, but I don't know - I'm only guessing about that part.
Does anyone know what these LEDs mean?
12-25-09, 03:20 PM
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Sounds like it might be a bad charger. Others have citied problems with their new V-Power chargers in the V is for Voltage forums https://visforvoltage.org/search/goog...11&sitesearch=. You might want to consider buying a better LIFEPO4 charger since a good charger is critical to maintaining a healthy battery. Look at ones offered by US-based sellers like Battery Space. Good luck. You might want to join V is for Voltage and repost your question there.
12-25-09, 06:36 PM
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Very likely the battery is balancing when it does the green yellow cycles. New batteries take a few cycles to break in, after which they should stay balanced enough for you to seldom see the bms working. Your vendor should be able to answer what the led's mean exactly.
12-26-09, 12:25 AM
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Newmtnbkr, sounds like that VisForVoltage guy had a capacitor fail in a shorted condition, and blow a fuse (or more), leaving him with a totally dead charger. Mine still is alive, and for all I know may be working correcttly. I just don't know what "correctly" looks like on the LEDs. Haven't found hide nor hair of an instruction sheet for this beast yet.
I have a Fluke DMM and a WattsUp meter, haven't installed the WattsUp yet.
I plugged in the charger to the battery and into 110VAC, and it began the same behavior as described above. This was after it pushed my ebike (48V 1000W) for maybe ten minutes up and down the neighborhood, so I expected the charge to be a little depleted.
I left it for an hour, then came back. The LED that had always been red before, was still red. The one that had cycled between yellow and green, was yellow. Don't know if it was about to change back to green or not. I measured the voltage where the charger connected to the BMS, and got 60.2 VDC.
Then unplugged the charger from the wall, and disconnected it from the battery (BMS). Then measured the voltage at the BMS terminals again, and now it said 57.8 VDC (no current flowing now, or so I assume).
Does this seem fairly reasonable for a battery which just got charged up to the "full" point?
I hope to install the WattsUp meter on the handlebars in the next few days. Don't especially like the idea of running the high-amp wires (I have some 12ga wire) from the battery/BMS on the back rack, all the way up to the handlebars, then all the way back to the controller just behind the seat. But what's a mother to do. I want to be able to monitor amperage, voltage, amp-hours used, etc. as I ride, and that's the only way I can think to do it, unless I start fiddling with battery and/or controller placement.
Sound like a plan?
I have a Fluke DMM and a WattsUp meter, haven't installed the WattsUp yet.
I plugged in the charger to the battery and into 110VAC, and it began the same behavior as described above. This was after it pushed my ebike (48V 1000W) for maybe ten minutes up and down the neighborhood, so I expected the charge to be a little depleted.
I left it for an hour, then came back. The LED that had always been red before, was still red. The one that had cycled between yellow and green, was yellow. Don't know if it was about to change back to green or not. I measured the voltage where the charger connected to the BMS, and got 60.2 VDC.
Then unplugged the charger from the wall, and disconnected it from the battery (BMS). Then measured the voltage at the BMS terminals again, and now it said 57.8 VDC (no current flowing now, or so I assume).
Does this seem fairly reasonable for a battery which just got charged up to the "full" point?
I hope to install the WattsUp meter on the handlebars in the next few days. Don't especially like the idea of running the high-amp wires (I have some 12ga wire) from the battery/BMS on the back rack, all the way up to the handlebars, then all the way back to the controller just behind the seat. But what's a mother to do. I want to be able to monitor amperage, voltage, amp-hours used, etc. as I ride, and that's the only way I can think to do it, unless I start fiddling with battery and/or controller placement.
Sound like a plan?
12-26-09, 01:35 PM
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Newmtnbkr, sounds like that VisForVoltage guy had a capacitor fail in a shorted condition, and blow a fuse (or more), leaving him with a totally dead charger. Mine still is alive, and for all I know may be working correcttly. I just don't know what "correctly" looks like on the LEDs. Haven't found hide nor hair of an instruction sheet for this beast yet.
I have a Fluke DMM and a WattsUp meter, haven't installed the WattsUp yet.
I plugged in the charger to the battery and into 110VAC, and it began the same behavior as described above. This was after it pushed my ebike (48V 1000W) for maybe ten minutes up and down the neighborhood, so I expected the charge to be a little depleted.
I left it for an hour, then came back. The LED that had always been red before, was still red. The one that had cycled between yellow and green, was yellow. Don't know if it was about to change back to green or not. I measured the voltage where the charger connected to the BMS, and got 60.2 VDC.
Then unplugged the charger from the wall, and disconnected it from the battery (BMS). Then measured the voltage at the BMS terminals again, and now it said 57.8 VDC (no current flowing now, or so I assume).
Does this seem fairly reasonable for a battery which just got charged up to the "full" point?
I hope to install the WattsUp meter on the handlebars in the next few days. Don't especially like the idea of running the high-amp wires (I have some 12ga wire) from the battery/BMS on the back rack, all the way up to the handlebars, then all the way back to the controller just behind the seat. But what's a mother to do. I want to be able to monitor amperage, voltage, amp-hours used, etc. as I ride, and that's the only way I can think to do it, unless I start fiddling with battery and/or controller placement.
Sound like a plan?
I have a Fluke DMM and a WattsUp meter, haven't installed the WattsUp yet.
I plugged in the charger to the battery and into 110VAC, and it began the same behavior as described above. This was after it pushed my ebike (48V 1000W) for maybe ten minutes up and down the neighborhood, so I expected the charge to be a little depleted.
I left it for an hour, then came back. The LED that had always been red before, was still red. The one that had cycled between yellow and green, was yellow. Don't know if it was about to change back to green or not. I measured the voltage where the charger connected to the BMS, and got 60.2 VDC.
Then unplugged the charger from the wall, and disconnected it from the battery (BMS). Then measured the voltage at the BMS terminals again, and now it said 57.8 VDC (no current flowing now, or so I assume).
Does this seem fairly reasonable for a battery which just got charged up to the "full" point?
I hope to install the WattsUp meter on the handlebars in the next few days. Don't especially like the idea of running the high-amp wires (I have some 12ga wire) from the battery/BMS on the back rack, all the way up to the handlebars, then all the way back to the controller just behind the seat. But what's a mother to do. I want to be able to monitor amperage, voltage, amp-hours used, etc. as I ride, and that's the only way I can think to do it, unless I start fiddling with battery and/or controller placement.
Sound like a plan?
Whether your charger is acting normally, who knows? I agree that you should contact the company that sold it to you. However, I would still suggest that you consider getting a better LIFEPO4 charger. Definitely do not leave the Vpower charger on unattended. You don't want to burn your house down.
Good luck on the wiring. I need to order the Hobby City volt meter/power analyzer. I'm not looking forward to running yet more wires to the handlebars but one of my projects over the next couple of months is building my own LIFFEPO4 battery with TS prismatic cells and I'll need the meter on the handlebars, too. Just be patient and make sure everything is as waterproof as it can be.
12-16-17, 07:38 AM
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green-green means fully charged
Newmtnbkr, sounds like that VisForVoltage guy had a capacitor fail in a shorted condition, and blow a fuse (or more), leaving him with a totally dead charger. Mine still is alive, and for all I know may be working correcttly. I just don't know what "correctly" looks like on the LEDs. Haven't found hide nor hair of an instruction sheet for this beast yet.
I have a Fluke DMM and a WattsUp meter, haven't installed the WattsUp yet.
I plugged in the charger to the battery and into 110VAC, and it began the same behavior as described above. This was after it pushed my ebike (48V 1000W) for maybe ten minutes up and down the neighborhood, so I expected the charge to be a little depleted.
I left it for an hour, then came back. The LED that had always been red before, was still red. The one that had cycled between yellow and green, was yellow. Don't know if it was about to change back to green or not. I measured the voltage where the charger connected to the BMS, and got 60.2 VDC.
Then unplugged the charger from the wall, and disconnected it from the battery (BMS). Then measured the voltage at the BMS terminals again, and now it said 57.8 VDC (no current flowing now, or so I assume).
Does this seem fairly reasonable for a battery which just got charged up to the "full" point?
I hope to install the WattsUp meter on the handlebars in the next few days. Don't especially like the idea of running the high-amp wires (I have some 12ga wire) from the battery/BMS on the back rack, all the way up to the handlebars, then all the way back to the controller just behind the seat. But what's a mother to do. I want to be able to monitor amperage, voltage, amp-hours used, etc. as I ride, and that's the only way I can think to do it, unless I start fiddling with battery and/or controller placement.
Sound like a plan?
I have a Fluke DMM and a WattsUp meter, haven't installed the WattsUp yet.
I plugged in the charger to the battery and into 110VAC, and it began the same behavior as described above. This was after it pushed my ebike (48V 1000W) for maybe ten minutes up and down the neighborhood, so I expected the charge to be a little depleted.
I left it for an hour, then came back. The LED that had always been red before, was still red. The one that had cycled between yellow and green, was yellow. Don't know if it was about to change back to green or not. I measured the voltage where the charger connected to the BMS, and got 60.2 VDC.
Then unplugged the charger from the wall, and disconnected it from the battery (BMS). Then measured the voltage at the BMS terminals again, and now it said 57.8 VDC (no current flowing now, or so I assume).
Does this seem fairly reasonable for a battery which just got charged up to the "full" point?
I hope to install the WattsUp meter on the handlebars in the next few days. Don't especially like the idea of running the high-amp wires (I have some 12ga wire) from the battery/BMS on the back rack, all the way up to the handlebars, then all the way back to the controller just behind the seat. But what's a mother to do. I want to be able to monitor amperage, voltage, amp-hours used, etc. as I ride, and that's the only way I can think to do it, unless I start fiddling with battery and/or controller placement.
Sound like a plan?
