I am wondering if the Charger 1 can be hoked up to charge a 12V lifepo4 battery. I guess only if you lower the Charger 1 Voltage to a proper one for the 12V battery?
Or perhaps hooking to an MPPT then to the 12V battery?
Cannot find much info on this…and I was wondering if this Charger 1 can be used like this.
NO - The minimum output voltage of Charger 1 is 26VDC, it will destroy any 12V battery. It is not a battery charger as such, it is a variable voltage, constant current power supply, designed to charge power stations as their voltage is at least a nominal 24VDC or higher and they have their own inbuilt MPPT.
It may work from something like a Victron MPPT i.e. a 75V-15A or a 100V-higher amp, then to a battery. But at your own risk.
I use the Charger 1 in conjunction with a Victron MPPT to charge my 100ah lithium battery in my camper when traveling and it works just fine. It doesn’t care since the Victron MPPT manages everything going to the battery just like an internal MPPT controller in a solar battery does. I have it set up where I can also connect it to my Bluetti solar battery too. I keep the setting at 28v. Keep in mind if you have to change the output voltage of the Charger 1, always do it without any load hooked up to it 1st. I also used Bluetti portable solar panels when I’m boondocking with my camper. On cloudy days or when I’m in a lot of tree cover and solar won’t work very well I can temporarily charger my camper battery using the Charger 1 in conjunction with my Victron MPPT. Provides a lot of flexibility when camping.
@rcarlson1957 - Thanks for your insight. My “use at own risk” is only because I have not done this “Yet”, lol.
From a theoretical point of view, I would absolutely do this if needed, but not everyone has that knowledge and doing it wrong is dangerous.
The key is what kind of solar controller to use. A PWM, for me, is a no-no. Plus, with a MPPT, you need to check its input voltage limit and output characteristics. i.e. a Victron 75/15 will take up to 75V at 15A input, but it is only rated to 220W output at a nominal 12V. So, I would limit it, as you state, to 28V, which is still a slight over powering, which the Victron will absorb.
The other aspect is; connecting the output of Charger 1 to the input of an MPPT and then to a standalone LFP battery, still needs a source of power to the Charger 1, i.e. a vehicle alternator. Using a dedicated DC-DC charger from the alternator with a LFP charging profile is far more efficient, with a higher output.
Where the Charger 1 excels, (other than its primary use) is powering it from a spare LFP to then transfer that power to something like the Elite 100 v2 as a Pseudo expansion battery . Here, you get the full benefit of 560W charge. From a 100Ah LFP that’s roughly 1,300Wh of additional capacity, or more than double the Elite’s promary battery capacity. Of course, you then will still need to recharge that battery, lol. As I mentioned, Charger 1 is a variable voltage, constant load power supply, and does NOT have a battery charger profile as such.
Very good explanation. You do have to pay attention when sizing the controller. I use a Victron 100/30. It would nice to use that full 560 watts. I get less than half that set at 28v but still gives me much more wattage that if I installed a dedicated solar on the roof of my small camper when traveling.
Great input people. Thank you. I do have a Victron 100/50 that in theory accepts up to 750W of solar. So in theory should be fine to use it to connect Charger 1 to it and leave it at max power?
I am wondering for now, I do not want to blow things up :D
Would having a 100 50 victron controller give a better output ?
Also if you had a battery with a built in bms would you even need a mppt controller at all as the bms would handle the charge and stop charge once full ?
What if you get a 12v battery with a built in bms ? Will that not handle the charging for it and cut off the charging once battery has reached its float capacity?
I just read that the output from the charger 1 is only 10 amp so does that mean no matter what controller you use you can only get 145w output from the mppt to battery ? Sorry about all the replies
Yep the output from the Charger 1 is max 10 amps. But it a variable DC output you can set by their app on your phone. The max output you can set on the Charger 1 is 58v which gives you a max of 580w (58x10=580w). I have a Victron 100/20 solar controller that I originally sized to work with portable solar panels I have when boondocking. The 100/20 supports a max PV of 290watts at 12v. I set my Charger 1 out to 28v to prevent going over that limitation. I also use the 28v setting because that is what my Bluetti EB3A Solar Battery requires. One thing you have to look out for when using the Charger 1 is to NOT change the voltage output for it if something is connected to it as it can damage the item you have connected if you do. So by keeping my Charger 1 set to 28v all the time, I prevent that mistake from happening. If I were to get a larger solar battery that requires a higher output I’d have to take that into account. Yep I could set the Charger 1 for higher output voltage if I got a bigger Victron solar controller as they have a higher 12v PV input. The 100/30 has a max 12v input of 440w and the 100/50 has a max 12v input of 700w. But getting a max of @290w for my camper battery or to charge my EB3A solar battery is fine for my application. Most people with the little camper I have have solar panels installed on their roof from the factory and they never get that much watts when on the road. Mine is older and didn’t come with them and I didn’t want to install them. Using the Charger 1 gives me more watts at a cheaper price without having to mess with installing roof mounted solar panels. Personally, I went the solar controller route when using the Charger 1 to charge my lithium battery because everything I’ve ever read about the the Charger 1 recommends not going straight to the battery. Since I had the 100/20 controller anyway, didn’t see the need to take that risk. The only other thing I’ll add is my Honda Ridgeline uses a smart alternator. For the Charger 1 to work properly I have to drive with the lights on. Hope this helps.
@Sean755 As @rcarlson1957 mentioned, it is a variable voltage output, here is the Math and check out Watts Law on Google, lol.
As with other brands, Bluetti power stations have varying battery voltages and input limits, i.e the AC2A is a nominal 26V battery with a 200W DC input, the Elite 100 v2 is 51V with a 1,000W input limit.
The critical input limit is the Voc of a solar panel or the V of the Charger 1. So for the AC20A a 200W panel with a Voc of no more than 28V is OK. The Elite 100 has a 60V limit at 20A, so 2 12V panels in Series will give 45-50V Voc and the size of up to 20A (Approx 400W).
Charger 1 voltage and effect - It’s output voltage range is 15 to 56VDC at 10 Amps. The difference - 15V x 10A = 150W and 56V x 10A = 560W. Watts being the power delivered.
The real world effect of using Charger 1 to power a MPPT i.e. Victron for a 12V battery charge is; I’ll use a Victron 100/30 as an example, specs being Max V input = 100V, Max output = 30A and Max input = 35A. (This allows over panelling)
That’s great info thank you. I already have a charger 1 so i just need a mppt controller. What output voltage would you recommend for a victron 100/50 charging a 200ah lithium battery?
Im planning on adding a 505w solar panel in the near future so i will be able to lower the charger 1 to suit