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