Testing a Cheap Little LiFePO4 Smart Battery Charger

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Welcome to The Juice Box!
In today's video we take a look at a cheap smart battery charger. This charger is capable of charging Lead Acid, Lithium, and Lithium Iron Phosphate or LiFePO4 batteries. It also has a repair mode to bring your lead acid batteries back to life. Is a cheap charger worth the risk? Does this smart charger really turn off automatically? All these questions and more will be answered in today's video!
INFO FROM THE MANUFACTURER:
HTRC Smart Battery Charger:
Enhanced Edition Car Battery Charger 12V/10A 24V/5A Lithium Lead-Acid LiFePO4 Compatible Automotive Smart Battery Charger Maintainer/Pulse Repair Charger Pack for Car ,Boat Motorcycle, Lawn Mower
About this item:
【Wide range of applications】 12V 10 Amp, 24V 5Amp 7- stage battery charger suitable for all types of Calcium, GEL and AGM, Wet, EFB. A mode can be selected to charge car / truck batteries, motorcycle batteries, or AGM batteries.
【Smart digital display】 LCD display shows charging status and battery status; charging voltage, charging current, charger inside temperature, indoor temperature, full battery, summer mode, winter mode, etc.
【Multiple functions】 Fully automatic high-frequency charging offers 7-stage charging, automatically switching from fast charge to top charge and then to trickle charge. The pulse repair function can help repair lost battery and extend battery life. Note: You cannot activate a dead battery or repair a seriously damaged battery; it also cannot repair a 100% new battery.
【Smart Protection】 Built in circuit protection against reverse polarity, sparks, overload, overcurrent, open circuits, short circuits and overheating.
【ENHANCE QUALITY ASSURANCE UPGRADED VERSION】: We have received electric appliance authentication to our battery charger.
#lifepo4 #offgrid #thejuicebox
DISCLAIMER*
This video and description contains affiliate links, which means that if you click on one of the product links, we may receive a small commission at no extra cost to you. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases

[@mariodasilva8729]

After your review i bought this. I'm using this charger on 2x 12V 65A Lead Acid batteries (connected in parallel) as a backup power to the solar panels which get a lot of shade due to clouds. This 12V in turn go via a step up 12v to 24v booster to my emg. power gen. with 24v LiP04 batteries and keep that topped up. Works so far!

[@justinbanks2380]

Very cool to see you branching out in topics. If you want more length in between the clips if you hold one im each hand and pull apart, the red and black will separate giving you more space between.

[@the-juice-box]

Thanks!

[@larrymiller9894]

like a zip cord

[@googlechunkybig165]

Thanks for your video. I've just bought the HTRC P15 amp version. It must have been updated slightly from yours as the LCD display is much brighter and (strangely) the scrolling buttons allow you to charge at different amps 2/5A , 5/8A , 15/10A , Repair. Seems to work well (UK 240v mains)

[@KF0PBP]

Great video - I'd be interested in seeing you make an 'ammo can' solar generator. I've been studying this but get a bit kerfuffled when trying to understand how they work! :)

[@TheWoodHaven]

Nice format. Looking forward to that Bluetti review.

[@the-juice-box]

Anything in particular you're curious to see or learn about it?

[@TheWoodHaven]

@@the-juice-box Right now I'm researching to build a DIY Jackery-type battery box for power outages. The tricky part is getting a box large enough for a 50ah battery. The more like a Jackery the better: able to charge from wall/solar/12V DC, has an LED light, PD Quck Charge/USB 3.0 Quick Charge ports and a pure sine wave inverter at least 750 Watts. All the builds on KZbin right now are 5 years old or are just for kayaks and trolling motors. I want a low cost DIY Jackery. No one is building this on YT.

[@TheWoodHaven]

And of course links to all the parts : )

[@GCSol]

I have the 35 amp version I use to charge my DIY solar generator. I've been using it for six months and it works great.

[@the-juice-box]

That is awesome to hear! Hopefully this little guy keeps chugging along too.

[@2hotscottpro]

I’m only seeing a 30 amp ?

[@SteveH-TN]

Thanks for sharing this video, and information appreciate you taking the time to do this.

[@johnnybwrlr983]

I have the HTRC 35a charger to charge my 140ah lifepo4 12v battery. It worked well 3 times, but is very rf noisy. On the fourth charge attempt, the wires that are part of a red/black zip type cord heated, melted and shorted at the ip60 connector. This shorting tripped the battery bms and started arcing at the ip60 connector. I trashed the original cables and found some that the red/black cables were seperated. This worked and reset my bms. But the wires got warm at 31-35 amps. I'm needing an rfi quiet setup and i'm about to try the victron smart/blue, suggested by other hams and by the bioenno people.

[@logun1970]

Amazon reviews have a lot of reviews listing it as "died within (fill in time frame here)". Victron has a 5 amp for like $85 and has bluetooth... I think I'll skip this one.

[@josephjohnson6626]

If it is a 10 amp charger it should have charged a 100 amp battery in a little over 10 hours. So it sounds like something is off.

[@boblazarrss]

He was below minimum voltage to start with. The battery was sleeping.

[@KilonzoMwania]

He also said he charged it on and off because he didn't want to leave it unattended. That's why it took so long

[@mariodasilva8729]

I 9nly got this one for the XT60 plug and battery clamps, didnt last 6 months on my 2x12v 65a paralleled batteries! ERO message constantly whenconnected!

[@mariodasilva8729]

So how can we tell what thickness that red black cable is if you just say 5A at 24v?

[@kootenaycat]

I recently bought a HTRC charger for my LiFePO4 100ah battery. The charger display shows 14.2 charging volts but using 3 different multi meters I see only 13.6v at the battery. Now I'm concerned about it actually charging properly.

[@steveferguson1232]

Really cool Sam. I’m guessing reason it took so long is that it’s. Only a 10 amp charger

[@the-juice-box]

I am operating under the same assumption. :)

[@21inchwide]

Great demo!

[@guywhoknows]

I have a similar charger , cost £18. If you use the AGM setting it will also charge a lfp battery and the BMS will keep the battery safe. The issue you may get with some of these is the desulfurizing that they do before the charge (on other settings) But lead tends to have the same charge curve they have wrote as does lfp. Mine cuts a bit early imo as soon as it hits the charge voltage (max) which happens to be slightly below that of lead equalisation. If you're serious about batteries, you should have a meter to see what it's doing pzm make a good one and you can see what power is going in and out to test your capacity and if their current measure is the same as the industry standards... Mine seems to be a little over excited and the voltage is off by 0.02v. It won't actually start/wake the battery. But I've just built a better one in any event Why buy when you can build... I've a slow charger, variable 0.01-4.5amp and a 100amp variable :) and this one like this.

[@scottstubbs9913]

Thanks for the review.

[@lechatbotte.]

You’re a mind reader Sam. I so glad you’re posting here

[@the-juice-box]

I'm happy to finally get the channel going, too!

[@Tommyr]

I have one and they are excellent. There are a number of companies that put these out. I have a 20amp model. Made by Haisito.

[@the-juice-box]

Great to hear. I am pleased so far!

[@user-mi7my9fb4w]

Looks it is only CC mode charger, not CV mode at the end ,not full at rest

[@Jamie-re9cv]

What amp range do you recommend to charge a 100ah battery I have a cheap Amazon 4amp it charges slow

[@mm_99321]

Hi Sam, I wonder does it "Repair" function even work on LifePo4 batteries like for example bringing it back to life, after shipped and its all "locked" from the BMS stopping it to charge below 10v.

[@ScottDLR]

His battery was only at 4V so it looks like it had shut down and the charger jump-started it successfully.

[@ropeburn6684]

LiFePo4 batteries aren't suited for these "repair" modes and can get damaged and/or worn down by the higher voltage pulses. "Repair" modes are strictly for lead-acid batteries and must be avoided for LiFePo4.

[@abelincoln3261]

How would it be a fite hadard ? Its nit a bad lithium battety its a charger ...not the same issues at a. ..all ..

[@hamiresid7645]

200 amp lifepo4 akü için hangi şarj cihazını satın alabilirim?

[@redwood1957]

Was this your initial charge on this battery?

[@stevedutcher3875]

When are you doing the Cellpowa?

[@the-juice-box]

The CellPowa 2500 will never happen. That unit was defective and sent back.

[@petyweestraw]

Could I plug this into a built in inverter in my SUV to charge battery while driving?

[@the-juice-box]

I don't see why you couldn't.

[@larryhunter8245]

A dc to dc charger would be much more efficient

[@MrTyroneweaver]

I thought lithium ion charged at 14.8 volts

[@BillJones-LindaBrown]

At 10 A it should have taken 10 hours to bring it from dead to 100 Ahours.

[@williamkn621]

Sadly your Amazon link takes us to a 20 amp charger not the 10 amp charger

[@the-juice-box]

It's the upgraded model. The 10amp is either on backorder or discontinued since making the video. Figures, huh? :)

[@williamkn621]

@@the-juice-box yeah always seems to happen. I think I found it on Ali Express but I was wondering about Amazon so I wouldn't have to wait although truthfully not something I need need necessarily but certainly handy an extra option