TOCOPOWER LiFePO4 20A Lithium Battery Charger User Guide

**TOCOPOWER LiFePO4 20A Lithium Battery Charger User Guide

**

Disclaimer

The manufacturer accepts no liability for any damage caused by: Force majeure including fire, typhoon, flood, earthquake, war, and terrorism. Intentional or accidental misuse, abuse,  neglector improper maintenance, anduse under abnormal conditions. Improper installation, improper operation, and malfunction of a peripheral device. Contamination with hazardous substances, diseases, vermin, or radiation. Alterations to the product without express written consent from the manufacturer.

Safety Instruction

Please keep the battery away from water, heat sources, sparks, and hazardous chemicals. Please keep the battery out of the reach of young children. Please wear proper protective equipment when working on the battery. Please make sure any battery charger or charge controller has been disconnected before working on the battery. Please use insulated tools when working on the battery. Please use recycling· DO NOT puncture, drop, crush, burn, penetrate, shake, or strike the battery.

• DO NOT open, dismantle, or modify the battery.
• DO NOT touch any terminals or connectors.
• DO NOT connect or disconnect terminals from the battery without first disconnecting loads.
• DO NOT place tools on top of the battery.
• DO NOT wear jewelry or other metal objects when working on or around thebattery.
• DO NOT dispose of the battery as household waste.
• DO NOT touch the exposed electrolyte or powder if the battery casing is damaged.

Specification

Battery parameters

166198170mm6.547.86.69 inch
Weight| 11.3kg/24.91lbs| 5.6kg/12.35lbs
Terminal Bolt Size| M8| M8
Operating Temperature Range| -4°F~140°F / -20°C~60°C Humidity：≤85%RHRecommended charge/discharge current≤1I1, when cell temperature is lower than 0℃，Recommended cool the cell, when cell temperature is higher than 55℃.
Charge Temperature Range| 32°F~113°F / 0°C~45°C
Discharge Temperature Range| -4°F~140°F / -20°C~60°C
Storage Temperature Range| -4°F~113°F / -20°C~45°CRecommend（25±3℃）；≤90%RH storage moisture range.
Combination method| 4S2P

Battery Management System(BMS) Warning and Protection
The battery contains a battery management system ( BMS) that warns you and protects the battery from over-voltage, under-voltage, short circuit. Please refer to the following table for the triggering and recovery condition of each warning and protection.

150±5.0A(100Ah)
75±5.0A(50Ah)
Discharge Over-current detection delay time| 1S
Short protection| Protection condition| Load short
Protection release condition| Charging release
Temperature(T) protection| Charge high T protection| 60±3℃/140±37.4°F
Charge high T recover| 50±5℃/122±41°F
Discharge high T recover| 60±5℃/140±41°F
Discharge high T protection| 60±3℃/140±41°F

Battery Performance Relation

Sample: 12V 100Ah battery environmental conditions required for all tests: 2 5 ± 5 C/ 7 7 ° F± 9 °

General Installation Guide

Installation Environment
The battery should be installed in a clean, cool, and dry place, keeping water, oil, anddirt away from the battery. The accumulation of these materials on the battery cancans current leakage, resulting in self-discharge and a possible short circuit. Sufficient air flow must be provided to prevent excessive heat build-up and to minimize temperature variation between the batteries. Preparation Before the installation and operation of the battery, it is recommended to have the following equipment or tools available: Proper
Protective
Equipment Insulated Tool(s)
Multimeter Battery Cable
Battery Charger / Charge Controller
Inspection

Please check for visible damages include cracks, dents, deformation, and other visibleabnorma lities. The top of the battery and terminal connections should be clean, free of dirt and corrosion ,and dry. If any problems are detected with the battery, please contact us for assistance. DO NOT short-circuit the battery terminals. Doing so can cause current bursts andleadtoi rrever sible damage to the system and the battery. Please verify the polarity before connecting the wiring. Reversing polarity can and will destroy the battery. Please use circuit breakers, fuses, or disconnects appropriately sized by a certifiedel ectrician, licensed installers, or regional code authorities to protect all electrical equipment.
Cable Sizing
Battery cables should be appropriately sized to handle the expected load. Please refer to the following table for the ampacities of copper cables with different gauge sizes.

Batteries Connection
DO NOT string batteries with different chemistry, brands, models, rated capacities, ornominal voltages in parallel.
Please avoid too high a voltage difference between paralleled batteries, despitetheauto-balancing function, to avoid triggering the over-voltage protection.
In parallel battery banks, the cables between each battery should be of equal lengthtoensure that all batteries in the system can work equally together. It is not recommended to connect more than 4 batteries in parallel to ensure the normal functioning of auto balance. The series connection means that the negative electrode of the first lithium battery is    connected to the positive electrode of the second lithium battery, and the negative electrode of the second lithium the battery is connected to the positive electrode nof the third battery, and so on, until the required voltage is reached. The voltage of this connection method is all The total voltage of the cells connected, and the string current rating keeps a single battery.
Note : If you need to connect 2 or more 12v batteries in series, please prepare
a battery equalizer for balancing charge. Or you should charge them separately toavoidt he voltage difference. If you want to expand your battery bank capacity, a parallel connection is a better waywith out charging issues.
The parallel mode means that the positive pole of the first lithium battery is connected to the positive pole of the second cell, and the negative pole is connected to the negativepole, and so on. The string voltage is as a single battery, and the total discharge current is the sumof allbattery’s current.

Securing Cable Connections Please use an insulated Philips screwdriver to tighten the cable connections. Please secure all cable connections to the proper specification to ensure good contact between the cable lugs and the terminals. Over-tightening cable connections can cause terminal breakage and loose cable connections can cause a terminal meltdown or fire.
To ensure good contact between the cable lugs and the terminals, please use the appropriate number of washers to allow for as much thread engagement as possible with out bottoming out the terminal bolt. The correct number of washers can be determinedly hand-tightening the terminal bolt with just the cable lug in place and observing the gap that is present. Use the number of washers needed so that the washer stack is slightly larger than the observed gap.
It is important to ensure that the cable lug and the top surface of the terminal arein contact. The washer(s) must be placed on top of the lug. Do not place the washer(s) between the battery terminal and the cable lug as this can cause high resistance and  excessive heating.

Charing Method

You can charge your lithium iron phosphate batteries whenever you want just like your cell phone. Unlike lead-acid batteries, lithium iron phosphate batteries do not get damaged if theya releft in a partial state of charge, so you don’t have to stress about getting them charge dimme dirtily after use. They also don’t have a memory effect, so you don’t have to drain them completely before charging.

Battery charger(mains power)
The best way to charge a LiFePO4 battery is with a lithium iron phosphate battery charger, as it will be programmed with the appropriate voltage limits. Most lead-acid battery chargers will do the job just fine. A 12V lithium battery at 20% capacity will hold a voltage of around 13V, and its leadacid will be appro x 11.8v at the same capacity. So if you use the lead-acid charger to chargeyourlithium battery, it may not be fully charged. To select a proper charger for your battery, you should choose one that is capablechargethe Tocopower battery to full, it’s rated output/charging voltage should match theLiFePO4battery’s standard charge voltage, which varies in different battery types, refer to the above parameter table for detailed data.
The solar panel (DC power)
You can also use a solar panel to charge your Tocopower LiFePO4 battery, but plasma kesure to choose a proper controller, it should contain the LiFePO4 battery mode or Li-ionbattery mode. Both the PWM controller and MPPT controller are okay.
If you don’t have a controller, you can connect the battery to the solar panel directly, too.The BMS inside will protect the battery most time. But if there is a defect in the batteryBMS,the battery will be damaged.

Battery Voltage & Actual Capacity

Troubleshooting

• If you found the battery can not be fully charged to its full voltage
  rating(14.6V/29V/58V), the charge tools may not be compatible with it, you could check

• if the charger/controller contains the proper output voltage for the LiFePO4battery

• If the charger is suitable, but the battery still can not be fully charged, it’s mayduetothe fault in BMS. With a glove and some tools, you could open the top cap of the battery, take out the BMS board, and directly connect the cells wire to the terminals, then try to charge it without BMS, it’ll be safe if you have a charger/controller with protections.

• If the connected batteries could not reach the rated capacity, it may be becausethatthe unbalancing charging process causes voltage differences among thoseindividualbatteries You could disconnect them first, and try to charge themone by one, toseeifeach battery is in good condition.

• If the battery is over-discharged and triggers the over-discharge protection, pleaser move the load or inverter, and keep the charging process until it recovers. If it still can not be recharged, try to remove the controller, use a solar panel, or something else with a voltage higher than 15V to directly boot it.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can I charge lithium batteries in the cold?

Lithium batteries rely on chemical reactions to work, and the cold can slowandevensto

pthose reactions from occurring. Unfortunately, charging them in low temperaturesisnota seffective as doing so under normal weather conditions because the ions that providethecharge do not move properly in cold weather. There’s one hard and fast rule: to prevent irreversible damage to the battery, don’t chargethem when the temperature falls below freezing (0°C or 32°F) without reducing thechargecurrent. Because lithium batteries suffer from a phenomenon of lithiummetal plating on the anode if charged at high rates in cold temperatures.

This could cause an internal shortage of the battery and a failure

Can I leave Toco power lithium battery on charging all the time?

For a lithium battery with a low maintenance charging procedure and battery management system, it’s perfectly fine and better than leaving them discharged for a long period. Regardless of whether it is a dedicated charger or a general charger, under normal
conditions, it has a charging cut-off voltage, which means that it will stop chargingat acertain volt. The sameis true for the solar panel controller, and the controller can also be configuredlike this. The solar panel is directly connected for charging. If there is a problemwiththeBMS, it may be overcharged.

Can I recharge my lithium battery from my vehicle alternator?
Yes, but not necessarily to full charge, because most Alternators are adjusted for thelowervoltage requirements of the vehicle Lead/Acid Battery (approximately 13.9v). LithiumBatteries require 14.4 to 14.6 volts to fully charge. That being said, you can get uptoapproximately a 70% charge, depending on the depth of discharge and distance drivenwhilerecharging from your vehicle alternator.

Maintenance

To prevent possible leakage, heat generation, and explosion of the battery, pleasepayattention to the following precautions:
It is strictly forbidden to immerse the battery in seawater or water. When it is not inuse, itshould be placed in a cool and dry environment.
It is forbidden to use and leave the battery near a hot and high temperature source, suchasfire, heater, etc.
It is strictly forbidden to directly plug the positive and negative ends of the batteryintoapower socket.

It is forbidden to use metal to directly connect the positive and negative electrodesof thebattery to short-circuit.
It is forbidden to transport or store the battery with conductive materials such asmetal and carbon powder.
It is forbidden to weld the battery directly and pierce the battery with nails or othersharpobjects.

Support

If you met technical problems and cannot find a solution in this manual, please contact Tocopoer for further assistance
support@tocopower.com
Toco power reserves the right to change the contents of this manual without notice.

THANK YOU. for your support

Service Time
Mon-Fri : 8:00AM-6:00PM PST
Customer Support
support@tocopower.com
Online
www.tocopower.com

References

• Tocopower | Professional outdoor/emergency power solution provider – Tocopowerstore

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