Old Crow
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I see CTEK recently added a new model to their DC-to-DC charger line and its capable of charging LiFePO4 (and other) lithium batteries (as well as more traditional chemistries).
This pre-release article gives the basic idea...
Lithium Dual Battery Charging with CTEK D250SE and Smartpass 120S
Both the D250SE and Smartpass 120S are available at smartercharger.com (which is CTEK in the US) at crazy-high list prices but they're also available on Ebay for substantially less and I expect to see them early next year (if not sooner) on Amazon.
The D250SE is a 20-amp charger and can be used alone or, if you need more amps, in tandem with the Smartpass 120S to charge at up to 140 amps.
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Pros-
- Temperature-compensation
- Compensates for low alternator voltages
- Trickle-charges the truck's starter battery (if you have solar)
- Selectable 14.4 or 14.7 volt bulk-charging voltages for AGM batteries
(Possible) Cons-
- Charging profiles are the manufacturer's and you have no control over them
- If the Smartpass 120S is required, it's a pretty big package. (If it's helpful, you can connect the D250SE and Smartpass 120S together with cable instead of the connector plates).
- 300W maximum solar panel power (Max OCV 23 volts)
.
This pre-release article gives the basic idea...
Lithium Dual Battery Charging with CTEK D250SE and Smartpass 120S
Both the D250SE and Smartpass 120S are available at smartercharger.com (which is CTEK in the US) at crazy-high list prices but they're also available on Ebay for substantially less and I expect to see them early next year (if not sooner) on Amazon.
The D250SE is a 20-amp charger and can be used alone or, if you need more amps, in tandem with the Smartpass 120S to charge at up to 140 amps.
-----------------
Pros-
- Temperature-compensation
- Compensates for low alternator voltages
- Trickle-charges the truck's starter battery (if you have solar)
- Selectable 14.4 or 14.7 volt bulk-charging voltages for AGM batteries
(Possible) Cons-
- Charging profiles are the manufacturer's and you have no control over them
- If the Smartpass 120S is required, it's a pretty big package. (If it's helpful, you can connect the D250SE and Smartpass 120S together with cable instead of the connector plates).
- 300W maximum solar panel power (Max OCV 23 volts)
.
