Smart Battery Charger Controller for LiFePO4
Safety should be your number one concern when having a home battery bank. Not only should you not use cheap parts for your battery bank, but having the right charger is just as important. Most people are not so concerned about the quality of a charger because they only think about the functionality, especially if it is integrated into another equipment. Most chargers are residential grade with some of the more expensive ones at a commercial grade.
At 2MuchSun, LLC, we have a different approach driven by battery safety. We think a battery charger should be industrial grade and standalone. An industrial power supply is a proven standalone design to not only survive in an industrial environment, but also to be very reliable, precise/accurate, flexible and efficient. It is the best by far in all aspects of safety, robustness, efficiency and reliability. Traditionally, industrial power supplies are not easy to use as they require some level of custom integration. However, we have made it so easy and inexpensive (from under $50) by using our controller with an industrial grade power supply.
Introducing the BatteryCharger, a DIY kit (add on controller) that allows you to use an industrial power supply as your home LiFePO4 battery charger. Currently, the BatteryCharger controller works with 2 series of industrial power supplies. They are Coltek AE/AEK series and GZN-3000 series which are readily available online and purchased separately on the marketplace. We do not sell them at our store. Go here for tips on power supply selection.
Coltek AE/AEK series - https://www.cotek.com.tw/ae-series - $1100 for 3000W - UL listed
GZN-3000 series - Generic OEM $400-$600 for 3000W - Not UL listed
The BatteryCharger controller connects to the power supply by either RS-485 or Serial UART. Connection is just 4 wires. The user interfaces with the BatteryCharger wirelessly via 2.4GHz WiFi using a standard browser. No need for an app or use the cloud. Additional options are: BatteryCharger with a battery shunt reader to accurately measure battery current for SoC and battery health calculations, and a temperature probe.
Since this method uses an AC/DC power supply, charging your batteries is AC coupled. If you want to use the excess power from your grid tied solar system to charge your batteries, then you need a sensor to measure the excess solar and notify the BatteryCharger to adjust. This can be done through a home automation software that supports MQTT. Or you could purchase our power diverter controller called PowerMC which will do all that for you. Also, use a battery inverter to discharge your batteries. This setup allows you to easily add and expand batteries to an existing solar system.
The BatteryCharger has 3 ways of charging - 1. manually 2. by schedule or 3. by power diversion/auto tracking. Scheduled charging could be used for energy arbitrage and power diversion is used to charge your batteries when there is excess solar from a grid tied system. If you want to see a live demo of energy arbitrage and power diversion using this product, please go here.
For more details, please see the manual located here.