MinnKota Digital for LiPo???

[Podcast]

Are these able to charge LiPo batteries? From what I can tell they are supposed to be able to reading on their site. Thoughts?

[DREWTICK]

That's a big NO for most brands, check with the battery manufacture but its a NO for IONIC

[KandKKustomz]

As Drew said big ol fat no for every brand of lithium I know of and fat no for PowerHouse. I'd love to ask Minn Kota what lithium a digital will actually properly charge.

[bobcoy]

The only place it says lithium is on the front page of the marketing page for that charger. The manual says different. Lithium is not supported for that charger. Hopefully someone will fix that on the site. Bob

[KandKKustomz]

The only place it says lithium is on the front page of the marketing page for that charger. The manual says different. Lithium is not supported for that charger. Hopefully someone will fix that on the site. Bob

I agree Bob they need to fix that causes alot of confusion

[Podcast]

Thanks for the responses. They definitely do advertise these supporting LiPo. Main description says this: Supported Battery Types: 12v AGM, 12v Flooded Lead Acid, 12v Lithium LiFePO4

[catdude28]

Well like mentioned, MK made an error there. However, their PC series can charge the popular lithiums. It has a selectable AGM setting, which will charge most lithiums safely. The D (digital) series does not have a selectable AGM setting.

[yam911]

What is causing it to be unacceptable for lithium batteries?

[DREWTICK]

the MK digital and most all chargers that are all in one lead acid/agm use a multistage profile where they vary the voltage and amps, charge then rest and charge again and also have desulfation” mode or equalizer mode for lead acid allowing the voltage to go up to 15v
its very important that a LifoPo gets constant current, 14.2 to 14.6v start to finish then float

and not to confuse those who check this on your app but while a charger is charging with 14.6 you may only see 13.4 to 13.6 for a while when the charger is under load but as it reached 100% you will see the voltage increase to around 14V

[DREWTICK]

What is causing it to be unacceptable for lithium batteries?

I have seen one turn a 50ah battery into a 40ah or less, it will charge in a way that it will train the BMS to thinking its 100% charged but never get the battery above 13.2 to 13.4v , it will cut off and show 13.4 at 99% and when you start using the battery under load it will fall off very quickly dropping to 12.5 to 12.8v , the more cycles its charged like this it will get worse
this can usually be corrected by draining the battery to zero to 10% and charging correctly with 14.6 cc and after a few cycles the battery will start to perform at 100% like new

[DREWTICK]

also best to avoid the Pro Mariner Pro sport 20 or BPS/Cabelas version

[yam911]

Is it just me or does it seem that this charging business, especially for lithium batteries, has gotten way out of hand?

[bobcoy]

What are you meaning. It is either a Lithium charger or a couple others that have a compatible charging sequence approved by your batteries maker. Different batteries have slightly different specs setup to what they think works best with their design. LiFePO4 has the same charging rules they had from the beginning.

[KandKKustomz]

Is it just me or does it seem that this charging business, especially for lithium batteries, has gotten way out of hand?

No its pretty cut and dry. A minn kota digital doesn't work. You either have a minn kota precision on the agm setting for 99 percent of lithium or a lithium compatible charger . Nothing out of hand bout it.

[Bass in the grass]

Why wouldn’t a person run the MK Precision on the lithium profile, instead of the AGM?


Would running a lithium as the cranker, shorten its lifespan, since it’s always charged full? Seems like I read that they don’t like to be at full charge, but I’m just now learning about all of this tech. Would the run and gun type of chargers do the same (if it hurts the lithium cranker) to the TM batteries, shorten their lifespan?


Thanks

[catdude28]

Why wouldn’t a person run the MK Precision on the lithium profile, instead of the AGM? Thanks

The charger being referenced is the MKPC. It has an AGM setting, but not a lithium setting. The new MKPCL has a lithium setting.

[Bass in the grass]

The charger being referenced is the MKPC. It has an AGM setting, but not a lithium setting. The new MKPCL has a lithium setting.

Ahhh, I didn’t realize they had 2 different precision models out (obviously updated), thank you.

[KandKKustomz]

The charger being referenced is the MKPC. It has an AGM setting, but not a lithium setting. The new MKPCL has a lithium setting.

exactly. Pcl is lithium
PC does not have lithium setting but can charge most lithiums using there agm setting /algorithm.

[bobcoy]

Podcast. PM sent