My new Battleborn LiFePO4 batteries arrived less a week after I ordered them. I have installed them on the boat and they are working as expected. Now I need to move on to charging them conveniently. My old AGMs were charged with a Dual Pro PS4 "quad" charger. Being 10 years old, it was programmed for lead-acid batteries and includes the desulfation cycle. I believe that process would harm LiFePO4 batteries. I sent an email to Dual Pro asking if my charger could be reprogrammed to charge LiFePO4s using the "contact us" link on their website, but the email was returned as undeliverable due to the email address no longer existing. Hmmm. Are they still in business? Lot of places seem to sell their chargers – some say Wet and AGM only, some say they "can be programmed" to Lithium, but one place offers a special order Dual Pro PS4 charger programmed for a specific battery brand (Battleborn was on their list). My other alternative is to use 4 separate 12 volt chargers (in other words, build my own PS4 equivalent). I have one Victron 12/25 charger that I am currently using to charge the batteries one at a time. If I were to buy 3 more of those, would that do what I want? I have not been able to find anything that states the Victron is completely isolated such that 4 of them can be used to charge 4 batteries connected in series. However, using my multimeter, they do appear to be isolated. Both output connectors show infinite ohms to all three prongs on the AC power plug. Has anyone used Victron chargers in that way? I also wonder what load the chargers might place on the batteries when the boat is not in use and disconnected from shore power. Will the connected chargers discharge the batteries? My old Dual Pro was fine in that regard. I could leave it connected to the AGMs all winter without AC power connected and find the batteries were still nearly full in the spring. Sorry for the long post, but I would appreciate any advice.
Thanks,
Pat
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