How to Charge a LiFePO4 Battery
Charging LiFePO4 is simple but specific: the right voltage for the platform, a charger that speaks lithium, and no charging below freezing. The numbers below are the published ones for this range.
LiFePO4 charging follows a constant-current, constant-voltage profile with no float trickery and no equalisation stage: push current until the pack reaches its charge voltage, hold that voltage while current tapers, then stop. The voltages are set by the cell count. On this manufacturer's published data, the 12.8V RV range charges at 14.6V with a 10.4V discharge cut-off, and the 48V-class charger data is built around the 58.4V class - four times and sixteen times the 3.65V per-cell charge ceiling, scaled by series count. The 25.6V platform sits between them at the 29.2V class. If a charger's stated output does not land on your platform's figure, it is the wrong charger, whatever its label says.
Current is the second setting. A pack can generally accept 0.5C comfortably - a 100Ah pack charging at 50A - and the published RV data in this range shows maximum charge currents of 250A to 300A on the large motorhome builds, which is fleet-grade hardware, not a recommendation for a small pack. The practical rule: charge current is set by the smallest of the charger's output, the BMS limit and the pack's datasheet, and faster is not automatically better for lifespan.
Temperature is the rule with no exceptions: do not charge a standard LiFePO4 pack below 0 degrees C. The published operating data in this range states charge from 0 to +45 degrees C and discharge from -20 to +55 - the pack will happily deliver power in the cold, but accepting charge in the cold damages cells. Cold-climate systems handle this with charge inhibition or self-heating packs, both of which belong in the specification conversation before winter, not after the first frost.
