charger for lithium ion battery pack

Projects General Guidance
1

hey guys I have 10Ah battery pack with 0.2C. Can I charge it with 3A charger? or do I need a 2A charger as it is 0.2C.

I appreciate your suggestions.

2

If its says it needs a 0.2C charge, then stick to it.

3

Provide a link to the battery you have and we might be able to tell you. "10Ah battery pack with 0.2C" isn't really enough detail for useful answers.

Steve

4

It is not given in the description. I asked the supplier to give me 0.2C battery pack because I want to use its maximum capacity and it says in the graph that it will be consumed 90% at 3.6V, which is what I want since I am using LDO to output 3.3V.

My battery pack is 10Ah so 0.2C becomes 2A. So this brings me to the question is 3A charger is OK for this.

The link is

Regards,

5

I don't think I've ever seen a Li-ion cell that can't be charged at at least 0.5C or discharged at 1C. And the specified C-rating is normally the discharge rating not the maximum charge rate.

Certainly if you want to be sure of getting the rated capacity then you can keep the current draw to 0.2C but the battery will be capable of more.

Normally I'd be happy to charge a 10Ah battery at 5-10A but with no proper specification I can't really advise anything.

Steve

6

Yes steve, the description is not clear. I can keep current draw to 0.2C, in fact my circuit draws maximum of 300mA, and 400mA voltage regulator is also there to limit the current.

And I also ordered 3A charger as I think this wont be a problem since people recommend to use atleast half of the rated current with no problems. So I hope it will be OK.

Thanks and Regards,

7

The reason why he tells you to charge it at 0.2C is probably because the capacity is a lie.
Many of these Chinese 18650 cells have a capacity of much less than 1 Ah, not the advertised 2 Ah.
Let's say that the capacity of the cells is 800 mAh, then 2 A is actually 0.5 C, not 0.2 C.

You should never trust cheap Li-Po/Li-ion batteries and chargers from China. They are ticking time bombs.
Ebay and the like are great to get electronics, but batteries are not something to cheap out on.

Pieter