Safe to use normal charger with lithium?

[tukiti]

Hi Guys,
I am a reseller in south america for golf carts, batteries and chargers. Recently I sold and installed a roypow 105 ah litihium kit 48v.
The cart was working fine but according to the client after last night thunderstorm the charger stopped working. I went and checked and in fact it does not work. Once I plug in the charger ihe fan turns on and after 3 seconds it turns off again. The charger smells like its burned. Roypow does give me a warranty however it may take very long to arrive here and I do not have any spares at the moment.
I tried to charge the battery with a normal DELTAQ charger from Yamaha, and it worked perfectly. I was wondering if this could affect the battery or the carts in the short/long run? At least until new charger arrives?. Thanks in advance for the help.

[Capt. Lenny]

Lithium has a different charge profile than lead acid. Lithium typically uses constant current and constant voltage.

[TheCartBoy]

Lithium BMS should protect th battery by disconnecting it from the charger if the charger tries to push too much current (unlikely from a 120v outlet) or when the charger voltage gets too high (inevitable because lead acid charging is at higher voltage). So depending how the cell balancing works, you may have issues with that if it relies on the charger remaining at the correct finishing voltage indefinitely. You also risk fire in the unlikely scenario the BMS fails to disconnect at over voltage and the charger continues to boost cell voltage beyond safe levels.

[tukiti]

Thank you for the explanation!. I just found out that my DELTAQ charger does says on the charger that it can charge lithium? Does this mean I have to change any configurations on the charger or something like that?

[scottyb]

Good replies. I suggest everybody buy a battery/charger combo to ensure proper and safe charging.

[TheCartBoy]

Originally Posted by tukiti

Thank you for the explanation!. I just found out that my DELTAQ charger does says on the charger that it can charge lithium? Does this mean I have to change any configurations on the charger or something like that?

Looks like a quiq model, you can change the charger algorithm (called algo) to a lithium one using their proprietary cable ($200).

[tukiti]

Yes! seems to be the case, just read about it and asked roypow too. Thank you all for the help.