How to Charge Boat Lithium Batteries from Shore Power

How to Charge Boat Lithium Batteries from Shore Power: steps

Check whether your existing charger has a lithium profile
A lead-acid charger's absorption and float voltages are wrong for LiFePO4. If there is no lithium setting in the manual, it is replaced rather than reprogrammed — a switchable lead-acid preset is not the same thing.
Set absorption voltage and time from the pack
Use the manufacturer's figures, not a generic lithium preset. Absorption that is too high stresses cells and too low never completes the charge, which the monitor will show as a bank that never quite reaches 100%.
Make sure it does not float indefinitely
Holding LiFePO4 at a high state of charge is where it ages fastest. A proper lithium profile either stops or drops to a storage voltage. A boat that lives on shore power should not sit at 100% for months.
Size the charger sensibly
Lithium will accept a very high charge current, so the limit is the charger's rating and the cable, not the bank's appetite. Larger is faster, but check the pack's maximum charge current before buying.
Confirm the cable and fusing on the output
The charger's output run needs to be sized for its full current and fused near the bank, like every other run landing on a lithium bank.
Verify a complete charge once
Charge until current tapers to the manufacturer's tail figure and the monitor synchronises to 100%. If it never gets there, the charge parameters or the cable are the place to look.

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