Ebike Charging; Fast or Slow?

[Adamsavage79]

With the lifepo4 packs from Golden Motor, can you use a 5amp charger long term, without affecting the overall life of the pack ? I find sometimes, the 3 amp charger to be really slow. The 5amp one took no more than 3 hours to charge a near drained pack.

[Bikemad]

Slow charging is usually advised, but a 5 Amp charger is unlikely to have any noticeable effect upon the overall battery life.

The higher current allows a much faster charge during the constant current bulk charging stage, but the constant voltage stage at the end of the charge will probably take slightly longer as it will reach the target voltage (3.65V per cell) sooner with 5 Amps of current.

It is worth noting that 5 Amps of current is only 25% of the the 10Ah 17065130 LiFePO₄ cell's rated 20A (2C) maximum continuous charge current, and only 50% of the typically recommended 1C  charging current (i.e. 10A for a 10Ah cell). 

Alan
 

[Adamsavage79]

Good to know. Thanks!