PL6 charging LiFe problems

[woodninja]

so Ive done searches and am still not understanding my new LiFe pack. Its a 3200 Gensace and I am using a PL6 to charge. I set it on a123 high power at 10amp charge. The charger runs for about 10 mins until it gets to 7.300 volts, only puts about 120mah in the pack. Am I to assume its charged? How do I tell its fully charged? I am seriouly considering going back to Lipo as I understand whats going on with those. HELP!

[Gregor99]

LiFeP04 packs charge the same way as LiPo packs. Constant current stage followed by a constant voltage stage. There some differences in the way the charger treats the pack, such as lower termination voltage, etc. Also LiFeP04 cells tend to have a much higher IR than LiPo so the cell voltages will sag more than LiPo once the charge cycle has completed.

From a usage perspective, LiFeP04 cells have a VERY flat discharge curve. So you cannot easily tell the stage of charge by checking the voltages. You really have to rely on other means such as logging mah put back into the pack for the minutes in use. The problem is that end of the discharge curve is very steep. So it will be fine, then suddenly dump.

To get more comfortable with the charge and discharge its not a bad idea to hook a laptop to your charger and log a charge and discharge. Review the logs to see the charge and discharge curves.