Wake up, BMS!
You may need to jump-start a sleeping Lithium battery...
Hey Mike,
I have a Smart Case with a LiFePo 12-volt 100-Amp battery that has been idle for about a year. I can’t seem to wake it up if that’s possible. I had it on a Lithium battery charger (6A) for several days. Can’t seem to get anything out of it. Can the BMS be woken up? Is it salvageable? Need to replace it (only 2 years old and lightly used)? - Terry B.
Hey Terry,
I use an old Sears Manual 6/2-amp battery charger my dad gave me to jump start lithium batteries that have shut down their BMS (Battery Management System). Modern battery chargers are usually looking for a voltage from the battery before they’ll begin charging. But a Manual/Dumb charger will generally wake up the BMS in a Lithium battery within a few seconds or minutes. Either that or you can use another working battery (AGM, FLA or a Lithium battery) with jumper cables to give it a quick boost and wake up the BMS. Just be sure to observe proper polarity and don’t short out the jumper cables.
Let’s play safe out there… Mike
Wow you have a new Sears one haha. I have an Allstate one from the 50's
My class C has two lithium batteries for the house. One morning I woke up to zero volts throughout the RV (boondocking) but I went to bed with 12.6 so it seemed weird. Checked right at the batteries, both zero volts. I turned the ignition key on and instantly it all came to life, and I was back to 12.6v. I never did figure out why they went to sleep-it was not cold out, and they weren't scary low. Has not happened since.