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
The manual charger workarround is clutch for this exact scenario. Smart chargers need to see voltage before they engage but a sleeping BMS reads as zero, creating this catch-22 where nothing happens. Had the same issue with a Battle Born that sat idle over winter, old school charger brought it back in under 30 seconds and its been fine ever since. The BMS shutdown is protective not destructive so dont panic if voltage flatlines.
Wow you have a new Sears one haha. I have an Allstate one from the 50's