I have a Bioenno LiFePo4 9 ahr battery in my gobox and I just got a 100 fwatt olding solar cell and a Powerwerx DC-to-DC Solar charge controller for Bioenno 12v LiFePO4 batteries and something is making a hell of an RFI problem.

I think it might be internal to the battery.

The amount is directly dependent on how much current is charging the battery. The more current, the more RFI.

Solar panel does not put out RFI by itself
I get almost as much RFI when charging with the plug in charger, could be the plug in charger.


I am having a hard time figuring out if it is the battery or the solar charger. The solar charger is an MPPT, I thought those were quiet, but maybe I am wrong.

Tomorrow I will try charging an SLA just for a  short period of time and see if I get all the noise. If I do then then it must be the Powerwerx solar charger.

Anybody have any problems like this with either one of these batteries or this solar charger?

Well shit, I just found 2 youtube videos talking about how this charge controller is RFI noisy as all hell. I looked before I bought it and could find nothing.

I guess it is going back.

I have heard the Genasun is quiet, and DIY solar is ham owned and VERY quiet. But expensive.

It came from Gigaparts, I assumed being a ham radio store, they would not be selling RFI in a box.

I was wrong

The DIY solar is an MPPT but is made to be quiet. Of course simple analog regulators are very quiet (nothing to make noise) BUT they are NOT efficient like a MPPT.

They also sell MFJ products.  

I doubt they test ANY product they sell. Why would they?

what is a simple analog regulator? Do they make them for LiFePO4 batteries?

what is the website of DIY Solar, there are many with that in the domain name

here is a link for there smallest Charge contraller the Ra.

DIYsolarforu Ra charge controller.

I don't know for sure if any are made for the charge profile of a LiFePO4 battery. I kinda doubt it.

good point

Here is a video about the Genasun.

Most solar charge controllers are cheap.

The ones people say are quiet are very expensive.

I wish I knew for sure.  I would buy the $5 extra  choke from Diysolarforu  I am thinking about
getting the Ra. $69. I have a large LiFePO4 battery coming, and want to swap out my lead acid setup..  

I have been using a
battery tender Jr controller on them, but it is not suitable for LiFePO4. It was pretty quiet, and I made it quieter by putting a .01 cap on the input and output terminals. That solved all of it.

If you do buy a new solar charge controller, no matter what you buy, I would really like to hear back on what you think of it, as I am going to be buying something real soon.

"Snakes!, why does it always have to be snakes!"
"umm. Asp's, very dangerous. You go first"

If it helps I have a Bioenno 12v 20Ah LiPo battery and use a Genasun GV-10 MPP solar charge controller.  It is quiet.

Yep.

This Genasun what you seek. It is dead silent with RFI. I use this to charge my Bioenno batteries. And keep it plugged in while operating.

That is the one I am going to have to get. My folding solar panel is 100 watts so I need the 10 amp one. $135 is pricey.

But the $40 Powerwerx is useless if it wipes out all the bands.

The DIY Solar is $169.

If you feel like experimenting, it’d be interesting to see if you could line a cardboard box with thin copper sheeting and reduce rdu by placing the charge controller inside.

I use a 100w folding solar panel with the 5 amp one. I just keep it at an inefficient angle to the sun. That and I am on the 45th parallel so I only get good sun from June to August anyways.

well be careful about buying anything from gigaparts.

bought it from amazon, filled by gigaparts. there were no good options on the drop down list to choose why I was returning it, so I choose defective / doesn't work and then in the text field typed " massive radio frequency interference on all ham bands"

they are probably going to charge me what it cost them to ship it and at least a 15% restocking fee, so my $40 refund will be closer to $25.

I will not be buying anything that can work but not work as I want for my application from gigaparts again.

I found a semi-local place to me, 1 hr drive, that has the GV-10 Lithum in stock for $121. Will be picking it up on Monday or Tues. I would rather it ship instead of driving 2 hours round trip, but I would like it for field day and that is the only way I can think of to make sure I get it in time.

it is already packed up with a label to be returned.

I had it flat on the ground and was getting an amp with dark clouds and everyonce in a while the sun would peak through for a few secs and it would jump to 4. If it was a sunny day, I could see it exceeding 5 pretty easy, which concerns me because I thought the 9 ahr battery should only take 4, but I don't know.

The amp rating on charge controllers is output capability at max solar panel efficiency.

My 12ah Bioenno battery wants 2-5 amps for charging. So 5amp charge controller it is. A 10 amp charge controller could fry the BME in the battery.

Downsize your solar panel to match your battery, or cover half of it with a towel.

Get one of these and keep tabs on everything. Bioenno batteries aren't cheap.

I just got my solar panel today.

I over did it on the panel because in the north east many days are over cast and a 100 watt panel will still put out 1-2 amps on a cloudy day

It has 15 individual panels and I bought this one for the reviews, the small folding size and because I can cover up panels to reduce power output.  I am making some panel blackouts with velcro to reduce power output and turn it into a 50 or 60 watt panel in bright sun but still have the have to ability to use 100 watt during overcast conditions and still be able to charge the battery. I could have paralleled 2 smaller panels but it would have been more expensive, although that would probably be a better solution.

That is what I use, and am doing with a 100w folding panel. I have the monitor to keep tabs on output. If you have a 9ah Bioenno you do not want to exceed 5 amps from the charge controller, they AC>DC Bioenno charger is only 2 amps. Exceeding 5 amps it can and likely will fry the BME within the battery.

I have 2. Bought one specific for this purpose. It's a good idea, that is how I know I hit 4 amps today when the sun peaked through the clouds

I will keep it at 4 amps, that is what the charger that came with it puts out.

So you cover panels to reduce the panel power output? I thought I had an original idea

what panel do you have/

Yep a beach towel works good, or a hoody.


I have a few that I use.

Newest one, that I have not used in the field yet, just at home experimenting:
https://smile.amazon.com/dp/B07ZZ8VY2V?psc=1&ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_product_details

Renogy unit that is fantastic:
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07BMNGVV3?tag=arfcom00-20

Oldest one, had it several years now, charge controller crapped out and it has been sitting on a shelf:
https://www.goalzero.com/collections/solar-panels/products/boulder-50-solar-panel

I have a Renogy 100 watt hard side panel that I use with a 90 ahr Marine SLA deep cycle. It also powers my home station when the power is out until I start the genny

The one I just got is this one. So far I like it a lot. I have not figured out how it is wired yet, but I suspect 5 panels in a row is 20 volts and 33 watts, but I am just guessing. On a sunny day I need to cover panels and see which ones reduce current but not voltage. I really like the folded up size, it’s thick folded, but other dimensions are small and easily fits in a dry bag for kayak camping. Going to make a solar charging case in its own HF Apache case similar to my GoBox.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B075YRKVMH?ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_product_details&th=1

Thank you for sharing your findings.  I am not at the point of buying solar yet and am still charging my small bioenno at home for day trips.  My qrp rig draws next to nothing, puts out the same!  lol, I say that but have got Italy and Spain on it with 10 watts.

Is this correct? Can't you use a 10amp controller and the battery electronics will limit the charge input? I would prefer to buy the 10amp controller to use with 2 100 watt panels when the application can handle/use it, but have the ability to charge smaller batteries 9ah, 20ah as quickly as possible up to their charge limit.

Check with the battery manufacturer,  bioenno told me to not exceed 5 amps of current when I called and ordered the batteries from them. Their supplied charger is only 2 amps.

Understand not exceeding 5 amps of current, but the charge controller limit is only its upper limit to handle, not necessarily its output. Isn't the output handled either at the solar panel side or by the battery bms? So, in theory, the larger 10amp controller would work so long as the battery bms or solar panel output were managed correctly.

I use this solar charger from Bioenno with my 110 watt Powerwerx folding panel to charge my 15, 20, 40 and 100 AHr Bioenno batteries.  I've never detected any noise from it.

https://www.bioennopower.com/collections/solar-controllers/products/12v-24v-20a-solar-charge-controller-for-lifepo4-batteries-sc-122420jud

The (now discontinued) 110 watt folding panel puts out about 5 amps in full sun.

I tested the panel in the sun today

it has 5 rows of 3 panels for a total of 15

1 row of 3 puts out 22 volts

that means each row is 20 watts or 1 amp or so

if I fold 2 rows, it becomes a 60 watt panel.

if I fold 1 row it becomes an 80 watt panel.

I dont think this panel is going to put out more than 5 amps at 20 volts, but it is very easy to reduce power. I dont have to bring anything, just partialy fold it up

Update on my progress:

Well I picked up the Genasun GV-10 Lithium solar charger today.

While it is much much quieter than the Powerverx, something in this setup is not RF quiet. The difference between now and with the Genasun and the Powerverx is about 20 db less noise, but either the panel with the 5 volt USB outputs, or the Genasun, or the Battery BMS is putting out RF Noise.

Nothing is plugged into the USB controller so not sure if that could be it or not.

I can choke most of it out by putting chokes on the wires, and I can charge the battery and see no noise, but when charging the battery with the battery also connected to the radio it is very evident.

The Powerverx noise was definitely coming in the antenna and the Genasun noise is definately coming into the radio only via the power cord when it is connected to the radio. So that should be fixable, with the right chokes, but worse case in the field, I charge the LiFePO4 while running the radio from the internal battery.

If it is the panel built in 5 volt USB controller, maybe I can take that apart and put a switch on it to disconnect that controller when I want to but I see no way to take it apart, it appears sealed.

It is still way better than the Powerverx, that wiped out all bands with 25-30 db over 9 noise. Now I have S2 noise after chokes due to something in the charging system when the radio is connected to the LiFePO4 battery and the battery is charging.

I just remembered I have a regular rigid 100 watt panel with no controller, just the 18v output. So tomorrow I will hook that up and see if there is any RFI.

That will tell me where the noise is coming from

Perhaps this could help:

Dc line noise filter from Kenwood


I have one between my truck dual band and battery.  I can’t say for sure if it makes a difference or not, but I don’t Appear to have issues in the truck.

Finished my final testing:

The rigid panel with no USB charge controller built in shows no difference.

The difference in noise between using  Powerverx and the Genasun is very noticeable but with the Genasun, the radio is still mostly unusable.

If I choke the hell out of all the wires, it makes a difference but still not good.

If I charge a LiFePO4 a few feet away from the radio, the noise is all but gone, I can’t tell completely because I am outside my house and the house does give off some noise. If I charge that battery in the case or very close to the radio or charge the battery mounted in the case, the radio is unusable

If I charge that battery away from the radio while running a cable to power the radio, the noise makes the radio unusable.

So my conclusion is this:

The Genasun solar charger is much quieter than the Powerverx by a lot. It gave off RF noise even when charging a battery far away from the radio and not connected to the radio.

I think the BMS of both Batteries is producing RF noise that is evident if within a few feet of the radio or the antenna. With my battery in the case, I can not charge the battery without a lot of RF noise. So the only solution for portable ops far away from anything is to have 2 batteries. One at a solar charging station charging away from the radio and antenna and one in the case running the radio at 10 watts and swap the batteries when needed.

Or run the radio at 5 watts on the internal battery while the external battery is charging at the solar charging site away from the radio and antenna

Or leave the battery hard mounted inside the case and just not use the radio while the battery is charging.

So for now, I am going to replace the zip tie mount for the battery with a Velcro mount and be able to take the battery out of the case for charging and while charging the 9 ahr battery, just use the 3 ahr battery and the internal battery.

I was hoping to be able to charge the mounted battery in the case while running the radio with it, but that is not possible as far as I can tell. I do that with a 100 watt portable setup with a 100 watt panel and 90 ahr SLA battery and it works with no noise, but I guess the BMS is unusable like that.

If anybody is running a LiFePO4 battery powering a radio and charging it at the same time please let me know what you are doing and what your setup is. Maybe I am missing something.

Mach, this is something to try. Won't guarantee it will work, but it is easy to do.

Take a .01 microfarad disk ceramic capacitor across the panel input terminals and another one across the DC output heading towards the battery.

I had a little RF noise charging my lead acid battery bank (4X 7amp hour gel cells) from my Battery Tender Jr.  solar charge controller.  Putting the capacitors on seemed to totally eliminate it.

I really like my BuddiPole PowerMini2 for this application.

that looks pretty good, wish I had known about that before I bought both the powerverx and the genasun

I will try that thanks

this is not s little RF noise

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Yeah, that is pretty bad noise.  I ordered a Ra charge controller last night from DIYsolarforyou. . We shall see. I also ordered the two ferrite inductors they sell with it. I will report back.

Still worth it if you can return the others.

I returned the Powerverx to gigaparts, it will probably cost me shipping fees and a 15% restocking fee unless they accept that it is inherently defective.

I drove 3 hours round trip to get the Genasun in time for field day. Ii will just live with it.

I think the issue is the BMS in the batteries when charging while using it or charging while within a few feet of the radio and antenna.

I have almost identical looking controller. Got it from Amazon for $20. Noisy as hell. I put ferrites on the output and input but I think they were getting oversaturated with DC current. I ended up putting one layer of electrical tape in the gap between the ferrites halves (cores) to reduce saturation. It helped some but not enough to get rid of the RF noise.

Mach, I just bought the same PowerWerx charge controller. Just received it but didn't try using it yet. It came with a 30A Anderson connector on the output side. Did you connect yours directly to the battery's output or to the small round connector used to charge the battery with the 120V Bioenno charger?


Also, I was under impression that battery's internal BMS should automatically reduce charging current. It makes no sense if it doesn't.

Perhaps a cheap LCL type filter or a similar low pass filter may help eliminate the noise?
Amazon Link

I charge it using the barrel plug. I made a cable to go from the solar charger output power poles to the barrel plug. I am not certain but I think you need to charge through the barrel to use the internal BMS.

Can the battery be charged from the power poles?

My Dakota Lithium battery only has one set of spade connectors. I can try the Dakota charger on the bioenno battery I have using the power poles. It uses alligator clips as a connection.