Battery knowledge · Charging and discharging
Trickle and float charging
Holding a battery at a small current, or a fixed voltage, to keep it full. It is standard for lead–acid and NiMH but harmful for lithium-ion, which should be left to rest once charged; lithium-ion chargers instead top up when the voltage sags.
Example
Charging and discharging: an example situation
The same CC–CV law can operate overnight or during a short depot stop.
Read Trickle and float charging alongside Calendar aging in this context. Degradation that happens with time even when a cell is not cycled — in storage, for example. It is driven mainly by side reactions such as SEI growth and accelerates with temperature.
Use in Lemonergy
Lemonergy Studio blocks
Separate low current from float
Bounded lithium charging and lead-acid maintenance are distinct.
Blocks to use
- Regulated CC/CV charger
Regulates current and voltage
Inputs & settings
- currentA
- voltageV
- cutoffCurrentA / cutoffHoldS
- Electrical ports p and n
- Charging schedule and target policy
Permits charging
Inputs & settings
- strategy
- targetSoc
- departureS
- soc, available, chargerDone → permit
- Battery with SOC-dependent OCV
Stores charge and supplies terminal voltage
Inputs & settings
- capacityAh
- initialSoc
- emptyVoltageV / fullVoltageV
- resistanceOhm
- Electrical ports p and n
This overview identifies the components to use. Follow the example in Lemonergy for their connections and settings.
- Inspect the explicit chemistry setting.
- Observe CV taper followed by lower float voltage.
Example. The authored lead-acid example uses 14.4 V charging and 13.6 V float ceilings to expose different states.
Observe. Precharge, completion and maintenance are different.
These effective parameters are not a recipe. Lithium-ion does not use indefinite trickle or lead-acid float.
Open the Studio example →References & further reading
Further reading on this topic
These sources provide broader context; they are not presented as citations for every statement in this entry.
- Lithium-ion battery fast charging: A review
Anna Tomaszewska et al. · eTransportation · 2019
Topic background · CC-CV and alternative charging protocols, transport limitations, degradation and thermal implications; results depend on cell and test conditions. Software behavior is documented separately in Lemonergy block references.