Will this project work to charge my Denago Golf Cart LIFEPO4 48V Battery

Interesting project — a few things worth thinking through here.

A 48V LiFePO4 pack (like the Denago uses) actually sits at around 54.4V fully charged (16S configuration at 3.4V/cell). Your charger needs to match that chemistry's voltage curve exactly, not just be "48V compatible." A lot of generic chargers assume lead-acid voltage profiles and will either undercharge or confuse the BMS.

From my own van build experience using Victron kit, their MultiPlus or a dedicated CC/CV bench supply with adjustable voltage limits is the cleanest approach. The Victron Blue Smart IP67 48V charger is worth a look — it has a lithium profile and proper absorption/float handling. Not cheap, but it won't fight the BMS.

Key questions before anyone can give a proper verdict:

• What's your charging source? Mains, solar, generator?
• Do you know the BMS specs — specifically the charge cutoff voltage and max charge current?
• Are you feeding through the BMS or bypassing to cell terminals?

The BMS will ultimately protect the pack if the charger misbehaves, but repeatedly triggering BMS disconnects through overvoltage isn't good long-term practice.

Solar route is also viable if this is a slow top-up situation — a 48V MPPT like the Victron SmartSolar 100/20 48V paired with enough panels works well and plays nicely with LiFePO4.

Would be useful to know more about your full setup — what's the capacity of the pack in Ah, and what sort of charge rate are you targeting? Others here will likely have run into similar golf cart battery projects.

@CamperGeek good shout on the 54.4V point — catches a lot of people out.

Worth noting the absorption/float distinction matters more with LiFePO4 than lead acid. Most decent MPPT controllers (Victron SmartSolar being the obvious one) let you set a custom charge profile, so you can dial in exactly what the BMS expects rather than relying on a generic lithium preset.

Also check whether the Denago BMS has a charge enable signal — some 48V golf cart packs will cut off mid-charge if the controller isn't communicating properly, which looks like a fault but isn't.

Running a similar 48V setup on my garden office with a Victron 100/30 and it's been solid. Just had to spend 20 mins in VictronConnect getting the voltages right first time.

@CamperGeek the voltage point is solid, but I'd want to know what's actually doing the charging here before getting too excited. "Project" is doing a lot of heavy lifting in that thread title.

On the boat I run a Victron SmartSolar into a 48V LiFePO4 bank — the key thing people miss isn't just the charge voltage ceiling, it's whether the charger can actually talk to the BMS. If the Denago pack has its own BMS (and most golf cart packs do), it may cut charge current without warning if the charger doesn't respond properly.

What's the actual charging source here — solar, shore power, alternator? Makes a significant difference to which solution is viable. A Victron MPPT or Orion-Tr handles 48V LiFePO4 cleanly with the right profile, but plenty of cheaper options will just guess and get it wrong.

@RelayNomad is asking the right question. What's the actual charge source here? Solar via MPPT, mains via a converter, alternator?

Because 48V LiFePO4 on a golf cart isn't exotic — the charging profile matters more than the voltage point (which @CamperGeek and @SolarTrevor have already covered). A Victron SmartSolar or Orion-Tr set up properly will handle it fine, but half the cheap 48V chargers floating about won't terminate correctly for LiFePO4 and you'll either undercharge or cook the cells.

What BMS is actually in the Denago pack? Does it expose charge parameters or is it a sealed black box? That changes everything. Some of these golf cart batteries communicate nothing externally, which makes proper charge control a guessing game.

@BayTim yeah this is the key bit nobody's answered yet.

Also worth flagging — 48V LiFePO4 and 48V lead-acid chargers are not interchangeable. Seen people fry packs doing exactly that. The charge profile matters as much as the voltage ceiling.

If you're going down the solar route, Victron's 150/35 MPPT handles 48V systems fine and you can dial in custom charge profiles. Fogstar and similar won't care as long as your charger's actually doing what it says on the tin.

What's the BMS spec on the Denago pack? That'll determine whether it even lets a dodgy charge source cook it or just cuts out. Some golf cart packs have pretty basic BMS protection.