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JBD / Overkill BMS Monitoring

tgalarneau

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Joined
Apr 25, 2021
Messages
19
Going on towards 2000 cycles on my off-grid CALB 180ah batteries and still going strong, I finally added a bms. I didn't think it was necessary before as I kept the batteries well within ideal parameters and times and info were different back then.

But finally I bought an Overkill/JBD bms. At the same time my Outback Hub and ethernet connections fried so needed a new monitoring system. So I also purchased Thornwave battery monitors - one for the inverter and the other for the charge controller along with the bms. These are really great monitors.

I have written a python program to utilize bluetooth to collect the data via a Raspberrypi Zero W from all 3 devices and display it via Grafana.

https://github.com/tgalarneau/bms

jbdbms.pngthornwave.png
 
Looks great. Which of the battery monitors are you using?

I'm changing the system in my RV from AGM to Li. I currently have a Pi and a couple of Arduinos monitoring power flow and storing into a SQL db. My monitoring needs to run local with no Internet needed for data presentation so it doesn't get as fancy as this
 
For my monitoring my batteries I use the bms itself. For charge controller and inverter monitoring I use Thornwave monitors. They are great and the price is good.

I use Influxdb and my pi serves a web page to my lan and am not using the internet only wifi. But Influxdb offers a free cloud version if I needed such. This way I have all the power production, use and storage info available in a easy format for monitoring.
 
Might want to integrate it with what @BarkingSpider made: https://github.com/BarkinSpider/SolarShed/
There are several devices supported by now; adding yours should be simple since most of what you did is directly portable.

This reminds me, we should make a list of all of these and add them to the Wiki, including a set-up guide...
 
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For my monitoring my batteries I use the bms itself. For charge controller and inverter monitoring I use Thornwave monitors. They are great and the price is good.

I use Influxdb and my pi serves a web page to my lan and am not using the internet only wifi. But Influxdb offers a free cloud version if I needed such. This way I have all the power production, use and storage info available in a easy format for monitoring.
Thanks. I'll look at the package. I figured you were using a cloud-based system for generating the graphs and gauges. I have wifi in the RV just no persistent internet connection
 
Does this require using the UART connection to the BMS units? I have 2 JBD BMS units with BT and would like to run the software with the comms over the BT
 
Just trying to get this working now with two JBD 4s BMS's. I can get the Cell voltages from the db but the data strings that get sent with pack voltage, etc and the one containing temps isn't making it into the db although I see it on the console output from the print(message) statements.

Any ideas why? I know you said you hadn't tested the 4s version
 
I am using the 4S version using MQTT/NodeRed/Influx and it does work. I did modify the code a bit for my needs, but it did work OOB. It's setup to write to two different MQTT topics, so your data may be in a different storage area (Measurement, table. etc.) depending on how you are setup.

Are you using MQTT? Which database are you using?
 
Another user had the same problem and I tried to fix it. Are you using the latest 4s version I updated on github a 2 days ago ?

The issue is about the number of temperature sensors some have 4 others 3 and it seems the 4s bms uses one. If you want to work this out it would help if you used the github issues and so we can correspond more directly and update the script together. I have no means of testing this as I don't have a 4s version and need help from those that do.
 
I am using the 4S version using MQTT/NodeRed/Influx and it does work. I did modify the code a bit for my needs, but it did work OOB. It's setup to write to two different MQTT topics, so your data may be in a different storage area (Measurement, table. etc.) depending on how you are setup.

Are you using MQTT? Which database are you using?
I'm using influxDB & Telegraf. I'm using the socket version of jbdbms. I'll try setting up MQTT and run it with that
 
Another user had the same problem and I tried to fix it. Are you using the latest 4s version I updated on github a 2 days ago ?

The issue is about the number of temperature sensors some have 4 others 3 and it seems the 4s bms uses one. If you want to work this out it would help if you used the github issues and so we can correspond more directly and update the script together. I have no means of testing this as I don't have a 4s version and need help from those that do.
I just commented on the issue on github (PlayersZ28)
 
I also really like the Thornwave. Very reliable and well made. I use 2 of them, one for the charge controller and the other for the inverter along with the bms. It gives all data I need to monitor my system.view.png
 
Not sure if anyone else is running Influx with this project but this morning I had an issue with getting InfluxDB to start. It's v1.8.9 and was taking longer to start than the script permitted. My db isn't even that large as it only has a day or so of data. I had to change the "sleep 1" to "sleep 10" to extend the wait time in "/usr/lib/influxdb/scripts/influxd-systemd-start.sh"
 
I am using the 4S version using MQTT/NodeRed/Influx and it does work. I did modify the code a bit for my needs, but it did work OOB. It's setup to write to two different MQTT topics, so your data may be in a different storage area (Measurement, table. etc.) depending on how you are setup.

Are you using MQTT? Which database are you using?
Any screen shots of your dashboards with NodeRed?

I am running with ESP32s->Mosquitto->Telegraf->InfluxDB->Grafana right now but Grafana formatting for mobile display are pretty poor with a lot of wasted space so I'm looking for alternatives.
 
Going on towards 2000 cycles on my off-grid CALB 180ah batteries and still going strong, I finally added a bms. I didn't think it was necessary before as I kept the batteries well within ideal parameters and times and info were different back then.

But finally I bought an Overkill/JBD bms. At the same time my Outback Hub and ethernet connections fried so needed a new monitoring system. So I also purchased Thornwave battery monitors - one for the inverter and the other for the charge controller along with the bms. These are really great monitors.

I have written a python program to utilize bluetooth to collect the data via a Raspberrypi Zero W from all 3 devices and display it via Grafana.

https://github.com/tgalarneau/bms

View attachment 46683View attachment 46684
Glad to see you on this Forum, spent hours trying to get this working on Home Assistant only to be told by another member I needed Core HA, instead of HassIO, is this true? Setup Influxdb, Grafana, Telegraf, then was unable to load JBDBms arg, thanks Joe.
 
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