diy solar

diy solar

BMS recommendations / Advice

jlanders

New Member
Joined
Dec 27, 2021
Messages
5
Hello, Looking for some advice on a current project.

I have 32 12v 3.2 EVE cells I am connecting in a 4P4S2P configuration. The battery location is already prewired for 12v.
I will be running a Victron 5000 Quattro with a Victron Cerbo GX unit. I have a solar array amounting to about 3300 wats.

I am looking for a BMS for these EVE batteries that will communicate with the Cerbo GX unit.

Do any of you have recommendations?

Any assistance is appreciate. Let me know if I am missing some crucial information.

Thank you
 
JBD BMS are good. But first check and make sure whatever BMS can handle the AH you want to try and push through it. Another poster here recently bought a Daly and realized since he wanted to run 4p or 6p on a 4s (or something to that effect), that the BMS wouldn't do more than xx AH total and was having problems with that.

Also, is BMS to inverter communication something that might be important to you?
 
JBD BMS are good. But first check and make sure whatever BMS can handle the AH you want to try and push through it. Another poster here recently bought a Daly and realized since he wanted to run 4p or 6p on a 4s (or something to that effect), that the BMS wouldn't do more than xx AH total and was having problems with that.

Also, is BMS to inverter communication something that might be important to you?
yes very. (somewhat new at this) is that no what the Cerbo GX does, communicate back to the inverter charger?
 
yes very. (somewhat new at this) is that no what the Cerbo GX does, communicate back to the inverter charger?

Yeah, I guess I skimmed past that part about the Cerbo GX. So I guess you have to figure out what is the comm protocol on that network, and find a BMS that can operate in that ecosystem. VE only, or do they support other types of communication protocols.

(kinda looks like it supports multiple protocols and brings them all together)

I don't really know a ton about what Victron use in that regard. Another option is to just get a Victron shunt solution and not worry about the BMS communication part. You can still read BMS information like cell voltage and whatnot directly from the BMS app if needed.

It depends I guess on how you want it all to integrate in the end. I might follow in the Victron community, there is a whole crowd of people in that space who have it all figured out, the stuff they like to use together, maybe somebody else would know which BMSs use compatible communication protocols, maybe a BMS supporting CANBUS would be good enough to get Cerbo GX to talk to it?
 
Last edited:
I installed Batrium BMS in my MotorHome and I really like it a lot! It can interface to the Cerbo to control charging and discharging.

If you get the Batrium Core w/expansion board and one or two K9’s (one to monitor 16 supercells, two to monitor all 32 cells). With the expansion board you will have 7 relays. One to control the contactor or breakers, two for alarms, one for fan, one for heat pad??? - one to manage control from the alternator and one more.

Also you may want to look a Rec-bms and Orion (Rec will interface with the Cerbo - I don’t know about Orion).

Good Luck!
 
One other point. A 5000w Quattro at 12v is SUPER massive amps!!!

Could you wire a 48v battery to a 48v Quattro - then use some step down transformers. 48 to 12v to power your other loads.

Also I know a lot of boats use 24v - how difficult would it be to convert your boat to 24v.

Putting that large of a battery in - make sure you think through all the aspects.
 
@Dzl thanks for the tag.

The Victron <-> BMS protocol is essentially under NDA (you won't have to find it on their website) but I do have it since I'm a Victron dealer and I work on BMS integration/protocols. Various BMS manufacturers integrate the protocol at varying levels. Some do it well, some not so much. REC has probably the most complete integration as they partnered with Victron and Wakespeed to get that integration right. My recommendation for your installation would be the REC 4S/12V Active BMS. They are designed for these exact types of installations and are the only 4S BMS that I'm aware of with active balancing and CAN integration with Victron. The default relay we provide with the ABMS is 500A. That will pair fine with your Quattro 5K.


I'm a REC dealer and we have US stock of the ABMS for the time being but they go quickly. More out of stock than in stock lately. Just PM me if you'd like one and I can shoot you a quote.
 
@Dzl thanks for the tag.

The Victron <-> BMS protocol is essentially under NDA (you won't have to find it on their website) but I do have it since I'm a Victron dealer and I work on BMS integration/protocols. Various BMS manufacturers integrate the protocol at varying levels. Some do it well, some not so much. REC has probably the most complete integration as they partnered with Victron and Wakespeed to get that integration right. My recommendation for your installation would be the REC 4S/12V Active BMS. They are designed for these exact types of installations and are the only 4S BMS that I'm aware of with active balancing and CAN integration with Victron. The default relay we provide with the ABMS is 500A. That will pair fine with your Quattro 5K.


I'm a REC dealer and we have US stock of the ABMS for the time being but they go quickly. More out of stock than in stock lately. Just PM me if you'd like one and I can shoot you a quote.
PM sent
 
One other point. A 5000w Quattro at 12v is SUPER massive amps!!!

Could you wire a 48v battery to a 48v Quattro - then use some step down transformers. 48 to 12v to power your other loads.

Also I know a lot of boats use 24v - how difficult would it be to convert your boat to 24v.

Putting that large of a battery in - make sure you think through all the aspects.
Giving this some thought. We are all 12v here, so changing that to 24 or 48 from a device perspective is probably too much. Stepping down from 48 or 24 to 12 is an interesting prospect. So what would that look like. Any pros or cons around this and has anyone done this?
 
Stepping down from 48 or 24 to 12 is an interesting prospect. So what would that look like. Any pros or cons around this and has anyone done this?
Almost everybody with 48V or 24V batteries uses a DC to DC step down converter to achieve 12V power. The trick is getting one big enough for the loads, or paralleling multiple converters to separate circuits.

Like this:
 
Hello, Looking for some advice on a current project.

I have 32 12v 3.2 EVE cells I am connecting in a 4P4S2P configuration. The battery location is already prewired for 12v.
I will be running a Victron 5000 Quattro with a Victron Cerbo GX unit. I have a solar array amounting to about 3300 wats.

I am looking for a BMS for these EVE batteries that will communicate with the Cerbo GX unit.

Do any of you have recommendations?

Any assistance is appreciate. Let me know if I am missing some crucial information.

Thank you
I'm in a similar predicament, trying to source an external BMS that can speak to Victron. From the research i've done there are a couple options: X2 BMS, REC, Orion.

One of the interesting things about X2 is they have a function that allows monitoring of your starter battery - they are also ABYC approved, so a little more focused on marine applications. I just made a post to see if anyone has experience or reviews of the X2 because there isn't too much info online. I'll keep you posted if anyone bites!
 
I have a REC active BMS on my 3P4S bank that I got from @the_colorist, and it works great with my Victron system. Let me know if I can answer any questions on how it works.
This sounds like my configuration (REC Active BMS and 3p4s 12v bank) that I am building out. The way the wiring diagram on the BMS > Battery looks, I won't have control over each cell in a bank, only control over each of the 4 banks as a whole. This is what I'm referencing for my cell configuration:

3p4sbank-png.87092

Is that the way you have yours, and is it working fine? Any special charge/discharge limits or top/bottom balancing you need to do with that setup?
 
This sounds like my configuration (REC Active BMS and 3p4s 12v bank) that I am building out. The way the wiring diagram on the BMS > Battery looks, I won't have control over each cell in a bank, only control over each of the 4 banks as a whole. This is what I'm referencing for my cell configuration:

3p4sbank-png.87092

Is that the way you have yours, and is it working fine? Any special charge/discharge limits or top/bottom balancing you need to do with that setup?
Yes, except mine is split in the middle for space reasons. The REC Active balances the 4 groups of cells just fine. I have been full-time for 8 months and it is rock solid. From mid November to mid January, with the low sun angle and short days, I only got to 100% (and therefore top balanced) once a week on laundry day when I ran the generator. Still never had any issues with large imbalances or anything like that. I do get a little more voltage drop from the bank to the inverter under heavy load than I would like, but at this point I would have to reconfigure too much to add another 4/0 cable. It only effects me if I get down around 10% and try to make coffee before the sun comes up ?!
 
Yes, except mine is split in the middle for space reasons. The REC Active balances the 4 groups of cells just fine. I have been full-time for 8 months and it is rock solid. From mid November to mid January, with the low sun angle and short days, I only got to 100% (and therefore top balanced) once a week on laundry day when I ran the generator. Still never had any issues with large imbalances or anything like that. I do get a little more voltage drop from the bank to the inverter under heavy load than I would like, but at this point I would have to reconfigure too much to add another 4/0 cable. It only effects me if I get down around 10% and try to make coffee before the sun comes up ?!
Sounds great, thanks for the quick response! Is your cell config like in the image, with a split/additional jumper between the 2 banks then?
 
Sounds great, thanks for the quick response! Is your cell config like in the image, with a split/additional jumper between the 2 banks then?
Yes. I attached a pic.
 

Attachments

  • 20210605_164654.jpg
    20210605_164654.jpg
    155.7 KB · Views: 22
Back
Top