16s chargery BMS numbers not matching reality / active balancer

[diysolarman]

Putting a 16bit A/D into a crappy analog system just captures the noise and errors more precisely - useless.

I am about to throw the Chargery unit into the e-cycle bin.

I'm already there. Horrible setup/system with even worse support. Wait until you have real problems and Jason at Chargery bypasses your questions and starts giving you canned responses.

I switched to batrium. Also, I have 3 of these BMS8T units (one I don't feel comfortable selling since it has issues with saving settings - which Jason never helped with btw - he asked me to go online and ask others - This coming from the manufacturer; what a joke)

$50 complete with shunt; 300A, shipping to the continental US included

Be careful of some here recommending chargery products as I feel that they have a vested insterest in the company @Steve_S
Don't believe the "Chargery really values your input and listens to customer feedback" line as it is not true. I made various recommendations to Jason at Chargery and one of his answers was that the feature isn't implemented because its "illegal" haha. Will even gave them some great suggestions . All which chargery refuses to do.

I just spent $6000 in New cells which I blame the chargery bms for letting fail. I'm definitely not going to trust this device with this responsibility again.

Look into the Electrodacus if you want something miles ahead at a similar price.

 

[dudeinthewoods]

So my apologies for dropping off the earth a bit.

I had a lot going on with 3 failing businesses due to covid. Now down to 2 failing businesses and probably 1 soon.

So I was hoping on here earlier to give some updates. The DMM simply showed the same numbers as the AB and the chargery was off and not consistently. Some off by .02 others by .4. But that's all moot as the smoke came out about 2 hours ago.

Honestly I'm not sure why. I'm going to open it up tomorrow. It looks like on the first lead it's burned and inside is where it burned.

Now I need to decide what to replace it with. I'd rather pay more / get more but if there's a better alternative cheaper I won't complain either.

 

[diysolarman]

Look at electrodacus and see if it fits your needs. Quality product

 

[dudeinthewoods]

Was just looking at batrium. Looks awesome but expensive. I'll check out electrodacus now.


Thanks man

Edit: checked out electrodacus seems to just be the combined SCC / BMS units unless I'm missing something. I've got SCCs working great. Just looking for BMS but could swap them out I guess.

 

[diysolarman]

https://electrodacus.com/SBMS0/SBMS0.pdf

Not sure what you are looking to do, but the sbms0 can control an scc. They sell optional dssr20s but they are not required. I would contact them. The owner should get back to you. He is very knowledgeable .

 

[Steve_S]

So my apologies for dropping off the earth a bit.

I had a lot going on with 3 failing businesses due to covid. Now down to 2 failing businesses and probably 1 soon.

So I was hoping on here earlier to give some updates. The DMM simply showed the same numbers as the AB and the chargery was off and not consistently. Some off by .02 others by .4. But that's all moot as the smoke came out about 2 hours ago.

Honestly I'm not sure why. I'm going to open it up tomorrow. It looks like on the first lead it's burned and inside is where it burned.

Now I need to decide what to replace it with. I'd rather pay more / get more but if there's a better alternative cheaper I won't complain either.

This entire Covid Disaster has so many more Victims than just those who catch it and die. My fingers crossed for you to be able to keep things going and for a good recovery post Covid.

 

[Steve_S]

Be careful of some here recommending chargery products as I feel that they have a vested insterest in the company @Steve_S

All I did was buy & use these, edit the docs for readability to make it easier for myself & everyone else.
I have no stake in Chargery or any company, wish I did or made money off Youtube, I really could use the money !

And you may have your issues with Jason. We have seen & interacted with him, he developed the DCC based off our input. He is building a bigger better BMS with input FROM HERE and from several members and that is seen through several threads.

Lastly I do occasionally recommend a specific BMS for a specific application, I've pointed folks at Heltec (see who started "Heltec BMS' (up to 350A) Thread), TinyBMS, REC, Orion, and others. So I am guilty for SHARING INFO shoot me.

 

[diysolarman]

nevermind. Not worth it

 

[dudeinthewoods]

This entire Covid Disaster has so many more Victims than just those who catch it and die. My fingers crossed for you to be able to keep things going and for a good recovery post Covid.

Thanks man. Yeah it's so much worse than people are acting. Yeah the one is dead dead maybe sell off assets soon and close it.

The 2nd was doing incredibly well and the bank is about to take it. 3rd who knows I have 6 months of runway left haha.

Oh well my property is paid off worse case I'm living off the garden just sucks to lose 95% of your net worth and it not be "your fault" and watch the richest get richer.

But back to solar...

 

[Steve_S]

Thanks man. Yeah it's so much worse than people are acting. Yeah the one is dead dead maybe sell off assets soon and close it.

The 2nd was doing incredibly well and the bank is about to take it. 3rd who knows I have 6 months of runway left haha.

Oh well my property is paid off worse case I'm living off the garden just sucks to lose 95% of your net worth and it not be "your fault" and watch the richest get richer.

But back to solar...

I hear ya man... BTDT and it's no joy at all.... Self Sufficiency & independence can be golden if you're ready to do it. Get a Victory Garden going, raise rabbits & chickens....

As a VET I say this.... Social Freedoms & Social Rights come WITH Social Responsibilities.
Lots of people gave their lives to allow everyone to have the Freedoms & Rights they take for granted.
Sadly, the 21st century chucked any form of personal responsibility out the freakin smashed window.
All the wahoo's who feel "especially entitled", well they ought to be Live Targets. Or exported to one of many Conflict Zones so they can experience the cost for themselves.

 

[dudeinthewoods]

Yep, I'm a vet as well. I have rental properties for income. My tenants aren't required to pay but I have bills / taxes / mortgage and the bank is forclosing. I'm basically walking away from it which really sucks. Not sure why personal responsibility landed on me and not people above and below in the food chain haha.

Oh well, going to make cheese and try to get decent at the guitar

 

[Chargery]

I am about to throw the Chargery unit into the e-cycle bin.

Any quesions on your BMS? Do you buy it from me directly? what is your BMS version? purchase date? please tell me some details, i will fix it asap. or send me a PM.

thanks.

 

[dudeinthewoods]

Any quesions on your BMS? Do you buy it from me directly? what is your BMS version? purchase date? please tell me some details, i will fix it asap. or send me a PM.

thanks.

Thanks for checking in.

I don't want to throw you guys under the bus. I don't think it was something wrong with the unit but.. I also don't see how I screwed it up I've been using it for 6 months~

I don't think I can fix it, I could possibly mail it. I can also open it up and take internal pics. I don't mind putting a little time in.

If I remember correctly I got it from Craig.

I'll grab the other info tomorrow, about to call it a night.

 

[Factory400]

Any quesions on your BMS? Do you buy it from me directly? what is your BMS version? purchase date? please tell me some details, i will fix it asap. or send me a PM.

thanks.

I believe mine is not the latest FW and have been waiting to do the update until I have some sort of backup for my system. FW updates sometimes fail and I need this to work until I get a spare BMS.

From what I have been reading, the latest firmware offers some considerable updates and improvements, which is great. I have no reason to believe my unit is broken.

 

[diysolarman]

Thanks for checking in.

I don't want to throw you guys under the bus. I don't think it was something wrong with the unit but.. I also don't see how I screwed it up I've been using it for 6 months~

I don't think I can fix it, I could possibly mail it. I can also open it up and take internal pics. I don't mind putting a little time in.

If I remember correctly I got it from Craig.

I'll grab the other info tomorrow, about to call it a night.

If you want to stick with this product. I'll have 3 for sale $50 shipped to cont US. next week when I removed them. BMS8T 300A purchased in the Summer from Jason. I also have the delay boards as well

 

[diysolarman]

So my apologies for dropping off the earth a bit.

I had a lot going on with 3 failing businesses due to covid. Now down to 2 failing businesses and probably 1 soon.

So I was hoping on here earlier to give some updates. The DMM simply showed the same numbers as the AB and the chargery was off and not consistently. Some off by .02 others by .4. But that's all moot as the smoke came out about 2 hours ago.

Honestly I'm not sure why. I'm going to open it up tomorrow. It looks like on the first lead it's burned and inside is where it burned.

Now I need to decide what to replace it with. I'd rather pay more / get more but if there's a better alternative cheaper I won't complain either.

Any pics you can post here of the burned Chargery unit?

 

[diysolarman]

All I did was buy & use these, edit the docs for readability to make it easier for myself & everyone else.
I have no stake in Chargery or any company, wish I did or made money off Youtube, I really could use the money !

And you may have your issues with Jason. We have seen & interacted with him, he developed the DCC based off our input. He is building a bigger better BMS with input FROM HERE and from several members and that is seen through several threads.

Lastly I do occasionally recommend a specific BMS for a specific application, I've pointed folks at Heltec (see who started "Heltec BMS' (up to 350A) Thread), TinyBMS, REC, Orion, and others. So I am guilty for SHARING INFO shoot me.

yawn. okay. haha. I like the caps to emphasize "your points" I ASSUME you are not getting FREE products from CHARGERY for your GENEROUS contributions.

Maybe Jason should listen to Will since he did spend time to make a TWO (haha) videos to show its deficiencies. He for sure doesn't listen to customers from my personal experience with conversations with him

 

[Steve_S]

I get you are upset and that's fine, and now your nitpicking on my Writing Style in Forums and trying to imply stuff... okay, if that floats your boat, knock yourself out. Seriously...
Answer this, why would Jason send the new BMS8P to Barking Spider to review and play with before me, if I was the beneficiary of such overwhelming gratitude ?
And I wait & wait for a simple answer about using the external power from batt to BMS and whether or not a schottky should be used for 24V... 5 times asked and no answer...

If venting at me, makes you feel better, then good, there are worse places for your frustration & anger to be dumped.

PS: I've ALWAYS been an OpenSource Freeware kind of guy since the 80's. not about to change now after a lifetime of being a certain way. Not everyone in the world is a Ferenghi who believe in Profit above everything & anything else.

 

[diysolarman]

I get you are upset and that's fine, and now your nitpicking on my Writing Style in Forums and trying to imply stuff... okay, if that floats your boat, knock yourself out. Seriously...
Answer this, why would Jason send the new BMS8P to Barking Spider to review and play with before me, if I was the beneficiary of such overwhelming gratitude ?
And I wait & wait for a simple answer about using the external power from batt to BMS and whether or not a schottky should be used for 24V... 5 times asked and no answer...

If venting at me, makes you feel better, then good, there are worse places for your frustration & anger to be dumped.

PS: I've ALWAYS been an OpenSource Freeware kind of guy since the 80's. not about to change now after a lifetime of being a certain way. Not everyone in the world is a Ferenghi who believe in Profit above everything & anything else.

I apologize. I'm not venting at you. I'm not frustrated. I'm over it. I just disagreed with your constant praises for Chargery and false (based on my personal experience) claim that they listen to customers and go out of their way to help their customers.

I feel that it is a disservice to others reading these forums and wanted to share my own experience.

My own personal experience was exactly what I expected when buying from a company based in China.

When I first encountered issues with the Watt hours reading, I emailed Jason which told me that I did something wrong. I sent him my configuration. He then stated that he has never seen this before and that I'm doing something wrong (end of discussion). I sent him a video showing the issue and then he admits a problem and pushes a firmware update.

Another issue I had is the configuration not saving. Again, he played off any issues with their product with no help. I, once again, waste time making a video showing the issue and send it to him. His response? "ask on the internet" for the solution. This is ridiculous, especially when they claim things like the following and don't follow through (mind you I bought 4 of them from him):

Any quesions on your BMS? Do you buy it from me directly? what is your BMS version? purchase date? please tell me some details, i will fix it asap. or send me a PM.

thanks.

Let me not get started with the poor responses in which Jason just ignores the questions you ask and answers with canned responses.

Bottom line, from my experience, Chargery will not back their product after the sale. They will try and give you a couple of suggestions as to why the problem is on your end and not their product. When you show them that the problem lies in the hardware/software, they (Chargery aka Jason) will stop offering any further help to avoid any liability on their end. Expect Zero warranty for their products.

 

[Capt Bill]

just the lowest cell voltage over Start Voltage setting, BMS start to balance, it is effective in charge, in discharge or in Storage.

Re: My Chargery BMS8T or BMS16T "Balance Parameters":

I am coming back to this arena of lessons to better understand some concepts that are still fuzzy for me. I currently reset my "Balance Start Voltage" back to its' default value of 3.25V (I had set it up higher to 3.4v thinking my BMS Balancing would start working at any voltage below that setting/ my mistake). I also currently reset my Balance to "On" "In Charge" and "In Storage" mode; and "OFF" for In Discharge" mode (although might switch at to "ON" later / notice they are all set to OFF as default/ and user must go into BMS "Balance Parameters" "Set" to set any of them to "ON" .

... while Studying Craig's Info. about: "The balance start at parameter means it will balance only when cell voltages are above that set number. I am not sure weather it means all cells need to be above or just 1 cell, I think just one cell though." ... & then Chargery's post: (I think Jason): "just the lowest cell voltage over Start Voltage setting, BMS start to balance, it is effective in charge, in discharge or in Storage."

I still have these Questions: Can you confirm I understand this correctly? If my Balance Start Voltage is set to 3.25V, my BMS's Balancing Operation is active ONLY when individual Cell Voltages are above 3.25V, and NO Balancing actions are in play below 3.25V ???

What if I had set my Balance: "In Discharge" "ON" , ... does that mean my balance function will only be working at cell voltages ABOVE the "Balance Start Voltage" ; and NO Balancing actions are in play BELOW that "Balance Start Voltage" setting ??? And is the same true for "In Storage" "ON" ???

Question 2) : Could my LiFePO4 Battery Bank possibly benefit from lowering my "Balance Start Voltage" to a lower setting (why not 3.0V?); ... OR is this kind of an indirect lesson that LiFePO4 cells are most likely to get out of balance when their individual cell voltages are above 3.25v (which I believe is the default setting for the "Balance Start Voltage" ) ???

Open to further Lessons, and opinions based on experience :+)