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Battery Balancer by Victron

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pda1

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I have 2 BattleBorn LifePo batteries in series for a 24v off grid system. Once per month I balance the batteries individually. That means charging each battery up to 14.2 volts using the Victron IP65 charger. (Pretty sure that's the voltage).

Well, I'm getting tired of doing it.

I see Victron makes a Battery Balancer. If I install that on my system will I still have to balance the batteries at once per month or will the balancer do that automatically?
 
Battle Born recommends balancing once a year for batteries run in series. AmpereTime suggests every 6 months.
 
timselectric said:
Yes
Click to expand...
Tim...didn't you make a video about that? I watched it. Thanks.

As before I'm really tired of having to balance the batteries once per month. The entire system has to be shut down, the AC lines from the M+ placed into grid outlets (not fed from the M+) and then balance each battery.

Tired of having to do it! 'Glad Victron makes that gadget.
 
sunshine_eggo said:
I was trying to establish if it's being done based on need or as a "best practice."

BB at one point recommended it every 30 days.

Now... may not ever be necessary...

Click to expand...
I only watched half of that. Does he even know what he’s talking about or is this just marketing baloney?
 
Since you're already equipped to self-balance relatively quickly, I'd simply stop doing it and see if you ever develop an issue.

The Victron balancer is intended to get the results you desire.


This too


The victron may be better as it only works above a certain voltage. Pretty sure the one I linked works any time the voltages are different by X.
 
"The Victron balancer is intended to get the results you desire."

Ok. Perfect.
 
JRH said:
In all fairness to Denis, I must say I have been following his tech advice for almost a year concerning my 24v 4s4p BB bank ….his advice has not only kept me from having to disconnect and rebalance at all since turning the system on but each week they get more and more balanced at all SOC ,from near zero empty to the very tip top charge , I couldn’t ask for better product , customer service, advice or courtesy.
(in addition I must thank a certain battery and blue product wizard forum member) . Between the two of them I have had no issues with balancing.
J.
Click to expand...

Thanks for chiming in. So if I understand this correctly, is there something unique to the Battleborn BMS or cells that allows for this natural self balancing? Because what he was saying goes against everything else I thought I understood about keeping batteries in series in balance.
 
Tomthumb62 said:
Thanks for chiming in. So if I understand this correctly, is there something unique to the Battleborn BMS or cells that allows for this natural self balancing? Because what he was saying goes against everything else I thought I understood about keeping batteries in series in balance.
Click to expand...
Not going to say unique as there are others that do similar things… can’t speak for them…. I’m only speaking about BB.. They have their own set of recommendations for what they sell…they expect you to charge and hold at a higher point than I normally see For the BMS to balence .
I push mine hard and work them…on purpose…I use the voltages they recommend ( higher than most ) I test them for capacity often….I keep them at optimal temps…
they were not as balenced when commissioned as I would do now…I spoke with upper tier battle born techs about this in June … And they recommended a plan of action..( it’s a major effort to get them out To rebalance)

At first there was some gaps in balence and variable at very high or low SOC…but with implementing their idea they have done wonderfully pulling together on load sharing , SOC , voltage balencing and retaining their capacity…well over 100 ah per batt…The 712 has done a great job at tracking the in and out amp flow from 11.v to 28.85v
,I have never had a BMS disconnect ,high or low. I let them sit for a few hours at absorb at least weekly and constantly log the improvement.. or change…
theres a lot of tweaks I have learned and that each person will find for their set up…and their gear…
these are just mine.. don’t rely on me , find your own tweaks..
All I know is what they said to do…..and that works damn good…

PS…referring to the OP who is charging up to 14.2 v.
BB has said probably 20 times in 20 ways and videos that you must get up to 14.4 for the BMS…to be fully effective …and also you need to do it every week or two ….I do it once a week at least..

now perhaps something has changed in the last couple of months, I don’t know…but that’s what I know and do and it works just like Denis , Shawn and Arron said.

J.
 
JRH said:
Not going to say unique as there are others that do similar things… can’t speak for them…. I’m only speaking about BB.. They have their own set of recommendations for what they sell…they expect you to charge and hold at a higher point than I normally see For the BMS to balence .
I push mine hard and work them…on purpose…I use the voltages they recommend ( higher than most ) I test them for capacity often….I keep them at optimal temps…
they were not as balenced when commissioned as I would do now…I spoke with upper tier battle born techs about this in June … And they recommended a plan of action..( it’s a major effort to get them out To rebalance)

At first there was some gaps in balence and variable at very high or low SOC…but with implementing their idea they have done wonderfully pulling together on load sharing , SOC , voltage balencing and retaining their capacity…well over 100 ah per batt…The 712 has done a great job at tracking the in and out amp flow from 11.v to 28.85v
,I have never had a BMS disconnect ,high or low. I let them sit for a few hours at absorb at least weekly and constantly log the improvement.. or change…
theres a lot of tweaks I have learned and that each person will find for their set up…and their gear…
these are just mine.. don’t rely on me , find your own tweaks..
All I know is what they said to do…..and that works damn good…

PS…referring to the OP who is charging up to 14.2 v.
BB has said probably 20 times in 20 ways and videos that you must get up to 14.4 for the BMS…to be fully effective …and also you need to do it every week or two ….I do it once a week at least..

now perhaps something has changed in the last couple of months, I don’t know…but that’s what I know and do and it works just like Denis , Shawn and Arron said.

J.
Click to expand...
I wrote 14.2v in the post simply because I can't remember what the figure is supposed to be. Below are the Victron IP65 charger voltage settings I use when balancing. There's no debate here- that's what BB recommends. When using the Victron Connect App I wait for the batteries to conclude the Absorption phase which immediately switches into Float. Once that's done I disconnect the battery and charge the other one. It's pretty simple but, as before, I'm annoyed by having to do this every month since there's more equipment connected to the Multiplus and I have to unplug and plug the loads to the main grid. Finally, the Multiplus capacitors have to be recharged, which is easy, but another step. So, that's why I'm thinkin' the Balancer will do the job. For $56 it's well worth it.

Charge Voltage

-Absorption Voltage - 14.4v

-Float Voltage - 13.6v

(For float you may need to tap on it and activate the switch to turn it on.)

-Storage Voltage - 13.6v

-Recondition Voltage - Disabled

Temperature Compensation - Disabled
 
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