Can I get away without BMS?

[nibs]

76 yrs old tinkerer, extremely fixed income. Built battery powered Garden tractor about 9 years ago, it is a real work horse currently using 4 very tired T105's with 300 watt pv for charging, 200 amp speed controller, and cheap charge controller. PV provides virtually all charging for almost 2 years now.
Can I act as the BMS with charge controller and dash mounted volt meter. Looking at 8 leaf modules at 24V nominal for $400. Cheaper than 4 T105's at about $600.
Building new house leaves us with very little loose change, and maxed out cards (why do we need a fridge anyway?).

 

[TCgreg]

Sure. All the battery care about is not being overcharged, over discharged or charged when cells are frozen. There are different ways to accomplish that although if you accidentally miss it could make your battery pack hazardous waste.

If you want active cell balancing then it becomes more complicated.

I don't have a formal BMS on my pack but do have protections in place for the above mentioned concerns.

 

[nibs]

Sure. All the battery care about is not being overcharged, over discharged or charged when cells are frozen. There are different ways to accomplish that although if you accidentally miss it could make your battery pack hazardous waste.

If you want active cell balancing then it becomes more complicated.

I don't have a formal BMS on my pack but do have protections in place for the above mentioned concerns.

Thank you for that information, I ran my wind turbine for almost 8 years with no controller and my coach with no controller for about 5, using LA batts and on the coach the golf cart batts lasted 9 years. But Li is a new world for an old geezer to learn.
I need 24V for the tractor, and 12v for the winch on the forklift. is it best to wire them 2 banks of 12 each with a center tap or pairs of parallel packs in series, or does it matter?