Is Bluetooth really needed?
- Thread starter Drozdster
- Start date
Don B. Cilly
Energetic energy padawan
Well, it depends on the app, doesn't it.
But pretty much the only "setting" you'd want to adjust is how you charge it, and that is mainly done with whatever you charge it with.
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But pretty much the only "setting" you'd want to adjust is how you charge it, and that is mainly done with whatever you charge it with.
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Samsonite801
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I personally would want a management connection of some type to the BMS so I can read/monitor individual cell voltages, and have more visibility into BMS status for troubleshooting, etc. Also provides battery pack level SoC. This way, if the BMS trips and disconnects your inverter from the pack, you can go in read the error message, see what is going on and reset it easily...
You can also change settings like thresholds / limits, balancing characteristics (balance an charge only, balance on charge and discharge, etc)... I've had non-managed BMSs before and it was a breathe of fresh air to be able to get bluetooth, to have some visibility into the BMS and awareness of cell level activity... Now I can perform health checks and confirm all systems looking good, before there is a problem.
You can also change settings like thresholds / limits, balancing characteristics (balance an charge only, balance on charge and discharge, etc)... I've had non-managed BMSs before and it was a breathe of fresh air to be able to get bluetooth, to have some visibility into the BMS and awareness of cell level activity... Now I can perform health checks and confirm all systems looking good, before there is a problem.
cs1234
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I was going to say, neah, don't need it.. but now that you mention they let you do all those nifty things, I kind of want it.
Samsonite801
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Yeah totally, I have 6 battery packs in parallel, and each of them have their own BMS. I would never know if one of them tripped (taking away from overall SoC capacity). I like to log into each of them maybe once a week just to make sure they are all still connected and contributing to the capacity.
Imagine if 2 or 3 of my batteries tripped, and I never knew it until a cloudy day came and I was wondering why my battery bank was dropping charge so fast. Then, instead of having to crawl down into the basement and manually measure voltages with a voltmeter, I can log into each BMS for a few seconds and make sure they are showing all greens, cell voltages look great, no errors logged. So I know I can depend on the whole bank, that all 1680Ah is available on the main bus.
It is one of those things that you don't realize how much you need it until you have it. I would not go back.
cs1234
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I have a DIY pack with bluetooth bms. There are premade packs with Bluetooth BMS though. https://www.amazon.com/LiFePO4-Temperature-Charging-2000-5000-Monitors/dp/B08N56CYS5
cs1234
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Yeah, I'm aware there are bluetooth enabled premade packs, I just wanted real world diysolarforum member opinions.. being as you both seem to like the interface of the ones you're using.
Samsonite801
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The model I am currently referring to above is on my six DIY 12v (4s) banks, which I built using OverKill 4s 120a BMSs (those are based on JBD BMS brand). I also have 4 Seplos 16s BMSs, and 4 JBD 16s BMS for my final home and shop systems which also include bluetooth / app communication features.
Geokilroy
New Member
I bought 2 100ah pre-built batteries a few years ago. They worked fine without bluetooth. I always wondered about state of charge. I never had a problem with them, but a friend had had two 100ah batteries and had nothing but problems with the 12v power in his class C rig. He had to climb inside a tight space to check voltages etc. What PITA!!!
I have since built a diy battery and ordered a JBD 200a bms. I will never have a battery without BT in my rig. To troubleshoot problems I start with my app and can check amps in (charging), amps out, individual cell voltages, and total volts. Eliminates a lot of time and frustration. My friend is thinking about opening up his batteries and adding BT or another bms with BT.
I have since built a diy battery and ordered a JBD 200a bms. I will never have a battery without BT in my rig. To troubleshoot problems I start with my app and can check amps in (charging), amps out, individual cell voltages, and total volts. Eliminates a lot of time and frustration. My friend is thinking about opening up his batteries and adding BT or another bms with BT.
Once set, there should be little to no adjustments. Does help review the condition of the cell balance and information on any faults. If no battery monitor, BT may help to have capacity, amps and volts to periodically monitor that all is working as expected.
Samsonite801
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Yeah, good point you bring up, if one also adds the battery monitor, it's even better yet (in my opinion). The battery monitor is great to see 'global' bank health, and the BT on the individual BMSs is good to see how each pack is doing. You can pinpoint about any problem just using the phone apps.
In my particular usage, I chose the Victron BMV-712 battery monitor (comes with a shunt) since I have 2 of the Victron SmartSolar 250|100 charge controllers, they work nice in a sync'd cluster BT network together, both CC's reading volts, amps, temperature off the BMV... So you get global SoC (and other information), and pack SoC, cell voltage, etc, very easy to see what is going on anywhere in the system. The battery monitor has a nice SoC remote display mounted in the kitchen to see it all the time without looking at the phone app.
If it seemed like it was dropping too fast on the global SoC, I can go log into each battery pack and check on it. One time I did have one pack shut off when one cell was high (out of balance). So I changed the setting to balance on charge and discharge and it came back to balance in a day and never messed up since. I can also check if my six packs are in balance by comparing SoC across all six BMSs. They are usually within a percent of each other, and the global SoC reading...
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