JBD/Overkill vs JK/Heltec BMS

[Bob B]

I’m doing all this on my iPhone so the actions you detail are not possible. I’ll figure it out some day soon if I want to share as I do.
Thanks for you affords.

You can copy the URL with the Iphone also ... If you go to the web page with Safari ... the URL is at the bottom of the screen .... just press and hold on there and the option will pop up to copy .... when you are in the post just press and hold and you should get the option to paste.

Oh ... it depends on what IOS rev you are running .... I'm on the latest 15.4.1 ... Earlier revisions had the URL at the top of the page.

 

[PeSCaLo]

@upnorthandpersonal
going back to the comparison ,
have you been able to get a hold of the JBD Bms for comparison?
for somebody that does not need de active balancer, would you still prefer JK ?

 

[upnorthandpersonal]

From looking at the electronics, and the fact that there is a pretty responsive communication/support with the JK development side, the JK still is the top choice for me. I prefer the way the app works and the way settings are dealt with, and the JK electronics design looks better. Considering I have had zero issues with the BMS and has handled some fault situations I introduced perfectly, it's my personal first choice in this price category - especially for things like a 16s set-up.
I've not looked at the 4s JK in detail (don't have one) but have been testing the JBD on a 4s and that one has been operating just fine. I just miss some of the JK aspects in the JBD app.

 

[rickst29]

I took a screen shot of the actual model
It’s. JK. 2amp 8cell 200amp unit. They offer about 20 models on this sight. I think the first pic had a different model shown?

The new model JK1A8S20P-H (with heater pad interface) was sent to me "for free" in exchange for testing. Here is a picture of mine. It has silver-colored heatsink plates, not painted black. Although JK has an RS-485 header, there is no user-friendly software to utilize with that interface. I did a fairly comprehensive test of this BMS (here). I am not pleased that the maximum CMOS temperature can reach 100 C before the charge and discharge circuits are shut down; and that the 'overcurrent' timer shutdown is specified in full seconds. (There is no separate "hardware overcurrent instantaneous maximum", you should use a fast-acting class-T fuse on the pack as a whole to prevent damaging spikes in the case of a short circuit.)

This has been a great performer in testing, staying very cool while I ran it within just a couple of Amps of its rated output current limit. Balancing runs fast, and the Android App interface is very good. I DO NOT have experience with competing JBD devices, only a few pieces of Daly "smart BMS" (which I feel to be dramatically inferior).

 

[upnorthandpersonal]

Although JK has an RS-485 header, there is no user-friendly software to utilize with that interface.

You can integrate it with Grafana:

GitHub - PurpleAlien/jk-bms_grafana: Read data from a JK BMS and graph it in Grafana

Read data from a JK BMS and graph it in Grafana. Contribute to PurpleAlien/jk-bms_grafana development by creating an account on GitHub.

github.com

But yeah, I understand it depends on how you define the term "user-friendly"

 

[Critter350]

Is there a trick to getting a response from Heltech? Been trying to buy a BMS off them for three weeks now, only had one unhelpful reply so far. Seems to be a different experience than others are reporting.

 

[upnorthandpersonal]

Not Heltec, but Hankzor (used to be) quite responsive. Lock-down in China + component shortages probably doesn't help the situation.