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JiKong (JK) (Neey/Hankzor/HelTec/etc) Smart BMS with Active Balancer BT/Can/RS485 (Input Discussion pre-purchase)

Cell 4 is blank !

My order went through and is being processed, because of a few "things" (custom) they have to work up I will not get them till end of Dec. Not coming from Ali*Anything, another path. There may be a software update coming soon ;-) but we'll see.
 
Cell 4 is blank !

My order went through and is being processed, because of a few "things" (custom) they have to work up I will not get them till end of Dec. Not coming from Ali*Anything, another path. There may be a software update coming soon ;-) but we'll see.

Yes I noticed that just after I posted my message so I edited it and added the following which explains the blank Cell 4.
"Just noticed that cell 4 is not showing as it is in fact flashing in Red so when the screenshot was taken it was by sods law off. It was showing about 3.335V at the time if I remember rightly but now already it is much closer balanced."

Sorry to hear of your annoying long wait to get your unit. The software is pretty good as is although on the Status screen I am losing the last few characters on the right which is annoying. It is not text size or bold settings either as I tried that.

Anyhow my pack is very nicely and quickly top balanced. Now discharging it through my spare inverter to a few household circuits on an extension lead and all looking good. EXCEPT when I run the higher current use coffee machine the current is jumping up and down all over the place rather than with the Overkill BMS it seems to stay pretty much within an amp or so. Does anyone know why this is or is that common with the JK BMS's?? Does the Overkill just average it out better ??
 
Taking a guess after seeing more specs, the ADC's are better on the JK models and more sensitive to seeing the flutter. It's not unsual, I see it on other BMS' when a heavier load hits, there will always be some "jitter" between cells on heavy discharge & charge (varying levels).

The longer wait is okay because of what I wanted in particular...
 
Hey RayW! I am also in Thailand, down south near Ranong. I just built my 8s 280ah pack yesterday also with the same JK you have. I really like it. As I was reading through the thread I was going to send you the manual and tell you to fuse both the 9th and 10th leads to cell 8+ but it looks like you got it sorted. My showstopper was getting into the settings with the passwords being 1234 for logon and then not knowing it was 123456 for making any changes! But a bit of googling got me up and running.

The thing I am wrestling with now is a marked difference between what my TR16 battery monitor is reporting for remaining capacity vs the JK. They are 20% off (the TR16 currently reporting battery at 52% capacity, the JK at 71% remaining). The JK spec sheet says it has a coulomb counter in it, so I want to believe it's accurate, but when I measure the actual current with my ammeter it more closely matches the TR16. So that makes me think the TR16 is more accurate. The JKs reporting however more closely matches my calculated expectations for what I've used though! I really don't know how to reconcile this.
 
Hi Steve,



I ordered both the RS485 and CanBus modules. I was a little surprised that both units have 4 pin connectors, meaning both are meant to plug into the RS485 socket (but only one at a time).

My goal was to play with the CanBus interface. As a retired firmware engineer, I'm always looking for something to play with..... But I'm not really disappointed. I'll eventually research it, but I doubt that there is any data coming down the can interface, that is not also available on the straight RS485 interface....



My 8S unit came with 5mm screw-in connectors, so I can use about any type of wire I want. The 8S version does not have the problem that Andy has.

I'm also MidNite Classic 150 user and will use this BMS with it.

Enjoy !!
Hello
I got mine a week or so ago.
The actual bms is very nice and working good.
I also bought the can bus module hoping to get it to communicate with my victron cerbo, that failed big time.
Doing a little research, i dont believe its true canbus??
I can confirm that it is transmitted something as my cerbo gx is receiving something
See pic
 

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Hello
I got mine a week or so ago.
The actual bms is very nice and working good.
I also bought the can bus module hoping to get it to communicate with my victron cerbo, that failed big time.
Doing a little research, i dont believe its true canbus??
I can confirm that it is transmitted something as my cerbo gx is receiving something
See pic
I'm not a Victron User so not paying that much attention BUT I recall seeing Cerbo Drivers for JKbms'on Github. I don't recall if their were from JK or 3rd party though. There is stuff for HASS.io and other as well.
 
I just came across this thread. I got a JK BMS right before the pandemic hit but accidentally let the magic smoke out, and while waiting four months for another one to ship I decided to go to a Nuvation that they were having a super-sale on. The JK is the absolute best inexpensive BMS there is! be very careful when plugging it in, if any of the exposed parts of the pins brush against any other pin other than the one it is supposed to be plugged into it instantly arcs and fries.

I have the RS485, CAN, and GPS modules still, if anyone wants the lot for the cost of shipping:
 

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I just came across this thread. I got a JK BMS right before the pandemic hit but accidentally let the magic smoke out, and while waiting four months for another one to ship I decided to go to a Nuvation that they were having a super-sale on. It’s the absolute best inexpensive BMS there is! be very careful when plugging it in, if any of the exposed parts of the pins brush against any other pin other than the one it is supposed to be plugged into it instantly arcs and fries.

I have the RS485, CAN, and GPS modules still, if anyone wants the lot for the cost of shipping:
Just curious but what is the purpose of the gps module for a BMS... What's the use case for that for a battery?
 
Just curious but what is the purpose of the gps module for a BMS... What's the use case for that for a battery?
I think they intended it for small EV application - so to track how far it has traveled and where it has been?

They offered them all to me for cheap at the time, so I figured why not, I might play with it at some point.
 
I just came across this thread. I got a JK BMS right before the pandemic hit but accidentally let the magic smoke out, and while waiting four months for another one to ship I decided to go to a Nuvation that they were having a super-sale on. The JK is the absolute best inexpensive BMS there is! be very careful when plugging it in, if any of the exposed parts of the pins brush against any other pin other than the one it is supposed to be plugged into it instantly arcs and fries.

I have the RS485, CAN, and GPS modules still, if anyone wants the lot for the cost of shipping:
What part of the world you located in??
 
Okay my problem is that this new BMS comes without the B- and P- cables attached unlike the 16S and bigger in this family of BMS's as shown in Andy's YT videos Looks like though the 4 connection B- and P- points are in fact threaded holes but I cannot be sure as I just noticed in time before I started using a heavy duty soldering iron (im 76 and my eyesight is not as good as it used to be !!). Has anyone here yet got any experience with connecting the B- and P- cables to this new 8S model? I hope that up at the local hardware store tomorrow (by local I am a retired Brit HNC qualified electronics engineer living in Thailand) I can find a suitable sized set of bolts and washers to ascertain it is indeed a threaded connector socket. Either way I have some good quality expensive copper stranded 100A cable for this purpose with heavy duty crimp connectors at the ready.

Attached is a couple of photos showing this very nicely made solid BMS and the B- connection sockets which appear threaded. the more I look the more I am sure they are indeed threaded. Wish I could get a user manual for this 8S model, even in Chinese.
This is the model I have too, but without the Heltec sticker. The threaded holes is m6, as far as I can tell. I wouldn't try soldering, but crimp two 25mm2 or 35mm2 cables and bolt em.
 
This is the model I have too, but without the Heltec sticker. The threaded holes is m6, as far as I can tell. I wouldn't try soldering, but crimp two 25mm2 or 35mm2 cables and bolt em.
They are M6. I used two rigid pieces of copper and attached B- to the negative battery terminal, bending the copper over the side of the battery to mount the BMS and then used a short piece of copper to directly attach my battery monitor shunt to P-. Makes the whole unit rock solid and manageable!
 
They are M6. I used two rigid pieces of copper and attached B- to the negative battery terminal, bending the copper over the side of the battery to mount the BMS and then used a short piece of copper to directly attach my battery monitor shunt to P-. Makes the whole unit rock solid and manageable!
Ah yes, using solid copper to a shunt or single crimped connector would be even easier. :)
 
Digging through the JKBMS material it appears these do not have a PreCharge Circuit within, which in my opinion is a bit LAME given that any lithium battery pack will have to cope with Inverters powering up and taking that start surge. So I asked them what do they suggest to solve it and why is such omitted from the design. Hopefully I will get an answer today.

JKBMS with Active Balancer --to-- PreCharge --to-- Inverter.
HOW have you dealt with it ? Push Button with Resistor ? Automatic somehow ? How do you deal with it when no one is around and Inverter Cycles (batt connect/disconnect etc) ?

IF you think that PreCharge should be added to JK, they can be contacted here : https://www.jkbms.com/contact/
 
I used a spare 10A DC breaker and 50 Ohm 100W resister I had around. I would just flip it on and then count to 10 and then flip the battery cutoff to on and turn off the breaker.
 
UPDATE: JkBMS support Line = No Response even to direct mail questions and their webforms for contact do not work.
Email sent yesterday @ 06:30 now 25.5 hours later and not a peep, and considering I want a batch of these - Hrmph....

APPARENTLY, the B2A24S15P models come with a pair of short 7 AWG Silicone Jacketed wires on both B- & P-. Combined 7AWG = 4AWG. BMS Sense leads are apparently 22 gauge but it is NOT clearly stated anywhere else either. The short wires obviously are too short to connect to a Battery terminal & Lug in most configurations so you either have to put 2x 7AWG Terminals and then extend using a single 4AWG or use a Butt-Connector (eeks) to extend the wire. putting the 2x 7AWG into one side & 4AWG out the other.

I'll post IF they respond and what is said or if they do not respond which IMO may be an indicator for caution & rethink.
Steve
 
When I bought mine a couple of years ago I had good support from IC GOGOGO, they would talk to JK for me.
 
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