JuncTek Battery Monitor vs Victron SmartShunt

[Browneye]

Yes, iOS.
Deleted the app, reinstalled from the QR code on the box/unit. Now won't connect at all.

EDIT: Got it going again...there's a link in the upper right corner of the app called SEARCH. Turns BT on and connects.

 

[Bigtruckin85]

Yes, iOS.
Deleted the app, reinstalled from the QR code on the box/unit. Now won't connect at all.

EDIT: Got it going again...there's a link in the upper right corner of the app called SEARCH. Turns BT on and connects.

Yeah sometimes mine doesn't automatically connect so I have to manually do it. My BMS is also Bluetooth and they randomly don't play well together, other times they're fine both connected.
Was your app up to date?

 

[Browneye]

Yeah, no more updates.
I suggested to Kang when the vendor section was still up that they rename ‘external temp’ to ‘battery temp’, and allow change to Fahrenheit.

No option for F.

Oh yeah…app for Overkill, victron orion, KG, and Ecoflow Delta. I feel so connected! Lol

 

[Browneye]

Got a reply from Kang Lee...
"If it is an Apple phone, please wait another 1-2 weeks. At present, only Android has been updated, and Apple has not been updated."

 

[Bigtruckin85]

Got a reply from Kang Lee...
"If it is an Apple phone, please wait another 1-2 weeks. At present, only Android has been updated, and Apple has not been updated."

Well that's good they're working on it. It should be a pretty good improvement.

 

[brb58]

The Junk tech doesn't have Peukert's constant. That is a big deal if you are running heavy hitters like inverters. Less of an issue with lithium since Peukert's constant is so low anyway.

 

[Browneye]

For seeing watts in and out, and relative remaining capacity, it's just an outstanding value.
I don't use any of the switching capability, and not sure if I would want to rely on it for highly sensitive high value systems, but for the RV it's just dandy.

BTW, it's pronounced 'joontek', not junk-tech. But I get it.

 

[Rickey]

Regarding the April 10 firmware update:

On April 10, 2022, we upgraded the mobile APP and product firmware, Android and Apple mobile phone systems have been upgraded;

update content:
1、Low -capacity reminder has been added to the mobile APP ;
2、Low temperature protection has been added to the mobile APP (relays are required for this function)；
3、The temperature can be switched to display Fahrenheit or Celsius；
4、The accumulated power (kW.h) only calculates the power consumed during charging；
5、Cumulative capacity (Ah) only calculates the capacity released during discharge；
6、The scale range of the voltage and current instrument panel in the mobile phone APP can be set freely, and the scale value of the voltage and current curve also changes accordingly；
7、Four extended functions have been added to the mobile APP:
Full voltage, Empty voltage,Tail current, Charged detection time;
For example, 12V 400Ah lead-acid battery, set the full charge voltage to 14.4V, Set Tail current to 2%, which means that the full charge current is 400*0.02=8A, and the Charged detection time is set to 2 minutes, which means that during the charging process, when the voltage is higher than 14.4V, the Tail current is lower than 8A, and after the duration exceeds 2 minutes, the percentage of remaining capacity will be automatically adjusted to 100%；
Set the Empty voltage to 10.5V , which means that when the voltage is lower than 10.5V and the duration exceeds 2 minutes during the discharge process, the percentage of remaining capacity will be automatically adjusted to 0% (if you feel that the Empty voltage is not very practical, you can set the full voltage, Tail current, and Charged detection time without setting the Empty voltage.)

Update method:
1、First update the mobile APP
1.1 Uninstall the original mobile APP first；
1.2 iPhone Search "KG series" in Apple Store”，
1.3 Android phones can download through this link
(http://68.168.132.244/app/KG.apk), Or use the mobile browser to scan the QR code in the measurement module to get the APP；

2、After opening the mobile APP, See the following demonstration pictures to operate the connection。


3、Find the "Settings" - "After-sales Service" function and enter 8610 to see "Firmware Upgrade", enter the firmware code 000 and wait for the firmware upgrade to complete before exiting。
Why is the firmware upgrade function not intuitive? This is because some customers have mistakenly operated the firmware upgrade and then exited before the firmware upgrade was completed, which would lead to product failure, so we recommend that you must complete the firmware upgrade before exiting.



Special reminder:
If you place an order before January 1, 2022, you need to power off the product before clicking the firmware upgrade, and then power on the product while short-circuiting the temperature measurement interface, and then follow steps 2 and 2. Step 3 Perform firmware upgrade.

4，After seeing the prompt that the firmware upgrade is successful, exit the mobile APP and then reopen the mobile APP. Follow step 2 to connect successfully and you can use the newly added functions.

 

[Horsefly]

Regarding the April 10 firmware update:

On April 10, 2022, we upgraded the mobile APP and product firmware, Android and Apple mobile phone systems have been upgraded;

update content:
1、Low -capacity reminder has been added to the mobile APP ;
2、Low temperature protection has been added to the mobile APP (relays are required for this function)；
3、The temperature can be switched to display Fahrenheit or Celsius；
4、The accumulated power (kW.h) only calculates the power consumed during charging；
5、Cumulative capacity (Ah) only calculates the capacity released during discharge；
6、The scale range of the voltage and current instrument panel in the mobile phone APP can be set freely, and the scale value of the voltage and current curve also changes accordingly；
7、Four extended functions have been added to the mobile APP:
Full voltage, Empty voltage,Tail current, Charged detection time;
For example, 12V 400Ah lead-acid battery, set the full charge voltage to 14.4V, Set Tail current to 2%, which means that the full charge current is 400*0.02=8A, and the Charged detection time is set to 2 minutes, which means that during the charging process, when the voltage is higher than 14.4V, the Tail current is lower than 8A, and after the duration exceeds 2 minutes, the percentage of remaining capacity will be automatically adjusted to 100%；
Set the Empty voltage to 10.5V , which means that when the voltage is lower than 10.5V and the duration exceeds 2 minutes during the discharge process, the percentage of remaining capacity will be automatically adjusted to 0% (if you feel that the Empty voltage is not very practical, you can set the full voltage, Tail current, and Charged detection time without setting the Empty voltage.)

Update method:
1、First update the mobile APP
1.1 Uninstall the original mobile APP first；
1.2 iPhone Search "KG series" in Apple Store”，
1.3 Android phones can download through this link
(http://68.168.132.244/app/KG.apk), Or use the mobile browser to scan the QR code in the measurement module to get the APP；

2、After opening the mobile APP, See the following demonstration pictures to operate the connection。
View attachment 90876

3、Find the "Settings" - "After-sales Service" function and enter 8610 to see "Firmware Upgrade", enter the firmware code 000 and wait for the firmware upgrade to complete before exiting。
Why is the firmware upgrade function not intuitive? This is because some customers have mistakenly operated the firmware upgrade and then exited before the firmware upgrade was completed, which would lead to product failure, so we recommend that you must complete the firmware upgrade before exiting.
View attachment 90877
View attachment 90878
View attachment 90879
Special reminder:
If you place an order before January 1, 2022, you need to power off the product before clicking the firmware upgrade, and then power on the product while short-circuiting the temperature measurement interface, and then follow steps 2 and 2. Step 3 Perform firmware upgrade.
View attachment 90880
4，After seeing the prompt that the firmware upgrade is successful, exit the mobile APP and then reopen the mobile APP. Follow step 2 to connect successfully and you can use the newly added functions.

Thank you for posting this @Rickey. My unit (purchased last year) is in a box right now, but I will be hooking it up in a couple of weeks so I will try the update.

 

[Browneye]

Thank you...can't wait. ?

 

[Browneye]

Reloaded iOS app and did the firmware upgrade. All of the settings are available, now just have to set them.
Thermometer still says 'ext. temp' which should be 'battery temp', but at least it will now display in F. How do you change that on the digital display? My guess is you cannot, just on the smart phone app.

It has always worked just great, I'm sure the new functions make it even more useful.
I am still not using it for relays, but I do see you can set them to be normally open or normally closed.

Is 'Rickey' actually Kang Le? Where did he go??

 

[Rickey]

“Rickey”真的是康乐吗？他去哪了？？

Haha, he wants to accompany you all the time in the forum and help you solve problems. Make the product work better. Of course he'll abide by Will's rules.

 

[Bigtruckin85]

Reloaded iOS app and did the firmware upgrade. All of the settings are available, now just have to set them.
Thermometer still says 'ext. temp' which should be 'battery temp', but at least it will now display in F. How do you change that on the digital display? My guess is you cannot, just on the smart phone app.

It has always worked just great, I'm sure the new functions make it even more useful.
I am still not using it for relays, but I do see you can set them to be normally open or normally closed.

I had thought about the temp name. Maybe it could be an editable name, but not everybody will use that probe for the battery. My display also doesn't change to F, which I've sort of gotten used to.
Kang was a vendor, so he was removed from the forum. We don't really need to get other helpful people removed.

 

[Horsefly]

Yikes! I'm a dope, and although everyone is free to enjoy my pain, I hope someone can help.

I had my Junctek KG140F hooked up temporarily to one of my batteries. I thought it was pretty cool, but thought it was inappropriate for that particular build. I took it all apart and put it back into the box for later. So that later time is now, and I wanted to hook it all back up to my new build, flash in the new firmware, and be ready to install it in June into a permanent spot.

Well, it turns out I may not have but everything back in the box. A couple of weeks ago I was cleaning up and found what looked like a phone cable on my bench. I had no idea why I would still have a phone cord, since no one uses them any more. I'm pretty sure I threw it away, and it is long gone. Fast forward to now, and I think I realize that cord is the RS485 interconnect between the main box of the Junctek and the display. Eeeks! So now I don't have that cord, and I don't know where to get it.

Does anyone (@Rickey ?) have an idea of where I can buy a replacement one of these cords?

EDIT: Never mind, problem solved! Although I had to sort through all sorts of what I guess are fake sites selling "Juntek" (not Junctek), I found it. Paid $8 with free shipping for a new 5 meter cable (https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005003987636356.html). Will take a while, but that is OK!

 

[Bigtruckin85]

Yikes! I'm a dope, and although everyone is free to enjoy my pain, I hope someone can help.

I had my Junctek KG140F hooked up temporarily to one of my batteries. I thought it was pretty cool, but thought it was inappropriate for that particular build. I took it all apart and put it back into the box for later. So that later time is now, and I wanted to hook it all back up to my new build, flash in the new firmware, and be ready to install it in June into a permanent spot.

Well, it turns out I may not have but everything back in the box. A couple of weeks ago I was cleaning up and found what looked like a phone cable on my bench. I had no idea why I would still have a phone cord, since no one uses them any more. I'm pretty sure I threw it away, and it is long gone. Fast forward to now, and I think I realize that cord is the RS485 interconnect between the main box of the Junctek and the display. Eeeks! So now I don't have that cord, and I don't know where to get it.

Does anyone (@Rickey ?) have an idea of where I can buy a replacement one of these cords?

EDIT: Never mind, problem solved! Although I had to sort through all sorts of what I guess are fake sites selling "Juntek" (not Junctek), I found it. Paid $8 with free shipping for a new 5 meter cable (https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005003987636356.html). Will take a while, but that is OK!

I think it's an RJ9 connector which I believe is normally used on a landline phone for the actual handset thingy (the coiled stretchy line). I don't have one to test with to see if it's the same size. If it was, you would need to make sure the wires were in the right order (mine is yellow, green, red, black with the push tab facing me.).
Since you don't need it right away and already ordered one, it probably doesn't matter. Unless you have a really long cord like Napoleon dynamite and want to carry the display around the house.

 

[Horsefly]

I think it's an RJ9 connector which I believe is normally used on a landline phone for the actual handset thingy (the coiled stretchy line). I don't have one to test with to see if it's the same size. If it was, you would need to make sure the wires were in the right order (mine is yellow, green, red, black with the push tab facing me.).
Since you don't need it right away and already ordered one, it probably doesn't matter. Unless you have a really long cord like Napoleon dynamite and want to carry the display around the house.

Yeah, that was what I thought. In my storage room in the basement I had a drawer with a bunch of old phone cords. (Note that if I had only put the cord I found on my workbench in that drawer instead of the trash, I wouldn't have a problem right now! ) So the first thing I did was grab a couple of them and try them on the back of the display. The form factor of the plug is just slightly different, so that a phone cord will not actually fit into the hole - It's a bit too wide in one place. My guess is they make it that way so that you don't try to use a phone cord, but who knows.

I can use the Bluetooth with the Junctek for now, and will use the cord when it arrives. My intent is to put the Junctek up in our cabin, and I won't be going up there until June anyway, so the delay isn't an issue. I just hope I can go through the firmware and app upgrade before then, as it will be harder to do up in the mountains.

 

[perry2]

I’m evaluating the Junctek KG-F 100A version together with a 12V 304Ah LiFePO4 battery.

During the first tests on the table it seemed to work okay. Before putting it to use, I updated the firmware as follows:

Short temp sensor, in the app select ‘after sale'. Selecting this required the 8610 input, then a firmware update code input of 000, and then it downloads and updates the unit.

Updating went without error messages. It still shows version 1.2.0. However, all fields on the display are now 0 (except temperature, which shows 25 degrees). Values cannot be changed.

Executing the firmware update again gives a message in the app “IAP failure”.

I’m using the iOS app.


Tried to contact Kang Lee, but no answer received, yet.

Anyone with some help?

Kind regards,

Perry

 

[Bigtruckin85]

I’m evaluating the Junctek KG-F 100A version together with a 12V 304Ah LiFePO4 battery.

During the first tests on the table it seemed to work okay. Before putting it to use, I updated the firmware as follows:

Short temp sensor, in the app select ‘after sale'. Selecting this required the 8610 input, then a firmware update code input of 000, and then it downloads and updates the unit.

Updating went without error messages. It still shows version 1.2.0. However, all fields on the display are now 0 (except temperature, which shows 25 degrees). Values cannot be changed.

Executing the firmware update again gives a message in the app “IAP failure”.

I’m using the iOS app.


Tried to contact Kang Lee, but no answer received, yet.

Anyone with some help?

Kind regards,

Perry

The values are 0 on the monitor display or on the phone app? If it's 0 on the phone app, did the devices reconnect? If it's the monitor display, did something come unhooked?
I just tried to update my firmware again, and it also said IAP failure. I'm not sure if it's because it's already updated or if there is an issue. I think the version 1.2.0 that you see is the App version, not the firmware. I tried to find a firmware version but didn't see one that I could tell.
Did you email Kang or try to message him here (He probably won't respond if you messaged here)? It's about 3AM in China, so maybe he'll answer soon.

 

[Browneye]

1.2.0 is the current iOS app version - at least that's what I have and mine has been completely updated recently.
If you updated the firmware of the unit successfully, then it needs to be power cycled.
You may need to 're-select' the unit to reconnect to it - use 'search' in the upper right corner.

 

[perry2]

The values are 0 on the monitor display or on the phone app? If it's 0 on the phone app, did the devices reconnect? If it's the monitor display, did something come unhooked?
I just tried to update my firmware again, and it also said IAP failure. I'm not sure if it's because it's already updated or if there is an issue. I think the version 1.2.0 that you see is the App version, not the firmware. I tried to find a firmware version but didn't see one that I could tell.
Did you email Kang or try to message him here (He probably won't respond if you messaged here)? It's about 3AM in China, so maybe he'll answer soon.

Heads up: issue is now solved. Here is how.

Values are 0 both on the display and the app. Tried to power cycle several times. Restarted the app. Reconnected the display also multiple times. Even tried both the 2 wire and 3 wire setup. I got the impression the device is sort of bricked.
I sent Kang an e-mail Wednesday last week. As I did not receive any response, I posted my question here.

So … before posting the above response, I did just another test.
In the Apple app Store, this weekend was a new version released: v1.2.1. The after app update, the values displayed are still 0. However, now it is possible to update the firmware! (thus no IAP failure). Issue solved!

Indeed the app shows the version of the app, not the version of the firmware. There seems to be no possibility obtain the firmware version of the meter.

Thanks for your quick responses,

Perry