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Overkill BMS (already owned) + NEEY gen 4 Active Balancer -OR- JK BMS w/ Active Balance?

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seprintz

New Member
Joined
Feb 23, 2023
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20
Location
North Carolina
Hi y'all!

As I catch up on all the latest info (I built my batteries 2 years ago) I see a lot of chatter about active balancers.

I already own 2 Overkill 8s BMSs for my 2 24v batteries, so I figured I'd add a NEEY 4th gen 4 amp active balancer to each battery and call it a day.

Then I saw the JK Smart BMS 2A active balance which is similarly priced to the NEEY.

So what are y'all's opinions? Scrap the Overkill BMS and go with the JK all-in-one? Or simply add the NEEY to my set-up and be happy that way?

TIA!
 
I would wait with the JK. There have been some issues lately (which I'm working on - see this thread). The big issue is that noone at JK or Hankzor replies to messages anymore. @Nami used to frequent this forum, but she hasn't been here in a while, and the usual contact channels we used seem to have gone away. It's a shame, the JK is a great BMS - I run 4 16s packs on them...
 
seprintz said:
Hi y'all!

As I catch up on all the latest info (I built my batteries 2 years ago) I see a lot of chatter about active balancers.

I already own 2 Overkill 8s BMSs for my 2 24v batteries, so I figured I'd add a NEEY 4th gen 4 amp active balancer to each battery and call it a day.

Then I saw the JK Smart BMS 2A active balance which is similarly priced to the NEEY.

So what are y'all's opinions? Scrap the Overkill BMS and go with the JK all-in-one? Or simply add the NEEY to my set-up and be happy that way?

TIA!
Click to expand...

Andy at Off-Grid Garage recently did an interesting video on the subject using a circuit board to turn on/off a Heltec active balancer. My system uses the Heltec active balancer (turn it on/off with Victron BMV-712 battery monitor) and works well.

 
Just install Heltec 5A balancers and leave them ’on’ permanently. Mine been running on a 16s battery for 8 months - no problems.
 
The question I would ask is, "Is an active balancer necessary?" Are your batteries/cells out of balance enough to be concerned about?
 
seprintz said:
Hi y'all!

As I catch up on all the latest info (I built my batteries 2 years ago) I see a lot of chatter about active balancers.

I already own 2 Overkill 8s BMSs for my 2 24v batteries, so I figured I'd add a NEEY 4th gen 4 amp active balancer to each battery and call it a day.

Then I saw the JK Smart BMS 2A active balance which is similarly priced to the NEEY.

So what are y'all's opinions? Scrap the Overkill BMS and go with the JK all-in-one? Or simply add the NEEY to my set-up and be happy that way?

TIA!
Click to expand...
Your batteries are 2 years old. I would guess that if you have gone 2 years without complaints, there is zero reason for an active balancer. Have you had Cell Level high or low voltage disconnects? If not, then do not add an active balancer.
If you add an active balancer, you will hide the symptoms of a cell that develops a problem. Despite their popularity and the assumption that they somehow improve things, they should only be used if you need one, and you should only need one if your cells are marginal.
 
I'm in a similar situation to the OP ... Overkill 8s x3 now. But I am wanting to go up to the JK becasue the BMS I am looking at from them will do 8s-24s. So I could use them for my 8s battery now, and if I switch to a 48v system in the near future, I can build them up as 16s and the JK BMS's would "future proof" my build. But are the JK's just not the way to go right now? I am kinda in need of a BMS order today - ish. I am not needing / wanting comms with an inverter, just BMS with BT for 8s-16s and active 2a active balance. Is the Key issue with JK right now just that they are not being responsive to customer questions?
 
upnorthandpersonal said:
See my post #2. There are some issues that need to be resolved. I'm waiting on a BMS or two to verify the current situation.
Click to expand...
Ok so JK ... maybe not now. Is there an economical Go-To BMS right now that works for both 8s and 16s with at least a 2 amp active balancer? I Used Heltec/JKs for the last 16s build I did last fall, but I bought them used from @Sanwizard back in late 2021, so they probably were older than the current issues with JK. They're working great.
 
I’ve really wanted to swap my JDBs with JKs but resisted based on comments in this forum.
Hate the rats nest of wires but adding the 5a balancer is easy with the JBD which I did for the first time last week, works great with a simple switch to the run pad on balancer. I left pack at 57v for about 12 hours and let it balance. I’ve since disabled it and just use the passive balancer in JBD at 3.45v. No issues. If I see cells getting out of line in the future will just turn balancer on again.
 
MrM1 said:
They're working great.
Click to expand...

Yep, I run 4 of them on my packs, no issues at all. It's a shame they have these issues now. I'm still hopeful they're fixed, but I can only confirm that once I get the new ones I ordered. Once I have them, I will also attempt one more time to get in touch with someone at JK/Hankzor/whoever is running the show these days...
 
ChrisG said:
I’ve really wanted to swap my JDBs with JKs but resisted based on comments in this forum.
Hate the rats nest of wires but adding the 5a balancer is easy with the JBD which I did for the first time last week, works great with a simple switch to the run pad on balancer. I left pack at 57v for about 12 hours and let it balance. I’ve since disabled it and just use the passive balancer in JBD at 3.45v. No issues. If I see cells getting out of line in the future will just turn balancer on again.
Click to expand...
I'd get a 4th JDB / Overkill for my 8s4p build, but I dont want to spend the extra for a 4th BMS since I may very well upgrade to a 48v XW Pro in the near future and would be switching from an 8s4p to a 16s2p.

I guess I could use just 2 Overkill BMSs and build things up as a two 2p8s for the time being since I have 3 Overkills right now. But then I'm still subject to the milliamp balancers. ?
 
MrM1 said:
But then I'm still subject to the milliamp balancers. ?
Click to expand...
This is where the heltek or generic 5a balancer rocks. I only needed it running for 12 hours at full voltage and haven’t turned it on since. Pack is better than it’s ever been on both discharge and charge. Painful but thinking about moving it around multiple packs as it’s not needed all the time.
 
seprintz said:
Hi y'all!

As I catch up on all the latest info (I built my batteries 2 years ago) I see a lot of chatter about active balancers.

I already own 2 Overkill 8s BMSs for my 2 24v batteries, so I figured I'd add a NEEY 4th gen 4 amp active balancer to each battery and call it a day.

Then I saw the JK Smart BMS 2A active balance which is similarly priced to the NEEY.

So what are y'all's opinions? Scrap the Overkill BMS and go with the JK all-in-one? Or simply add the NEEY to my set-up and be happy that way?

TIA!
Click to expand...
Why spend money unless there is an issue? Is this a solution looking for a problem?

OK BMS seems very solid. I have three. If there are balance issues I would add the NEEY vs a new BMS.
And further I would get a second wire harness and move the balancer between batteries as needed.
 
upnorthandpersonal said:
I would wait with the JK. There have been some issues lately (which I'm working on - see this thread). The big issue is that noone at JK or Hankzor replies to messages anymore. @Nami used to frequent this forum, but she hasn't been here in a while, and the usual contact channels we used seem to have gone away. It's a shame, the JK is a great BMS - I run 4 16s packs on them...
Click to expand...
yes and sorry
After collecting the customer's questions,
Mainly regarding the issue of CPUAUX and some battery information loss parameters, the main reason for this issue is the internal chip failure of BMS caused by static electricity,
For this reason, our company has rearranged a design and development team,
Organized the production line and added equipment,
Currently undergoing gradual improvement, all devices will be updated and completed this month,
The information about the new product is that we are developing and producing GPS modules, as well as the docking of inverter protocols,
So when these several projects were carried out simultaneously, my focus was on research and development management,
Sorry, it left a bad impression on our clients,
We are also actively striving to improve our products,
Regarding the after-sales issues of products, customer service personnel from each store will coordinate one by one to ensure the rights and interests of consumers,
Thank you for your understanding and support,
 
@Nami Good to see some signs of life :)

If you don't mind, I would like to offer some advice off the top of my head:

- Make sure you version the hardware properly, something like a sticker on each device that identifies hardware and software version it shipped with
- Don't focus on new features until all the bugs are ironed out and don't ship new hardware too quickly.
- At some point it would be great to be able to flash new firmware into the BMS. This requires some work in that you want one firmware for all devices, and the firmware needs to detect the hardware version it runs on. A small section of flash on the microcontroller that doesn't change with each update is the most straight forward way to do this. Make sure the bootloader can work on its own in case of an update failure mid progress.
- Having the firmware open sourced would be good. Schematics would be nice to have as well, to make trouble shooting easier and finding replacement components (like for that buck converter, replacing the RY3820 with a STI3470 as alternative which takes much longer to do when you have to go by PCB only).
- App revisions with proper versioning, changelog, etc. and a manual would be nice to have.

I'm sure there are members here that have a few other items on their wish list.
 
We are developing PC software,
Convenient for customers to remotely update firmware,
For example, our current V11 BMS supports modifying the status of the LCD,
In the future, you can change the version of the BMS by refreshing the firmware,
This is what we are currently doing,
If there are better feasible suggestions, I can implement them.
upnorthandpersonal said:
@Nami Good to see some signs of life :)

If you don't mind, I would like to offer some advice off the top of my head:

- Make sure you version the hardware properly, something like a sticker on each device that identifies hardware and software version it shipped with
- Don't focus on new features until all the bugs are ironed out and don't ship new hardware too quickly.
- At some point it would be great to be able to flash new firmware into the BMS. This requires some work in that you want one firmware for all devices, and the firmware needs to detect the hardware version it runs on. A small section of flash on the microcontroller that doesn't change with each update is the most straight forward way to do this. Make sure the bootloader can work on its own in case of an update failure mid progress.
- Having the firmware open sourced would be good. Schematics would be nice to have as well, to make trouble shooting easier and finding replacement components (like for that buck converter, replacing the RY3820 with a STI3470 as alternative which takes much longer to do when you have to go by PCB only).
- App revisions with proper versioning, changelog, etc. and a manual would be nice to have.

I'm sure there are members here that have a few other items on their wish list.
Click to expand...
 
@Nami : Is version 4.11 the latest completely stable version atm.? The app is not warning of anything newer.
 
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