I’ve been running this INWO package for about 6 years and been totally satisfied - Chevy Volt, 21S, 47(?)ah with Chargery 24S BMS, no remote display. Recently pulled the seat and found the Voltage Balance Diff at 251mv. Monitored it for a few days and the Diff was all over the place, 17mv to 900+mv. It was always the same cell that was low causing the Diff. When it hit 900+ I put a small radio control model LiPo charger on the low cell and brought it up to the same voltage as the 2 adjacent cells. Put an auto 12v load tester across all 3 cells. Ran the load test 3 times with the same result. All cells dropped the same amount so I don’t think I have a bad cell.
So, I’m thinking the BMS went south. I’ve also noticed that the biggest Diff happens while charging, not discharging. Twice the Diff kept increasing while charging and the BMS was too hot to keep my hand on it so I killed power to the BMS to turn it off.
Thoughts?
From reading the forum I’ve decided to get a a JK BMS if you agree mine is bad. Is JK-B1A24S15P the correct one for my setup?
I think that is the right jk for your setup. The main thing is the connectors for the balance leads. there are two different sizes (at least). The jk uses the really small ones, the ant uses the larger ones now. Match them up or plan on a lot of rewiring.
Also word of caution on a VOLT pack and jk bms. The jk can do active balancing, up to 2000mA iirc. 1st and 2nd gen volt packs have pico fuses installed on the mylar that has the balance traces. If you go over 200 or 300 mA you’ll blow the fuses. I learned this the hard way replacing an ANT with a jk. Set the jk Ballance current as low as it will go for volt batteries.
Yes, you need to be careful with the active balancing and those fuses.
If you want another passive BMS use the ANT BMS that way you don’t have to worry about blowing the fuses.
I went through multiple versions of chargery BMS (3 from Jason) with gen 1 volt packs. Balancing never worked well for me. It would always keep sucking down the pack and never got it balanced… finally I took an RC charger like you did and balanced each cell individually, turned off balancing in chargery, and the pack was fine. I just used it for charger cut off and monitoring. Best thing I did with my chargery BMS to keep it balanced was to disable balancing.
Gen 1 don’t have fuses that I’m aware of. I’m balancing at 1amp with JK. No issues.
I think JK is awesome and would agree with moving over. I’d suggest balancing the pack with your rc charger and turning off balancing on the chargery… You might be fine and just keep running it. That said… the JK is cheap so if you have the time and money, do it. Probably talking $200.
Thanks guys. Every time I’ve checked over the past years the Chargery has kept the Diff 14 - 19mv. After being powered down for 2 days I just turned the BMS on and Diff was 54mv. Since I’m more a wrench and grease guy instead of an electron chaser I may be better off with the passive unit - pico fuse? WTF. Though I did manage to install INWOs package without smoking anything.
Until I decide which unit to get I’m going to use the RC charger to balance the cells, it will balance up to 6 cells at a time, turn the Chargery balance off and continue to monitor. I may not need the balancing option.
Took awhile but my small charger finally balanced all the cells. Since my Chargery balanced at 1.2a I don’t think pico fuses are an issue so I’ve decided to go with the JK. JK website lists an active cell balancer and an active balancer BMS products.
I think I need the active balancer BMS to turn my DQ on/off thru an SSR. I haven’t found a state side supplier so I want to get this right so I don’t have to return it to China, Aliexpress or Alibaba. Looks like JK-B1a24s15p would work but I don’t see a reference to a connecter to power the SSR.
Do you think this one will do it?
Probably a month to get here so looks like a good winter project since we don’t run the e2 much when it’s cold.
The Jk doesn’t really control the charger directly. JK protects the cells by shutting off it’s charge Input FETs. The DQ just loses track of the battery and shuts down. The Output FETs remain On.
Don’t mess around with the 150a version. Step it up and get the 200a.
Depending on your needs, the new versions of these support a small monitor and a larger 4.3 touch screen. I think I have a couple of the non monitor versions New In Box(never used spares) I can get to you faster than ordering one from Aliexp.
Thinking the same thing. Why use ssr?
I have the big JK bms that DOES use relays to control current flow. If more than 350a peak is needed. Also does 25s.
PM sent. I don’t think I’ll need a monitor. Parameters on the app look similar to those listed on my Chargery display - I’ll start with the same values.
