XTR-BALUSB Xtrema Balancer + USB Bundle

[markcycle]

I'm not selling these but the price seem extremely good almost to good to be true so I purchased 5 of the balancers
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B004QJTVMO/ref=ox_ya_os_product

If anyone has tried them i like to hear there opinion

[Kin]

Never heard of these...what are the?

[neptronix]

You ordered 5.. and there is like 0 information posted on them?

edit: i found the page from the manufacturer:

http://www.tmenet.com/products/lithium-charger/xtrema-balancer

[markcycle]

You ordered 5.. and there is like 0 information posted on them?

edit: i found the page from the manufacturer:

http://www.tmenet.com/products/lithium-charger/xtrema-balancer

Manual and features
http://www.tmenet.com/pdf/Xtrema%20BALANCER%20FULL%20Manual%201-0-0.pdf

[neptronix]

Mark, this is a nice find. Lotta marketing speak to wade through, so the highlights VS all other balancers:

+ 0.42A per cell peak discharge rate - this is pretty fast!
+ USB Connection - no other balancer has this. Will have to see what the software that goes with it looks like..
+ Settable balance voltage - i don't know of any balancer like this either. usually they just try to equalize the cells, but will drain the entire pack very slowly if left connected. This is a plus if you want to balance your pack and leave it still connected in serial.
+ I2C - not entirely sure what this is useful for, but hey, why not.
+ +/- 5mV claimed accuracy, this is as as good as the iCharger and Hyperion products that i am a big fanboy of.

This could be our solution for balancing big packs hooked in series. Designed by an American company is a big plus.

The company is in Florida and offers repairs on their hardware.

Definitely worth a look. I am going to check to see if there are any other reviews on the 'net and order one if so, if i see nothing bad.

[neptronix]

http://tmenet.com/forums/index.php?board=9.0

TME seems super helpful on the boards.
These are cool little units for the true lipo nerd.

Just thought about it, and damn i have a ton of lipo stuff. I'll let you guys test this out.

[auraslip]

This could be the tool I've been looking for!

I'm not too excited about paying $30 for a usb cable though, but at $10 a board....

Building a worry free 24s balancing solution would be less that $100.

And the boards are small enough to fit on on the bike. Permanently install them, and never have to worry about checking the voltage of the packs again! (provided you use a VERY conservative LVC)

I love how these "rc toys" provide solutions that would otherwise cost in the $1000s for EV solutions.

They still might be overkill since my packs stay in balance, but I'd much rather order one or two of these and never have to worry instead of some chinese toy battery medics. I can't wait to see some reviews

[Hyena]

Nice find Mark, lets us know how you get on.
Once of these paired with a cell log could make a nice monitorable balancing solution (for when you don't want to connect to a PC)

I'm not too excited about paying $30 for a usb cable though, but at $10 a board....
Building a worry free 24s balancing solution would be less that $100.

Where do you find them for $10 ?? I'll snap a few up at that price!
They're $35 in the few places I saw them listed.
Or are you saying they're selling the cables for $30 on their own, thus making the boards only $10 when bundled for $45 ?

And the boards are small enough to fit on on the bike. Permanently install them, and never have to worry about checking the voltage of the packs again! (provided you use a VERY conservative LVC)

Yeah you'd have to set the minimum balance voltage at 4.1v or there abouts, otherwise it'd be constantly bleeding your pack voltage away while riding. 400ma of balance current is nice, until you go for a ride, stop for lunch and come back to a flat battery

[markcycle]

10 dollars was a one time deal, it seems. Haven't gotten them yet when i do I'll report

[ZOMGVTEK]

These look absolutely perfect for a bulk charge balance solution.

I'm going to try and snag 6 of them if they show up cheap...

[auraslip]

To be honest, I'd just like a discharger that discharges each cell to 4.15v. I'm sure it could be done with 3 or 4 parts per cell. It could even do it at a current as low as 10ma if it was connected 24/7

[SamTexas]

Subscribed.

[ohzee]

yea tried to order some at the 11$ price they are sold out ;( not going to gamble 40$ until we get some feedback so also look forward to it.

[ZOMGVTEK]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PiCyDSMOySw

This unit looks interesting...

I'd love to be able to more or less 'permanently' connect these balancers to a big pack for a simple single Powerpole connection to a bulk charger. That would eliminate a whole lot of fuss and wiring if I can just perma-series the packs and ignore the balance taps.

The two monitors I've used tend to drift way out of calibration when left connected 24/7. As long as these don't do that, and don't take a ton of power, it might work. They claim 'designed in the US', which is probably a good thing. I ordered 4, lets see how they work out on my 24S pack. Something like this sure would make a big series string of LiPo manageable.

[fechter]

I bet it's not isolated, so you may need some kind of isolator to use more than one on a string. I'm still not completely clear on how it works (need to read more).

[ZOMGVTEK]

While it is possible to stack the balancers in order to balance a 32S pack (this is done by overlapping every 6th cell with 1st cell of the next balancer) The balancer was not designed to be left on all the time. It does draw power unevenly since it was designed to quickly balance and then be removed. It draws about 40ma between ground and the 2nd cell. Also note that dealing with large capacity batteries that are out of balance can generate a lot of heat as the balancer tries to level them.

Note: The firmware in our production models stop balancing when complete. There is a firmware upgrade that continually monitors and balances after completion. This has remained in beta although the code has proven stable because shipping units with the new code would cause incompatibly with our unmodified chargers out in the field. You can learn about this update here http://www.tmenet.com/forums/index.php?topic=318.0

In general I would say while this balancer with the latest firmware may work for you, it would not be ideal for your application.

[fechter]

OK, in reading a bit more, I see they sell a "balance interface module" that can isolate up to 4 units (24s) in a chain if you get two of them. This gizmo also interfaces to their charger, so it looks like you have to buy their charger to use it.

It may be possible to reverse engineer the interface to allow using other types of chargers.

Based on the size of the thing, I don't see any way it's going to dissipate 400mA worth of discharge. It says 400mA peak, but the duty cycle must be very limited or it would burn up.

[ZOMGVTEK]

My assumption is that it potentially has a means of monitoring the boards temp, and decreases the duty cycle to maintain a max temp. From what I can see, it really does dump 400mA, probably until it gets burning hot. It looks like its more designed for very rapid balancing of small packs.

The beta firmware allows it to check for balance every 2 minutes, and you can lower the balance current to decrease temps. These things must run burning hot if there is enough concern to reduce temps. Regardless, at $13.78 a board, I'd be happy to test them out as a 24S balance solution. I can connect them to a DB25 and just plug it in when bulk charging. No buttons to press, no huge battery medics bouncing around. That's assuming they ever show up. They're $35-45 each everywhere else, which is questionably worth it.

[cwah]

Maybe a solution for my 20s.

Still wondering if it's better to have 2 hyperion in series or this Xtrema bundle (charger + 4 balancer) to charge my batteries.

[Kin]

Received my package today, and it was just a 4p-->1p microconnector (like for the Blade MCP).

....
....
...


[Absolutely not what I wanted]

Hopefully this was hobbyzone's fault, and amazon will cover my back [Going to check my order details]. Otherwise, maybe I made a mistake. I purchased the xtrema balancer + usb cable combo back when it was ~$16 w/shipping.


Packaged absurdly well, though.

[Kin]

Received my package today, and it was just a 4p-->1p microconnector (like for the Blade MCP).

....
....
...


[Absolutely not what I wanted]

Hopefully this was hobbyzone's fault, and amazon will cover my back [Going to check my order details]. Otherwise, maybe I made a mistake. I purchased the xtrema balancer + usb cable combo back when it was ~$16 w/shipping.


Packaged absurdly well, though.
{Maybe I should say, "Had absurd amount of packaging, perhaps past the point of well and into the point of environmentally unfriendly"}

[Kin]

Update: So Hobbyzone responded and said "whoops" we'll refund your money. Ah, poo. Would have been nicer to get the balancer at such a price. Out of curiosity, I wonder what any other people got as the wrong item (did everyone who paid $16 get a 4p-->1p connector?). After that, I guess, it would be good to focus on people who've actually received the real balancer.

[ZOMGVTEK]

I ordered 4 of them, and recently got this email.

Thank you for your recent order you placed with us. Unfortunately, this is not an item we sell and as a result we unable to fulfill your order. We listed another item via the SKU provided by the manufacturer and Amazon somehow linked it to this item. I apologize for any inconvenience this has caused you.

Regards,

Paul
Hobby Zone

[7lions]

I also got the wrong item in my shipment of two, though they haven't been as revealing in their communications with me. If worst comes to worst, I'm sure Amazon will take care of me.

FWIW, this is one of a gazillion little RC hobby balancers that are just a board that plug in to the pack - most seem to be descended from the Astro Flight "Blinky", which was one of the very first balancers out there. The ability to customize via USB was pretty unique on this product, though, and is what prompted me to order a couple to try out now that I've jumped over to ebikes.

[ZOMGVTEK]

Most of those other simple plug in balancers are inaccurate, provide no way to calibrate, swing out of calibration, and balance to about 4.2V only. I want 4.1-4.14V, and .01V or better accuracy. Plus, the majority of them have super low balance current. A 20AH pack would take a week to balance, all the while the balancer is pulling its power unevenly pulling your pack out of balance.