Best damn 6S lithium monitor on the planet for $15

I have been holding out on posting about these for several months
I was hacking into them building a BMS for my 24S Lipo packs
Now that I have switched gears to a non-hub 12S setup I dumped that project.

Well here they are:
http://cgi.ebay.com/Chargery-BM6-2S...5|66:2|65:12|39:1|240:1318|301:0|293:1|294:50

http://www.chargery.com/cellMonitor.asp

Works for both Lipo and Lifepo4
$15
Reads 6S lipo via 0.100 spacing (perfect for JST-XH balancer plugs)
5mV accuracy - most balancers quit at 20mV
Shows you 8 things in sequence:

Total Pack Voltage
Largest Imbalance
Cell voltages for 1 to 6 (or however many you hook up)

The monitor beeps if you go under 3.0V or over 4.22V
EDIT: I forgot, you can set the LVC to any desired voltage.

Absolutely dead on voltage.
AWESOME product. Works perfectly every time.
I have been running 4 of them for several months on my big Lipo packs and they have saved my ass!

Let me say this... Anyone who goes to "Full Pack LVC" on a lipo pack is retarded to some degree. . . If the total pack has reached LVC then it is absolutely certain that at least a few of the cells are way under 3.0V.

LVC must always be handled on a cell level basis like is done with the 24 channel BMS.

If you plug these into your lipo packs then you will hear a loud BEEP BEEP BEEP any time one of your cells drops below LVC. I think you will be surprised about what happens under load :wink:

Anyone who is a nOOb getting into Lipo MUST own one of these.
Will save your butt while charging, discharging, and comes in damn handy for checking out cells.

The beeper output can drive an optocoupler that can be used to TAP TAP TAP your ebrake when you hit LVC
Does not cut you off, just gives you a warning.

In closing, please do not waste your money on these "Hobby City Lipo Monitors" as many of them suck wind. Of the many I have tried out all of them were off by at least 50mV cell to cell. Many being off by as much as 200mV.

Look through the Chargery site. Everything that guy makes rocks.

And dont bother to ask about the 1A 6S balancer.
They are out of production due to low demand.
(that was the second part of my BMS)

-methods

Since I am on my soapbox tonight, here is what I consider to be the best deal anywhere on Lipo packs

They are back in stock
http://www.hobbycity.com/hobbycity/store/uh_viewItem.asp?idProduct=7639

$300 gets you a 10Ah 48V pack that can discharge at 150A continuous and weighs about as much as a dead cat.
I have the "no label" version of these and 4 of them actually produce 12.2Ah of output that stay above 48V all the way to the 10Ah mark.
They dont even think about getting warm with a 50A current limit

I dont think anything out there can beat that value
(please dont bring up the safety factor or I will vomit :wink: )

-methods

methods said:

They are back in stock
$300 gets you a 10Ah 48V pack that can discharge at 150A continuous and weighs about as much as a dead cat.
I have the "no label" version of these and 4 of them actually produce 12.2Ah of output that stay above 48V all the way to the 10Ah mark.

Click to expand...

Great deal, thanks.
Do the chargers for these batteries which say they charge 6 in series, do they mean 6 packs of these? Or 6 individual cells?

I hope this makes sense, because the chargers they sell look completely different than regular LIFEPO chargers.

Do the chargers for these batteries which say they charge 6 in series, do they mean 6 packs of these? Or 6 individual cells?

Click to expand...

The chargers would be 6 cells not 6 battery packs.

Kurt.

methods said:

If you plug these into your lipo packs then you will hear a loud BEEP BEEP BEEP any time one of your cells drops below LVC. I think you will be surprised about what happens under load :wink:

Click to expand...

Very cool device methods, thanks for the info. If only I knew a few months back when I bought the above mentioned hobbycity battery monitor! Although, in combination with a wattsup meter they're not bad. As you say though it is suprising - mine has hit the 3v LVC (or in the case of my 6S monitor a total pack voltage of 18v) and started screeching and when I look straight down at the wattsup meter its often around 40v. On a 12S pack in a perfect world you'd assume an average cell voltage of ~3.3v, but not so apparently (unless these devices randomly read inaccurately - is that what you were getting at ?)

I agree with you re: the zippy packs and using a few of these devices in lieu of a BMS. You can't argue with the value, the high current they can deliver and the size and weight. I ride with mine between my legs half an inch below the seat - anyone who's scared of them needs to harden the f up

15$? It says $20 from where i'm looking.
And he won't ship to my country.
HC sell something similar for $12: http://www.hobbycity.com/hobbycity/store/uh_viewItem.asp?idProduct=7390&Product_Name=MP_LCD_Battery_Detector_6S
Too bad nobody make these for 8S ... 10S ... 12S.

Dave-s said:

HC sell something similar for $12: http://www.hobbycity.com/hobbycity/stor ... etector_6S

Click to expand...

No... Not similar at all.
That was the exact device I was talking about when I said
"Dont buy that Hobby City crap..."

First of all the alarm does not go off on most of them. Mine never did.
Even if the alarm did work it is set for 3.5V.... which makes no sense at all.

Second the accuracy of that thing is AWFUL. They claim "0.5%" but that is NOT per channel, that is across the entire input voltage:
30V * 0.5% = 150mV
That is about what I have seen too. Very common for any two channels to read off by 100mV or 200mV
That was the worst $12 + $8 shipping I ever spent at hobby city.

For $15 dollars and free shipping the BM6 you get you programmable LVC, true 5mV accuracy, reliability, and a loud beeper.
I would not touch that Hobby City POS with a 10' pole if I were you.

-methods

P.S. Using two BM6's for a 12S pack works well. The only thing you lose is the ability to see the Max Delta. The alarm feature still works exactly the same.

I still don't understand how you get these for $15 inc. shipping.
I contacted the guy that makes these module directly and he quoted me $15 + S/H.
I told him that the EV community would like to have monitors for bigger packs (12S and up) so he told me that if he sees that there is a demand he will consider designing one.

I can't see he has stated it is 15 including shipping. From your previous thread i can se you only need two of them. Still not much money.

Fantastic idea for us Lico users, thanks for sharing this, I'm gonna get a few of them :wink:

Looks good to me too, I'm going to take 4 of them to monitor my 20s pack when I get enough cells to build it. Correct me if I'm wrong, but I imagine with this and my single cell chargers I can get away without having a BMS.

I see the BM-6 on hobbycity. look here, it's only $13: https://www.hobbycity.com/hobbycity/store/uh_viewItem.asp?idProduct=8927

Yep, Hobby City finally started carrying them last month.
I would like to see Hobby City carry the 1A Balancer that Chargery makes.

-methods

what combination of the 22 volt packs do you use to get 48 volts ?

36V, 48V, 72V are nice round industry standard lead acid numbers.
If you are going to knit-pick, that's 22.2V packs and 2 of them add up to 44.4V

-methods

I ordered 6 of them today. It's just what I wanted low voltage alarm with cell level display.

Thanks for the tip

Mark

with my 48 volt 5303 would you expect any issues runnning it a 44.2 volts?

Thanks!

Hi,

Spanky said:

with my 48 volt 5303 would you expect any issues running it a 44.2 volts?

Thanks!

Click to expand...

If your pack is 12S you will need two units.

More than 12s you will need 3 (up to 18s).

What battery charger would you recommend using with these batteries?

Are you saying that you could buy 4 of these packs and then attach 2 in parallel and then attach those in series?

Would you need four of those monitoring devices to monitor each pack? Thanks!

Jerry

You would tie the packs together at the power leads and at the balance taps
For 12S 2P you would only need 2 BM6's since the packs are in parallel

As far as charging, wiring, balancing....
There is a lot to learn. Short answer is that there is no commercially viable 12S Charger and there are very few reliable 12S balancers
Many of us use Power Supplies and RC Balancers.

Dont fall into the trap of reconfiguring down to 6S 4P for charging
It will only be a matter of time before you slip up and make very big sparks
Every finger on each of my hands has scars from reconfiguring 88.8V 24S lipo packs back and forth making mistakes.
I call it "Kentucky Fried Finger"

View attachment 1
View attachment IMGP3775.jpg

-methods

methods said:

You would tie the packs together at the power leads and at the balance taps
For 12S 2P you would only need 2 BM6's since the packs are in parallel

As far as charging, wiring, balancing....
There is a lot to learn. Short answer is that there is no commercially viable 12S Charger and there are very few reliable 12S balancers
Many of us use Power Supplies and RC Balancers.

Dont fall into the trap of reconfiguring down to 6S 4P for charging
It will only be a matter of time before you slip up and make very big sparks
Every finger on each of my hands has scars from reconfiguring 88.8V 24S lipo packs back and forth making mistakes.
I call it "Kentucky Fried Finger"

View attachment 1


-methods

Click to expand...

Think you need some BBQ sauce with that one.

OUCH again that's gotta hurt at least as good as the others. I have to be carefull as the brain fog from the HCV wants me to do those kinds of things all the time. Makes the going very slow but I live cuz others watch out for me and I do next to nothing on the bad days when I don't think so well.
Be carefull!

Hi Patrick,

methods said:

As far as charging, wiring, balancing....
There is a lot to learn. Short answer is that there is no commercially viable 12S Charger and there are very few reliable 12S balancers
Many of us use Power Supplies and RC Balancers.

-methods

Click to expand...

How about this 12S RC Charger Balancer?:
http://www.aero-nuts.com/product_info.php?products_id=570

Specifications of 960SR

Lithium charging cell count : 1 ~ 12cells series

Balance battery cells : 2S~12S

US$199.00

Click to expand...

Not sure about this Hyperion:
http://store.rcsupersales.net/servlet/-strse-1300/Hyperion-EOS-1210i-12S/Detail
Sounds like 12s works:

The EOS 1210i is an extremely powerful (180W, 10A max), versatile, easy-to-use charger with special features for speed charging lithium packs up to 12S!

Click to expand...

Sounds like 12s is actually 6s x2:

Monitor the individual cell voltages on the LCD screen of EOS1210i while you balance your lithium packs with LBA 10 and optional cable...

Network two LBA 10 together with NET Adapter pack #HP-EOSLBA10-MSC, and you can charge two packs of same cell type and capacity (such as 6S and 6S) at the same time, and every cell in both packs will be balanced to the other when charging is done, for packs from 7S to 12S!

Click to expand...

You are right, should have said that there are "Very few high quality / high power" 12S chargers available.

Those Chargers only go at 180W though...

180W / 44.4V = 4A

That would probably take 2.5 hours to charge a pack.
That is actually pretty reasonable....

I own or have worked with the balancers that both of those companies make.
The first is total junk. The second is not bad.

For the same amount of money you can build a 50V 20A power supply.
With this you can charge at 2C, 50.4V @ 20A

20 minutes for an 80% charge
45 minutes to fully charge.

-methods

Ironically....

I blew up my 24S 100.8V charger doing something stupid so I have been switching my 24S 2P pack down to 12S 4P for charging.
This time when i was switching back to 24S I forgot to switch the balance taps.
This is what happens when you short out a 100V 25C battery across your fingers.
I did this at Lunch today.



I think I have proven my point now.
What did that take me, 12 hours?

-methods

I've had some pretty painful battery burns, but nothing like that. Mine normally are small wire + battery + short out = melted skin.