Speedict neptune lite

7tronics said:
Thank you for the review of the Neptune 15! We would like to incorporate it into designs where the individual cell leads may not be available.

Can this Neptune 15 be setup without connecting anything to the battery pack but the + and - discharge terminal leads?

How can a separate charge and discharge connections from a battery packs own BMS be connected?

Best, Mark

look like you want to connect or use Neptune 15 as external device where your battery pack has BMS built-in, however without cell voltage is detected, Neptune 15 stop function or unable to control its MOSFET.

Danny
 
Quick question about actually charging. I'm trying to figure out what voltage and current to supply to the charge leads. My setup is a 13s3p system of 18650's. This means I will probably be charging at 2 amps but what I'm confused on is the voltage. Should I be doing 4.2 volts or should I be doing the total 55v?
 
gman959 said:
Quick question about actually charging. I'm trying to figure out what voltage and current to supply to the charge leads. My setup is a 13s3p system of 18650's. This means I will probably be charging at 2 amps but what I'm confused on is the voltage. Should I be doing 4.2 volts or should I be doing the total 55v?
54.6v max.
 
Yes, you need a CC/CV power supply I believe though. That will output whatever the pack voltage is at the given current, until the pack voltage hits the cutoff, after which it will progressively reduce the current to 0.

Unless the Neptune does this for you of course. I'm not super familiar with the specs.
 
gman959 said:
So I'll be applying 53.6v at 2 amps to the charge leads?

you should use 54.6v CC/CV charger because 13s * 4.2v = 54.6v, if your charger output 53.6v it's mean 53.6v / 13 cell = 4.12v fully charge to each cell, whether your charger is CC/CV type or not, cell will be charged up to ~4.1v, but it won't get cell balance if traditional BSM, that's why people use Neptune 15 to charge cell up to 4.1v with cell balance.
 
Ivanovitch_k said:
I just got a Neptune 15, here is what I intend to do with it + mini review of the BMS itself:

I'm currently designing a custom logging and control board with all the connectivity you can get ( 3G / 4G / Wifi / BT / GPS ) embedded in the bike. The end goal is to access it with a website, possibly extended to iOS and watchOS apps in the long run.

I searched a good BMS to get infos on the battery health and runtime stats. It also needed to be more reliable than the generic Chinese BMS.

The Neptune fitted the bill but with one small problem, it doesn't exposes it's data any other way than through BLE and it's Android app.

Fortunately, it uses the popular HM-10 BLE module to which it sends and receive data through AT commands over an UART link.

I will need to reverse engineer all the AT commands and replicate them with my board. Not hard but a bit long :D

I plan on installing the Neptune in a Reention downtube-integrated battery , mounted on a Frey AM1000 bike where my custom board will sit. This battery uses a discharge connector with 4 auxiliary data pins so I will forward the UART and BMS on/off lines through them.

An obvious benefit is that the main board will be able to automatically switch on the BMS only after the battery connector is firmly seated, hence no more arcing !
A nice upgrade I'll probably look-into will be to tie the BMS on-switch with the battery key lock. A proper ingition switch :mrgreen: !


Let's go on with the BMS hardware review:

The clear shrink-wrap was removed. I noticed those 4 hex screws were barely tightened.
@Speedict: a bit of thread-locker would be welcomed.





CONTROL PCBA

nice board, STM32L brainbox, the aforementioned HM10 module running a Ti CC2541, a very good TI BQ7694 monitor & balance chip, connectors for the on/off switch, a speed sensor and a pack temp sensor.

There is also a Spansion / Cypress SPI Flash chip (128 Mbit ? cannot find datasheet) the neptune uses for logging.




POWER PCBA

only brand-name parts, they sure didn't skimped on the BoM:

Charge mosfets are International Rectifiers IRFS3607, discharge ones are Infineon OptiMos 054n08n, rectifiers are On-Semi and Diodes INC. Charge traces are beefy and tin-plated. Discharge ones have brass (?) bus bars.






Overall, a very nice BMS.

Still, there are a few points I have mixed feelings about:



  • No conformal coating. Easy to add DIY, but I reasonably expected one on a high-end part like this,
  • The power wiring is surface soldered. No pulling and lead-securing away from vibrations mandatory !
    Selastic or a clamp would have helped.

  • The distance between the battery leads is VERY SMALL !!! Why not have them at the opposite end of the board like on many other bms ? With the lack of coating, less than a millimeter is protecting the pack from an dead short :roll: . I will add a fuse on the pack lead (+ polyfuses on the balancing leads).







What @Speedict could look into for future Neptune modules is to make cutouts in the thermal backplane to allow through hole soldering. It would probably good to do it also on the charge / controller side.

Similar to this (minus the crappy soldering job :mrgreen: ):



And an even better approach would be to have the leads crimped with eyelets ends and have them screwed in.


Hi,
I just ordered a Neptune 15.
I'll upgrade my comming ASB-EB-34 from Ansbern (http://www.ansbernbikes.com/mob/index.php?route=product/product&path=1&product_id=41)
I'll need 50A from the battery which is from Reention Dorado.
Do you have any information about the 4 data pins on the connector?
How did you wire it to the the Neptune 15?
Thanks.

Edit: no one?
 
Hi there,

I just got hands on the neptune 15 and I was wondering if there a way to bypass the max discharge current? 50A is not enough for my setup.

Cheers
 
an4log said:
Hi there,

I just got hands on the neptune 15 and I was wondering if there a way to bypass the max discharge current? 50A is not enough for my setup.

Cheers

if bypass it, all protections such as over current, cell under voltage will be stopped, and charging won't start.
 
speedict said:
an4log said:
Hi there,

I just got hands on the neptune 15 and I was wondering if there a way to bypass the max discharge current? 50A is not enough for my setup.

Cheers

if bypass it, all protections such as over current, cell under voltage will be stopped, and charging won't start.

But you can add 4x R004 SMD 2512 shunt resistors ( one for each mosfet, I simply soldered it over the 4 existing ones and 2 additional - black 14AWG wires for the higher current and 1 additional + red wire outside Neptune. Additionally I added more solder to all 8 drain mosfet pins).
This results in recognition of half amps and watts - while charging and discharging. So Neptune 15 will cutoff at higher Amps. So I always have to double the printed values but I am used to it (Bafang Ultra shunt mod - which is exactly the same trick).

Speedict changed the construction of the charging unit and the mosfets of Neptune 15. Newest ones are 120A max drain specified mosfets -but not Infineon anymore- and run a little cooler I think.

Of course warranty void and there are risks...

Bigger problem are the weak serial connections of most batteries - a high voltage drop will occur at higher amps.for that reason I built my battery with a 0.15mm copper/ 0.15mm nickel spot welded sandwich.
 
barbarossa said:
But you can add 4x R004 SMD 2512 shunt resistors ( one for each mosfet, I simply soldered it over the 4 existing ones and 2 additional - black 14AWG wires for the higher current and 1 additional + red wire outside Neptune. Additionally I added more solder to all 8 drain mosfet pins).
This results in recognition of half amps and watts - while charging and discharging. So Neptune 15 will cutoff at higher Amps. So I always have to double the printed values but I am used to it (Bafang Ultra shunt mod - which is exactly the same trick).

Speedict changed the construction of the charging unit and the mosfets of Neptune 15. Newest ones are 120A max drain specified mosfets -but not Infineon anymore- and run a little cooler I think.

Of course warranty void and there are risks...

Bigger problem are the weak serial connections of most batteries - a high voltage drop will occur at higher amps.for that reason I built my battery with a 0.15mm copper/ 0.15mm nickel spot welded sandwich.

theoretically according to the spec. of MOSFETs 4 parallels arrangement can allow 400A current, however high current may not kill MOSFET, but high current accumulated temperature does, so need to keep monitor the FET temperature monitor values (although not in realtime).

if you want to change max. current, just simply replace each shunt resistor from 0.004ohm to 0.001ohm given that :

total 100A = 25A * 25A * 0.001 = 0.625W
0.625W is the power rating of 2512 size, 25A each with 4 parallel Mosfets provide total 100A current pass ...

and anyone can email me for this firmware and Android APK with warranty covered, I want to collect users information to decide if we really need to release the MAX. CURRENT restriction.

Danny
 
speedict said:
barbarossa said:
But you can add 4x R004 SMD 2512 shunt resistors ( one for each mosfet, I simply soldered it over the 4 existing ones and 2 additional - black 14AWG wires for the higher current and 1 additional + red wire outside Neptune. Additionally I added more solder to all 8 drain mosfet pins).
This results in recognition of half amps and watts - while charging and discharging. So Neptune 15 will cutoff at higher Amps. So I always have to double the printed values but I am used to it (Bafang Ultra shunt mod - which is exactly the same trick).

Speedict changed the construction of the charging unit and the mosfets of Neptune 15. Newest ones are 120A max drain specified mosfets -but not Infineon anymore- and run a little cooler I think.

Of course warranty void and there are risks...

Bigger problem are the weak serial connections of most batteries - a high voltage drop will occur at higher amps.for that reason I built my battery with a 0.15mm copper/ 0.15mm nickel spot welded sandwich.

theoretically according to the spec. of MOSFETs 4 parallels arrangement can allow 400A current, however high current may not kill MOSFET, but high current accumulated temperature does, so need to keep monitor the FET temperature monitor values (although not in realtime).

if you want to change max. current, just simply replace each shunt resistor from 0.004ohm to 0.001ohm given that :

total 100A = 25A * 25A * 0.001 = 0.625W
0.625W is the power rating of 2512 size, 25A each with 4 parallel Mosfets provide total 100A current pass ...

and anyone can email me for this firmware and Android APK with warranty covered, I want to collect users information to decide if we really need to release the MAX. CURRENT restriction.

Danny

Hi Danny,

cool idea. using 1 mOhm resistors will result in 4x 0.625 Watts at 4x25 Amps, my solution in 8x 0.625 Watts at 8x 12.5 Amps. your solution is really better - resulting in less heat. all displayed values would be a quarter of the actual values.
yep, heat is the real enemy :?

anyways handling the restriction in firmware would be a far better solution… :D my solution was a bit quick&dirty 😘

i would like to test the unrestricted firmware...i sent a PM

cheers
 
barbarossa said:
Hi Danny,

cool idea. using 1 mOhm resistors will result in 4x 0.625 Watts at 4x25 Amps, my solution in 8x 0.625 Watts at 8x 12.5 Amps. your solution is really better - resulting in less heat. all displayed values would be a quarter of the actual values.
yep, heat is the real enemy :?

anyways handling the restriction in firmware would be a far better solution… :D

i would like to test the unrestricted firmware...

cheers


can you post your retrofit board here as I want to take a look and confirm if it is phase 1 or phase 2 hardware, and what is your rated current ? ~100A
perhaps I can set you one set with 1mOhm resistor built-in.


Danny
 
speedict said:
barbarossa said:
Hi Danny,

cool idea. using 1 mOhm resistors will result in 4x 0.625 Watts at 4x25 Amps, my solution in 8x 0.625 Watts at 8x 12.5 Amps. your solution is really better - resulting in less heat. all displayed values would be a quarter of the actual values.
yep, heat is the real enemy :?

anyways handling the restriction in firmware would be a far better solution… :D

i would like to test the unrestricted firmware...

cheers


can you post your retrofit board here as I want to take a look and confirm if it is phase 1 or phase 2 hardware, and what is your rated current ? ~100A
perhaps I can set you one set with 1mOhm resistor built-in.


Danny

shit, I did not take any photos and my Neptune 15 is carefully wrapped into a few Kapton tape layers and well positioned in my battery.
but i can say : I have the board version with 8x Nexperia PSMN3R3-80BS mosfets.
max current of 100A would be perfect.

i dont know how long such a firmware change takes. but perhaps could you do also a version for 8x R004 resistors = 0.0005 mOhm in total ? removing such 2512 resistors is always a PITA - not to damage or unsolder something else around - unfortunately i am not a soldering champion :lol: . it is sometimes easier/safer to stick another resistor over the existing ones… they match really perfect in that little notches on the board...
 
barbarossa said:
speedict said:
barbarossa said:
Hi Danny,

cool idea. using 1 mOhm resistors will result in 4x 0.625 Watts at 4x25 Amps, my solution in 8x 0.625 Watts at 8x 12.5 Amps. your solution is really better - resulting in less heat. all displayed values would be a quarter of the actual values.
yep, heat is the real enemy :?

anyways handling the restriction in firmware would be a far better solution… :D

i would like to test the unrestricted firmware...

cheers


can you post your retrofit board here as I want to take a look and confirm if it is phase 1 or phase 2 hardware, and what is your rated current ? ~100A
perhaps I can set you one set with 1mOhm resistor built-in.


Danny

shit, I did not take any photos and my Neptune 15 is carefully wrapped into a few Kapton tape layers and well positioned in my battery.
but i can say : I have the board version with 8x Nexperia PSMN3R3-80BS mosfets.
max current of 100A would be perfect.

i dont know how long such a firmware change takes. but perhaps could you do also a version for 8x R004 resistors = 0.0005 mOhm in total ? removing such 2512 resistors is always a PITA - not to damage or unsolder something else around - unfortunately i am not a soldering champion :lol: . it is sometimes easier/safer to stick another resistor over the existing ones… they match really perfect in that little notches on the board...

can you pencil draw your current layout to me ? don't need actual photo.


Danny
 
speedict said:
barbarossa said:
speedict said:
barbarossa said:
Hi Danny,

cool idea. using 1 mOhm resistors will result in 4x 0.625 Watts at 4x25 Amps, my solution in 8x 0.625 Watts at 8x 12.5 Amps. your solution is really better - resulting in less heat. all displayed values would be a quarter of the actual values.
yep, heat is the real enemy :?

anyways handling the restriction in firmware would be a far better solution… :D

i would like to test the unrestricted firmware...

cheers


can you post your retrofit board here as I want to take a look and confirm if it is phase 1 or phase 2 hardware, and what is your rated current ? ~100A
perhaps I can set you one set with 1mOhm resistor built-in.


Danny

shit, I did not take any photos and my Neptune 15 is carefully wrapped into a few Kapton tape layers and well positioned in my battery.
but i can say : I have the board version with 8x Nexperia PSMN3R3-80BS mosfets.
max current of 100A would be perfect.

i dont know how long such a firmware change takes. but perhaps could you do also a version for 8x R004 resistors = 0.0005 mOhm in total ? removing such 2512 resistors is always a PITA - not to damage or unsolder something else around - unfortunately i am not a soldering champion :lol: . it is sometimes easier/safer to stick another resistor over the existing ones… they match really perfect in that little notches on the board...

can you pencil draw your current layout to me ? don't need actual photo.


Danny

i hope i understood it right. attached pencil drawed layout :)

Neptune15_current.jpg
 
barbarossa said:
speedict said:
barbarossa said:
speedict said:
can you post your retrofit board here as I want to take a look and confirm if it is phase 1 or phase 2 hardware, and what is your rated current ? ~100A
perhaps I can set you one set with 1mOhm resistor built-in.


Danny

shit, I did not take any photos and my Neptune 15 is carefully wrapped into a few Kapton tape layers and well positioned in my battery.
but i can say : I have the board version with 8x Nexperia PSMN3R3-80BS mosfets.
max current of 100A would be perfect.

i dont know how long such a firmware change takes. but perhaps could you do also a version for 8x R004 resistors = 0.0005 mOhm in total ? removing such 2512 resistors is always a PITA - not to damage or unsolder something else around - unfortunately i am not a soldering champion :lol: . it is sometimes easier/safer to stick another resistor over the existing ones… they match really perfect in that little notches on the board...

can you pencil draw your current layout to me ? don't need actual photo.


Danny

i hope i understood it right. attached pencil drawed layout :)

Neptune15_current.jpg


ok got it, you stack other 0.004 resistor on top of existing, what's max current displayed on Neptune Android client you've experienced (actual value is double the display value) ?


Danny
 
speedict said:
barbarossa said:
speedict said:
barbarossa said:
shit, I did not take any photos and my Neptune 15 is carefully wrapped into a few Kapton tape layers and well positioned in my battery.
but i can say : I have the board version with 8x Nexperia PSMN3R3-80BS mosfets.
max current of 100A would be perfect.

i dont know how long such a firmware change takes. but perhaps could you do also a version for 8x R004 resistors = 0.0005 mOhm in total ? removing such 2512 resistors is always a PITA - not to damage or unsolder something else around - unfortunately i am not a soldering champion :lol: . it is sometimes easier/safer to stick another resistor over the existing ones… they match really perfect in that little notches on the board...

can you pencil draw your current layout to me ? don't need actual photo.


Danny

i hope i understood it right. attached pencil drawed layout :)

Neptune15_current.jpg


ok got it, you stack other 0.004 resistor on top of existing, what's max current displayed on Neptune Android client you've experienced (actual value is double the display value) ?


Danny


yep, exactly, i stacked another 0.004 resistors on top of existing ones and yes, actual value is double the displayed android app value.
using 60 Amps actual, so android app shows 30 Amps. while charging i had around 5.31 Amps before and now it shows around 2.65 Amps. exactly devided by 2 :D
exactly.
 
barbarossa said:
speedict said:
barbarossa said:
speedict said:
can you pencil draw your current layout to me ? don't need actual photo.


Danny

i hope i understood it right. attached pencil drawed layout :)

Neptune15_current.jpg


ok got it, you stack other 0.004 resistor on top of existing, what's max current displayed on Neptune Android client you've experienced (actual value is double the display value) ?


Danny


yep, exactly, i stack antoher 0.004 resistors on top of existing ones and yes, actual value is double the displayed android app value.
using 60 Amps actual, so android app shows 30 Amps. while charging i had around 5.31 Amps before and now it shows around 2.65 Amps. exactly devided by 2 :D
exactly.

great, I will prepare both firmware and client for you.

Danny
 
speedict said:
100A restriction, both APK and Firmware (for 8 x 1mOhm resistors)
=========================================================
https://drive.google.com/open?id=1FLWt8k-iBluBcwtLjdzp6hszLfCLsZpr


Danny

hey Danny,

perfect. values are normal again and limitation is gone. weather is very bad outside so i could only do a short test ride in our underground car park. i could only go up to around 50 Amps and i almost drove against the wall :( cant wait until weather is a little better outside to check it out completely (temperature, higher Amps, voltage sag at higher Amps, cut off at lower Amps, etc.).

with my 8x resistors i only have a total of 5W max loss at my theoretical max at 100A and not 10W max loss with the default 4x resistors. that is absolutely ok for me.

i was really very, very happy with my speedict neptune 15 before. but now, hey, i am really impressed. it is amazing and it is like i wanted to have it from the beginning. it is more than perfect !!!!!
THANK YOU !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! YOU ARE REALLY GREAT !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
it must be christmas - is this my christmas present ? :lol:

cheers
 
barbarossa said:
speedict said:
100A restriction, both APK and Firmware (for 8 x 1mOhm resistors)
=========================================================
https://drive.google.com/open?id=1FLWt8k-iBluBcwtLjdzp6hszLfCLsZpr


Danny

hey Danny,

perfect. values are normal again and limitation is gone. weather is very bad outside so i could only do a short test ride in our underground car park. i could only go up to around 50 Amps and i almost drove against the wall :( cant wait until weather is a little better outside to check it out completely (temperature, higher Amps, voltage sag at higher Amps, cut off at lower Amps, etc.).

with my 8x resistors i only have a total of 5W max loss at my theoretical max at 100A and not 10W max loss with the default 4x resistors. that is absolutely ok for me.

i was really very, very happy with my speedict neptune 15 before. but now, hey, i am really impressed. it is amazing and it is like i wanted to have it from the beginning. it is more than perfect !!!!!
THANK YOU !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! YOU ARE REALLY GREAT !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
it must be christmas - is this my christmas present ? :lol:

cheers

barbarossa said:
it must be christmas - is this my christmas present ?

don't think so, if you can PM me your address, I will send you a real christmas present of one Neptune 15 unit with built-in 4 x 1m Ohm resistor, hope that you can push it to limit.



Danny
 
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