1989 Kawasaki EX500 (Ninja) - EV conversion, finished but still refining

[j bjork]

On a related note. I kinda don't like ANT BMS. I guess it works and does the things I need it to do, but the interface and adjusting parameters is rather non-intuitive. And why the heck does it need to continuously
flash an LED on every series group while it's balancing?


I know LEDs don't take that much energy, but 28 of them flashing continuously adds up to an unnecessary waste of energy, and noticeable heat added.

Well, the leds dosent really matter as the whole balancing is wasting energy. The resistors just make heat of the electricity just as the leds make heat and light.
Does the same cells stay high when resting, and on both charging and discharging? In that case I suppose it is just a matter of getting them balanced once and for all. I dont think my bms:es normally balance when I charge, and if they do it is not much.

 

[harrisonpatm]

Well, the leds dosent really matter as the whole balancing is wasting energy. The resistors just make heat of the electricity just as the leds make heat and light.
Does the same cells stay high when resting, and on both charging and discharging? In that case I suppose it is just a matter of getting them balanced once and for all. I dont think my bms:es normally balance when I charge, and if they do it is not much.

They're balanced now, and I now just leave balancing off. I guess I just prefer JKBMS, they just don't make it for 28s. And with JKBMS, the balancing doesn't actually waste energy; it's active balancing, so it pulls current from the highest cell, and charges the lowest cell, until they're balanced. I don't actually know what ANTBMS does, I guess it just uses resistive balancing as you've described it.

 

[harrisonpatm]

I like cheesy and tacky humor. Thus, I decided to give my motorcycle some branding:


Killowatt-saki, instead of Kawasaki. It's so tacky and dumb, I love it.

 

[A-DamW]

Love it!

 

[harrisonpatm]

Brought both of my builds to my local motorcycle show. Let's see if we can get more people behind DIY builds!

 

[harrisonpatm]

Still never found a good standalone charger setup, I have 1 that's the 4 paralleled boost converters, and 1 that plugs into my inverter. Each is mediocre on its own, at 800-1000w.

Then I realized I could parallel both chargers at the same time. After testing that it worked with just an Anderson splitter cable, I reprinted the charging port:


So now I can get 2000w of fully solar charging at the same time. Or just use one port if I'm not in a hurry to charge.

 

[harrisonpatm]

Pro tip: if you want to win awards at motorcycle shows, all you have to do is show up with a DIY electric motorcycle at a show where 90% of the other entries are unmodified Harleys from only the past 15 years, maybe with a custom paint job or something. Then you'll be one of the one of the only ones in your entry class, and you'll basically win by default, regardless of how the locals feel about EVs!

 

[Tony01]

KWsaki I like it a lot. I don’t use a BMS it’s just another thing to fail. Why trust a $100 Chinese BMS with a $5k bike? I balance manually; at .03v I wouldn’t even touch it. Why not ditch the bms?

 

[harrisonpatm]

KWsaki I like it a lot. I don’t use a BMS it’s just another thing to fail. Why trust a $100 Chinese BMS with a $5k bike? I balance manually; at .03v I wouldn’t even touch it. Why not ditch the bms?

I'm using 840 secondhand cells, I want to know if they're unbalanced