BMS battery 900w charger questions

[dogman dan]

This critter, from another thread today started by Methods.

http://www.bmsbattery.com/alloy-shell/28-alloy-shell-900w-lifepo4li-ionlead-acid-battery-ev-charger.html

I'm intrigued by this one. Methods was recomending it for bulk charge, then balance with something inexpensive.

Methods, have you got one of these in hand, and could you review it if you do? I'm liking the look of the thing, but the typical for sale page is not much help in understanding what I get.

Dimensions and weight? No doubt it's not 6" long, but it doesn't look gargantuan.

Is it fully adjustable in voltage by the user?

Looks not you specify the setting when you order, but can you open it and adjust up or down a few v?

Can you open it and adjust it a lot? Like from 12s to 15s if you changed your setup?

Is it really reliable enough to safely charge lipo?

Is it safe for lipo only if used along with the lvc hvc boards? I'm not clear if you have to have hvc boards to bulk charge safe enough or not. Still be nice to have, even if I needed to use it outside.

I need to spend more right now like a hole in my head, but 900w at 72v makes it a real nice pit charger. And races are coming up this spring. Price is not bad at all, compared to upgrading to a second 350w PS and charger.

 

[dogman dan]

BTW, this charger comes in other wattages. 2000w anyone? Would need a really reliable 20 amp plug, but wow, less than half hour charges anyone? That would be for a 20s 10 ah pack. Still doable for sure, Each of the 8 5s packs would get 250w. Not too fast at all.

http://www.bmsbattery.com/alloy-shell/164-alloy-shell-2000w-lifepo4li-ionlead-acid-battery-ev-charger.html

This charger has to beat strings of meanwells to get to 72v.

 

[auraslip]

I've been holding out on reviewing my BMS battery 91v 3a charger, but after 3 months of near daily use I can't help but recommend it. I carry it in my backpack to charge on the go and it works fantastic! And it only took a week or so to get it!

I had them set it to 4.1v per cell. Which, might actually be the stock voltage since the charger says "91v" on the sticker. That's 22s btw.

Yes it works fine for bulk charging. It shuts off when done. Only problem may be the fan bearings needing a drop of lube, but I haven't even opened it yet.

I'm not to sure about the adjustable range. IIRC that's how I blew up my ping charger; trying to adjust the voltage. Others can fill you in on the details of adjusting the voltage, but I don't think it's going to be a huge range. Something like 20% of the voltage on the label. That one ebike store in the southeast US has a charger with a switch on the outside to go from 36v to 48v, which sounds like a pretty easy mod.

 

[mr.electric]

I have a 600 watt set up for 12s - 4.1/cell. I charge my mega 12s 5p pack and so far (about 3 months) I love the convenience of it. I usually plug in a cell log to make sure nothing goes too high.

 

[E-racer]

Yes I have a 400w for an on board charger and a 900w for at home charging. Great charger so far! I ordered them setup for 50v and they came in perfect. I'm a very satisfied BMSbattery bulk charger customer.

I had them set it to 4.1v per cell. Which, might actually be the stock voltage since the charger says "91v" on the sticker. That's 22s btw.

They come with order specific labels! great customer service for china.

 

[Patriot4]

It was mentioned in doctorbass's thread http://www.endless-sphere.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=14&t=29096&start=15. The guy hasn't said if he followed through, but it looks fully adjustible, volts, cc amps, cutoff, etc. Ray

 

[dogman dan]

Thanks for the replies.

Still a bit concerned about safety, I don't have the lvc hvc boards. I'm not sure I'd want to do much bulk charging without them.

I'd run a small risk, outside, at the track though. I want to be faster recharging this year, even though I likely won't have the energy to race. I'll do some laps in the open track time though, and want to not wait forever for anothe run. 10 min on the track, 10 min charging, 10 min on the track sounds great.

Adjustability would be great, in case they drifted off a bit over time. Cheap enough to have one for 12s, and one for 20s.

 

[chroot]

One of my friend has BMS 600 watt charger, He said his BMS charger is awesome and he used Medic Battery System 6s LCD with set to discharger mode 4.17v each cells as never know one of cell shoot over the limit base line. It been treat him very excellent.

I was meaning to get one for myself till I saw Methods is going create a product help everyone so I decide to wait till he completes his new product and buy all once in one kit together. Save my time.

Basically, Methods (Patrick) is kinda next neighborhood from my place.

PS. I forgot addition, His Medic Battery System has the mods 1A discharge capability similar this thread. (http://endless-sphere.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=485780#p485780)

 

[E-racer]

One of my friend has BMS 600 watt charger, He said his BMS charger is awesome and he used Medic Battery System 6s LCD with set to discharger mode 4.17v each cells as never know one of cell shoot over the limit base line. It been treat him very excellent.

I was meaning to get one for myself till I saw Methods is going create a product help everyone so I decide to wait till he completes his new product and buy all once in one kit together. Save my time.

Basically, Methods (Patrick) is kinda next neighborhood from my place.

PS. I forgot addition, His Medic Battery System has the mods 1A discharge capability similar this thread. (http://endless-sphere.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=485780#p485780)

This is my favorite way to properly charge these lipos w/ a reasonable budget. This is a >$200 12s charging solution.

On the safety note, I think you are over cautious. A lot of children that are into RC play with and ABUSE lipo. If you are very methodical about what you are doing there is virtually no chance of danger.

 

[chroot]

@E-racer - Hi.... I wanted you know when one of my LiPo aged and dying in 1st cell and when I start charging 5s1p then the 1st cell went over shoot higher than the 2-5 cells asking for trouble. That's why I thankful EP Buddy's iCharger 3010B stopped 1st cell going over 4.2v.

I rather have putting safety as 1st priority use either one of your balancer control or use Medic mods that has 1A discharge capability similar stop overshoot the baseline limit each cells. I mean for your safety sake. 8)

I don't want see your LiPo fireworks and ruin your day. I personally encountered 3 times LiPo fireworks in past include famous (Lyen controllers) Edward Lyen's LiPo went rogue and fireworks front of full of bunch tourist (in San Francisco).

Back to subject, I was trying tell you use balancer keep the voltage limit under control while the BMS bulk charger running. (watch?v=J_oKpOSzJpo)

 

[wineboyrider]

I am going to get one Dogman, but I don't know, which right now I am leaning towards the 600w charger or perhaps the 400w. Man the prices on all their chargers are hard to beat, hell you can a smaller charger for 1/2 what I have paid for before????

 

[dogman dan]

I was thinking about it too, the 900w. But now it looks like the races In Tuscon may not be happening. Hope they at least schedule a track day when we can at least have some laps in between races this spring. I just can't see the cost of the trip to Califa for the grange.

I was just thinking you could manually monitor the voltages at the track. I was thinking, just watch pack voltage and pull it off and ride some more as soon as you have 4.1v per cell back in the pack. So You'd get a routine going. 6 laps, then charge x min, then 6 laps charge x min.

But to use it in day to day use, I think you'd still want the HVC LVC boards to make this a safe charging setup. Not so pricy for two sets of 6s cells, but 4 or 5 of those boards for 20s or 25s would be costly.

It would be a really sweet setup, to have 12s 10 ah lipo, and the 400w charger. About one hour to charge. The 400w charger would be carryable too. The 900 would be a shop based thing.

 

[rui_fujino]

In the past year my 600w BMS Charger broke twice...but so far both times they just stopped working without anything blowing up...
I believe their soldering work is not good hence they loose connection (maybe?) at least they will replace with new one!

 

[chroot]

600 watt charger is also carry-able portable too. GCinDC has 600w BMS Charger and he said he is total satisfied with his 600w charger.

400 and 600w charger are pretty same size

900w isn't exactly portable. FYI

 

[IBScootn]

With a HVC of 95V, what do you think the max current you could really expect out of two of these in parallel? Looks like they are really closer to 700W chargers; how much power can be safely pulled out of these without over heating?

 

[Samson]

With a HVC of 95V, what do you think the max current you could really expect out of two of these in parallel? Looks like they are really closer to 700W chargers; how much power can be safely pulled out of these without over heating?

I have this unit and have tested it at 780 Watts continuous for several hours, the hottest spot on the outside of the case is 48 deg C. At 930 Watts it trips out after about 15 minutes but can be reset after a minute or so. My unit has been modified with beefed up lands but I also added a surge limiter and a power switch - both these items actually increase the internal temperature some.
It does appear to be fairly well made, the soldering was quite good.