Cell-Log, Battery Monitor

[Electricdirtbiker]

Hello all,

I've been looking at the Cell-Log Cell Voltage Monitor, by Hobby King. Seems to do everything I need from a bms. It has programable over and under voltage alarms and a voltage display for each cell. The monitor is good for 2-8s batteries. The only concern is it draws 8 ma per cell, which means in an ideal world, the monitor should be disconnected when not in use. I would like to use 2 of these to monitor a 16s 10p a123 battery pack. Has anyone else used these monitors? Any thoughts?

Thanks

Wesley

 

[ambroseliao]

Do you have a link to the actual unit on hobbyking.com?

Thanks,
Ambrose

 

[Electricdirtbiker]

I didn't hink to include that.

http://www.hobbyking.com/hobbycity/store/uh_viewItem.asp?idProduct=9282

Thanks,

Wesley

 

[scoot]

I just received 2 of them this weekend, but I do not yet have the cells to hook them up to yet. From everything I have read from the research i have done, they seem to function very well.

They won't be a substitute for a BMS obviously, but should function well for the needed individual cell monitoring and the LV alarm I will need during discharging (riding). I will be installing it on my vehicle with a quick connect plug (probably anderson connectors... 3x3 for each celllog8) to a set balance leads from the indivudal cells (or packs of paralled cells as the case may be) inside the vehicle. Then when recharging the batteries at home, I will use an "intelligent" balancing charger that plugs its balancing leads into the same quick connect socket after removing the celllog8. When I am ready to ride again, I'll disconnect the charger's cell monitoring/balancing plug, and plug the celllog 8 back in for the ride.

When charging away from home, I'll use my stock on-board vehicle regular charger and just leave the celllog8 plugged in. I have high hopes for this appraoch, but clearly no direct experience with it as of now :?

Edit: there has been some discussion and commentary on the cellog8 later on in this thread:

http://endless-sphere.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=14&t=9229

 

[MitchJi]

Hi,

CellLog 8S battery monitor and logger - any reviews?

http://endless-sphere.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=14&t=12815&start=0


Also discussed in this thread:

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

http://endless-sphere.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=14&t=9229&start=0

Starting here:
http://endless-sphere.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=14&t=9229&p=192728

 

[scoot]

heehee, don't be pulled in by the "cellmon24" ... like me ... it was pretty funny IMO :lol:

Doc has a great sense of humor

 

[vanilla ice]

So where do we get the 8s connectors at yo?

 

[scoot]

I followed up on this recommendation for Digikey and it looks good to me... we can use up to 22 awg wire I think.
http://endless-sphere.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=14&t=9229&start=75#p198155

 

[dragonfire]

if i got the online reviews right this works well but will need to be wired to indidual cells via the balancer cable ? thereby the users of paralleled packs of 8 batteries would have to use one monitor for each set making it a little bulky to have mounted all these monitors on the bars.

but if leaving them below the bar and just using the piezo-buzzer as a "active balanacer" substitute it would work well, and thanks to the logging ability subsequent troubleshooting will be easy, too.

this device can thereby serve as an control element of the batteries in use, a lipo-charger with balance tab connector for 8 cells would take care about this when charging - on a goped with onboard-charger only this standalone-solution may not be as good as should, but still on pair with the cycle analyst as for the protectioning fucntions at a considerably lower price.

as this device is pretty lightweight it can easiyl be put under the deck of a goped and thanks to it being plastik no insulating effort will be needy.

is the cyle analyst capable of handle the input of say 8 balancing tabs x 4 bateries ( so 32 in total9 or does it just read out the voltage as given by what passes through the devi´s own main cable and meters or does it use a secondary balancer cable with most likely not more than 8 readout connects so that more batteries would have to be of bridged connects 8 may or may not be protected by individual cell cutoff relays) bridged anyways for this data ?

 

[Electricdirtbiker]

Thanks all for your responses.
I know this won't cover the balancing portion of a bms.
I was hoping to use the lvc alarm to stop riding and the high voltage alarm for bulk charging out in the field. Is it possiable to wire a relay or circuit to stop the charge when any cell reaches 3.6v first?
Even though the read out is a little on the small side, I will be able to scan all the cell voltages at once. I presently do this with a rotary switch and one meter, very slow.
What i'll do with the cell-logs is pick out which cell has the lowest voltage, the dial the rotary switch to that cell and watch it on a larger voltmeter, which will be located up on the handlebars and easier to read while riding.
When I bulk charge, I'll use the cell-logs to indicate the cell with the higest voltage and monitor that one.
Does this make sense?

Thanks,

Wesley

 

[scoot]

Yes, It has an alarm output line included and here is the the link to the manual:

http://www.hillrc.com/UploadFiles/CellLog_8S.pdf

and the Junsi web site:

http://www.jun-si.com/EnProductShow.asp?ID=96

 

[scoot]

This thread out on the RC Groups forum maybe be informative to some of us. It was to me.

Noteworthy IMO are posts #101-104 and 108.

http://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1055820