quick q about battery checker

[xadmx]

is there a battery checker that you can plug all 6 batterys into (each bat has 6 cells) that you can scroll thought each battery and check cells and has a low voltage alarm, but with a single lcd screen. or do you need 6 battery checkers.
sorry for the noob questions
adam

 

[NeilP]

No.

and don't use any of the current cell alarms/ low cell voltage monitors to leave continuously connected. they drain the first cell or two quicker.

About only thing I can think of you can leave permanently connected is Methods protection boards

http://www.methtek.com/category/battery-protection/


If you are goign to buy any battery monitors, go for Celllogs rather than Battery Medics..Cellogs are far more accurate, and the S versions have loggin ability so you can download data and view in logView

 

[bowlofsalad]

is there a battery checker that you can plug all 6 batterys into (each bat has 6 cells) that you can scroll thought each battery and check cells and has a low voltage alarm, but with a single lcd screen. or do you need 6 battery checkers.
sorry for the noob questions
adam

I am something of a noob myself, but I've never never heard of what I think you are talking about. If all 6 batteries were a single cell each, then it'd all fit, but that is unlikely. I am sure you mean 6 2-8s packs. The biggest voltage checkers I've seen run to 8s, but as I said, I am a noob. I haven't searched immensely or exhaustively deeply, but I've looked around plenty for such a thing. I'd honestly be surprised if I found a 16s version.

It would be nice if what you speak of existed in a sort of BMS form with an LCD screen. I don't know your application, but perhaps it's possible to use a cycleanalyst? With that, you'd know how much of your pack has been drained via amp hours, I think.
Sorry for the noob answer : P.

 

[hillyterrain]

NeilP, thanks for pointing out that leaving a CellLog or LVC Alarm plugged in for too long will drain the batteries, I was totally planning on doing that. What is the next best option to not drain the batteries too low if not using an alarm? Will cycleanalyst be good enough or do I want to monitor on a cell-level, but how if I can't leave the monitor plugged in?


Thanks!!

 

[NeilP]

I'll let you search the forum..Google advance search is better than the built in site seearch....search for Cell Log modification thread..someone worked out a way to mod the cell logs so they drain all cells equally.

So what is your pack configuration?


What you do is this:

Set Cycle Analyst and controller LVC to a safe level. I set my controller to 3volt per cell and Cycle analyst to 3.4 per cell.
I bulk charge my pack. Every time I do the bulk charge I plug in the Cell logs to check balance.
just check them every time you charge..no need for monitors on the bike..nice if there was an easy on bike solution...well there is...go back to my earlier post and follow the link to methods on line store and his LVC/HVC monitor / parallel boards.


Just occured to me..these 6 cell battery packs..how are you connecting them all together?

I would guess you are paralleling some of them and then putting the parallel packs in series., so 12s3p or 18s2p.

If my guess is correct, then you do not need to have a monitor for each pack, as you should be connecting the balance leads in parallel too. So if you have 12s2p then you only need to monitor 12 cells, via the output side of the balance lead parallel harness

 

[999zip999]

I think you are asking about checking one 6s battery with a cellog or ect. Just one cellog for the 6 cell battery. If it is 6- 6s batteries and wired as 6s6p yes one cellog. That's a 25v battery off the charger.
Chime in with what battery you are triing to make for what ?

 

[hillyterrain]

Right now it's a 12s (2x 6s) 5Ah Turnigy LiPo, I thought monitoring individual cells was important so they don't burn up.

I'm looking to build a 10Ah 48V pack, any recommendations appreciated, using A123 or Samsung cells, would need 15s2p for 6Ah or 15s3p 9Ah. Also I expected to balance charge them everytime, I guess bulk-charging is faster, are there things I should consider when doing that?

E.g. it is new for me to connect the balance-leads when paralleling packs, thanks for that tip! I will google-search the mod ..

 

[amberwolf]

Will cycleanalyst be good enough or do I want to monitor on a cell-level, but how if I can't leave the monitor plugged in?

http://www.endless-sphere.com/w/index.php/Balancing:_What_is_it_and_when_is_it_necessary%3F

Personally I think the best option around for RC LiPo is Methods' protection boards, in the for-sale section. They wont' kill your packs leaving them attached (even for months!) and they will cut off discharge when worst-case LVC is reached.

HOWEVER: they are not an everyday-cutoff-level protection: they are a way to keep you from killing your pack, bursting into flames, or whatever.

So you would still want some other main LVC--in that case, you could use the CA to cutoff throttle at a pack-level LVC. I would recommend setting this to no more than 80% discharged voltage for your pack, so you dont' run the cells down too far (and to leave some wiggle room for your pack as it ages, or bad days on the road, you want a bigger one than you think you need anyway).


Regarding CellLog uneven drain, there are some "fixes" for this in variosu threas on the forum, including one by Fechter, and I think another by Otmar (his might've been for logging, I forget). But uneven or not, they still drain the pack when attached.