gregcope
Well-known member
I looked at the x2 BMS. Documentation inline seems sparse as in what relays it can drive (unless i missed something). Also part of the website has placeholder loreais text.
270ah DIY LiFePO4 build
- Thread starter Poey50
- Start date
Poey50
Well-known member
It is, as far as I know, the only BMS (packaged with ancillary kit) designed specifically for the marine market. I don't think he's been going for very long so some bits of the website haven't been completed. For anyone interested ....
batterybalance – My batterybalance
Last edited:
vas
Well-known member
thanks Poey, looks like an excellent piece of kit, well thought after and probably worth the money. May have to drop to 200Ah cells to stretch to it though :-(
Poey50
Well-known member
Do you not have a spare kidney or some other redundant body part you could sell?
vas
Well-known member
nope, I'm at an age that I should start taking care of all of them, so no sorry 
on a serious note, and considering I'll probably have enough time this coming winter to fool around with arduinos and raspberries, I'll get a flow chart of what I'm expecting of a BMS for my setup and see if I can sort out a test rig.
Ideally i'd like 4 halfdead dirtcheap 60Ah lifepo4 cells to try and test it first...
planning for the next lockdown
on a serious note, and considering I'll probably have enough time this coming winter to fool around with arduinos and raspberries, I'll get a flow chart of what I'm expecting of a BMS for my setup and see if I can sort out a test rig.
Ideally i'd like 4 halfdead dirtcheap 60Ah lifepo4 cells to try and test it first...
planning for the next lockdown
mitiempo
Member
The Tao Performance BMS is also designed for marine use. TAO Performance ‣ Lithium Battery & Energy Management System
I don't know what specifically makes a "marine BMS" though. As far as being suitable for marine use there are a few. Orion, good but expensive. Overkill Solar are good and not expensive. Electrodacus is what I chose, not on price but build quality and for the way it works. It can control virtually all Victron products which makes it great for marine use in my opinion. It is also the least expensive of the above mentioned BMS. No Fets to fail either.
Poey50
Well-known member
I don't think I've come across the Tao Performance BMS - I'll check it out. From what I know of it, the Electrodacus offers very good value, as you say.
Kelpie
Well-known member
I seriously considered the Electrodacus. But in the end went with JBD, which is the same hardware as Overkill, just without the support and properly written manual etc. I would have bought Overkill but he couldn't supply in time.
Electrodacus is very clever, but doesn't offer an out of the box solution. If all your devices can be controlled by external switching, great, otherwise you'll still need relays. Where it can work very cost effectively indeed is with 12v solar panels, since you can avoid buying charge controllers.
Electrodacus is very clever, but doesn't offer an out of the box solution. If all your devices can be controlled by external switching, great, otherwise you'll still need relays. Where it can work very cost effectively indeed is with 12v solar panels, since you can avoid buying charge controllers.
mitiempo
Member
The price of a good solar controller like a Victron is little added to a LiFePo4 system. In my case all equipment is Victron so no relays needed.
The Overkill is a good choice for a typical BMS with the current passing through it. I have one I will use for a portable battery pack for an electric outboard for the dinghy.
For my main BMS I did not want the current to pass through it. The Electrodacus makes more sense to me.
All told my system will not be expensive. 900 US for batteries (400AH) delivered, 120 US for the Electrodacus, Victron 100/30, Victron Phoenix inverter (1200 watts @ 120 volts), and Victron 30 amp charger.
Kelpie
Well-known member
Yes these systems don't have to cost as much as some people think. My running total is up at £1042 for 280Ah cells, JBD BMS, 2x 40A MPPT, and a 3kw inverter. Plus another £150 or so on isolator and fuses etc.
The inverter is a big chunk of that expenditure, I could have saved a lot of money if I hadn't wanted to have the option of induction cooking on sunny days...
gregcope
Well-known member
Which JDB BMS do you use? Is this on a 12V pack and which 3kw inverter do you have? Do you have the induction cooker yet?
Looking to do something similar.
Kelpie
Well-known member
I haven't actually finished building the system yet. I've bought all the components (or at least I hope I have!) and have recently moved aboard the boat and am currently heading south, so finishing the system is somewhat on the back burner.
I went for the 120A JBD, purchased from LLT for £56. My pack is 4S 271Ah.
I went with an Epever inverter, a fraction of the cost of Victron but with some nice features, e.g. remote switching, user configurable high/low voltage disconnect. £375 from Bimble
My induction hob is a Vango Sizzle, 2x800w, cost about £80 from Go Outdoors. It's pretty weedy and I may supplement it with a single 1500w hob.
So far I have only run everything on the bench at home. I haven't set up the SSR switching on the inverter yet so was running it through the BMS, and for that reason have not tried to draw more than about 1kw.
One problem I've run in to with my lithium setup is that my MPPTs cannot be configured for lithium without buying a certain cable (USB to RJ45). I should have realised that at the time, but now I'm off cruising which makes it hard to buy things online, seeing as I don't have an address to post things to...
gregcope
Well-known member
vas
Well-known member
thanks for the pointer,
contacted them today and got a reply already:
CALB 3.2V 230Ah USD112 a piece, so for my 8S means 900USD or 755euro.
Catch is they ship from China which is a no-no for me :-(
hoped they have depots in the EU and deliver from there as some do, but not these guys.
cheers
V
Kelpie
Well-known member
My loads divide in to the inverter (max 250A) and then everything else (fridges, laptop charger, lighting, etc). The inverter will bypass the BMS and instead be switched on and off by a SSR which runs in parallel with the B- lead. I think this a much better way of handling big loads, rather than opting for a massive BMS.
All the remaining loads will be a tiny fraction of that current, and can go straight through the BMS. I just choose 120A because it was the biggest one they did and the price was good. I figure it's good to have a bit of headroom when running FETs. Similarly, I've chosen a 3kw inverter not because I need to run loads of that size, but because I want some headroom for surges and to, hopefully, ensure longer life of the components.
Kelpie
Well-known member
It's not set up yet, but the idea is that whenever the BMS cuts out, the SSR also trips. It will run parallel to the B- wire.
I think this will work but may need some manual intervention to reset. I can live with that, since the inverter is only thing to be used for cooking, hoovering, and running the printer. It won't be left idle (has an idle current of 1.7A) and it's not a charger.
Pete7
Well-known member
Ideally i'd like 4 halfdead dirtcheap 60Ah lifepo4 cells to try and test it first...
planning for the next lockdown
FB Market place then, all sorts of failed dreams and dodgy cells with no labels or QR codes, cellotaped together in someone's bedroom.
Saw 4 slightly curved CALB cells on there last night left over from a big order. In other words bought 20 and these are bent so flogging them off and keeping the good ones.
sailaboutvic
Well-known member
Well poey50 good to see your posting still going strong .
As some may know are Calbs 400ah was set up mid Dec with 123 Smart BMS and they going strong , they are easily managing fridge and a freezer going full blast 24/7 per day in the 41c heat ,
Induction cooker, 1000w kettle, microwave, hot water 1000w heater and for good measure all the electrics including 4k radar, add to that ipads, PC , phone and we not had to use are B2B victron charger as the 700 w panels are more then enough.
It be interesting to see if come Oct we have to use the B2B .
During the cold nights in the winter we was running a 1200w electric rad heater , not all the time but for half hour at a time as once turn off it kept given out heat..
So you could say our bank is working hard but then that's why I invested all that money in lithium.
The charging side of it Interesting, many Internet posting suggest 14.2/14,4v , we only every charge ours ton13.8v then their switch to 13.5v and on the odd accasion I up it to 14.1v just to see how things balance out and although I did top balance mine , I find once I go pass this which I have done to see what happen òmce of the cells soon start to diff off, so personally I wouldn't want to try to charge to 14.4v , my feeling one cell would different top .
Might consider top balance them again next winter just to see if they have diffed any or maybe just leave them alone .
Anyway guys thought I just throw my two penny's in .
By the way we now met two cruisers who brought the aluminium cells from China who cells have shorten so if anyone got these cell keep a close eye on them .
24/7 liveaboard
As some may know are Calbs 400ah was set up mid Dec with 123 Smart BMS and they going strong , they are easily managing fridge and a freezer going full blast 24/7 per day in the 41c heat ,
Induction cooker, 1000w kettle, microwave, hot water 1000w heater and for good measure all the electrics including 4k radar, add to that ipads, PC , phone and we not had to use are B2B victron charger as the 700 w panels are more then enough.
It be interesting to see if come Oct we have to use the B2B .
During the cold nights in the winter we was running a 1200w electric rad heater , not all the time but for half hour at a time as once turn off it kept given out heat..
So you could say our bank is working hard but then that's why I invested all that money in lithium.
The charging side of it Interesting, many Internet posting suggest 14.2/14,4v , we only every charge ours ton13.8v then their switch to 13.5v and on the odd accasion I up it to 14.1v just to see how things balance out and although I did top balance mine , I find once I go pass this which I have done to see what happen òmce of the cells soon start to diff off, so personally I wouldn't want to try to charge to 14.4v , my feeling one cell would different top .
Might consider top balance them again next winter just to see if they have diffed any or maybe just leave them alone .
Anyway guys thought I just throw my two penny's in .
By the way we now met two cruisers who brought the aluminium cells from China who cells have shorten so if anyone got these cell keep a close eye on them .
24/7 liveaboard
Last edited:
Poey50
Well-known member
Good to hear from you, Vic. I've been wondering how you were getting on. I've found the problem with the 123Smart BMS is that cells 1 and 4 run at slightly less voltage than the middle 2 (4 especially). It's not a lot but I charge now about once per month to about 95% soc to balance them. They seem fine on that. If you aren't charging fairly full reasonably often then maybe a fresh top balance over winter might be good otherwise you might lose capacity. I'd be interested to hear the results.
I'm obviously concerned to hear of any aluminium cased cell shorting. Do you know any more details about those?
I'm obviously concerned to hear of any aluminium cased cell shorting. Do you know any more details about those?
