This company owes you big time not only for your research and development but for sales. You actually show us and answer the questions we are going to have.... When you look at how many people "listen:" to you ...100 per hour at this point.... you make the best professor at the best university look like he has no influence as you touch so many more people that are actually listening.... you have changed my life and many others. I live RURAL Canada... Starlink and Lithium batteries have changed my world entirly. thanks for sharing
Thank YOU for sharing and you kind words and comment. That is the main goal of this channel, to trigger people to start their own projects. And RUclips is perfect for that. Honestly, I would do all these tests anyway just for my own sake but am so happy that other people get inspired. Thank you.
@@OffGridGarageAustralia Andy Is it possible that the BMS cannot set the voltage to which the battery should be discharged? is there only protection voltage?
@@OffGridGarageAustralia Yes, this is a problem, the inverter does not know to what voltage it can discharge, it is only based on the soc. It's a pity that it doesn't limit the discharge current to 0 if one cell has a lower voltage.
Thanks for your tireless lobbying of JKBMS to make a better product for us all Andy :) Not currently in the market for a BMS but when I do need a new one I now know which one to get :)
Hello Andy, a truly great job. You have tested so many BM systems and have always encountered the same problems. I can still remember when you started with the Seplos BM systems because someone told you that it would control your inverter. I would never have thought it possible that JK would do this now. You also played a part in this through your work. JK probably wouldn't be talking to you like this if you didn't have this range. Congratulations on the 75,000 subscribers. You've really earned it. All the best for you in the future and I look forward to the next instalment on JK BMS. If only it had been 1.5 years earlier. Many thanks and best wishes to Australia from Germany. P.s. Send some sunshine over. It's just sad here.
Thanks a lot for all your great comments and support, my friend. I appreciate you kind words. It took us quite a while to get to this point, but a firm stand, and a great community have finally led to this success.
Hello Andy I understand the 75k. You are a genius, an amazing knowledge. I'm from Castelnaudary, the town of the Cassoulet. I understand why peoples are watching ypur videos and why manufacturers are looking for you. You are professor who teaches us. Thank you for all your help and work to let us just buy and use without testing. Thanks a lot William
Great work on this Andy!! Thanks for all you have done for the DIY community. I would love to see a review on the pool cleaner. I have seen your pool cleaner and cordless tools in the background for over a year now and I always wondered what products you would recommend or not recommend. I look forward to what you come up with for 2024. Happy holidays!
AS ALWAYS, Thanks Andy. Awesome as usual. Stay cool! Your work is priceless for lots of people around the world, and so much appreciated. (We’re really into a heat wave now, however A/C is keeping us cool thankfully! 😅 Even the pool is no longer refreshing- more like warm soup.)
Wow. The balancer on that BMS rocks. You managed to capture the magical balance zone on video where the voltages diverge, and the current starts to drop. You can even see a bit of the franken cell behavior, where the highest cell switches as we approach the balance zone: The just before balance zone: @9:47/53.44V/11.2A cell4 = 3.332V and cell 16=3.346V (-14mV) Enter the zone (note the franken switch of high cell- a grade A cell would not do that I assume): @11:57/55.06V/11.2A cell4=3.489V cell16=3.417V (+72mV)
WELL DONE!! One commemt; The 'old' jk (I'm using an 8s in a 12v config) shows amps too low at low current and to high at high current.. I'm just following my 500A Victron shunt as 'true'. But in this inverter style JK bms you rely on the jk shunt. Hopefully it's giving an okay value when calibrated. Something to test there Andy😎 Opening an icecold S.P.A.T in the even colder Netherlands. Closing in to our shortest day, your longest and we cycle again. Cheers!!🍻🍻🍻
Genialllll J'attendais ça avec impatience ❤️ Parfait !!! 🎉 Vivement la fin du test dans la prochaine vidéo. ------------- Genialllll I've been looking forward to this ❤️ Nice work 🙏😄 Perfect!!!! 🎉 Can't wait for the end of the test in the next video. 😊
RS485 setup for firmware update - cat 5 pinout jk uses wires 7 and 8 - can only set uart to jk protocol if dips are set to 0 - communication only works if dips are set to 1 - thanks Andy for your time and effort!
Very informative video. Thank you very much Andy. They fix the firmware, I'm knew it. Whatever I'm ordered the third JK BMS. Because of you Andy :) Because you always making the good knowledge for us. Thank you Andy!!
Aaandyyyyy!!! You got it... You had them working their buts off and deliver almost everything they promised. It has been sometime since one episode got me this excited. These are great news! Finally they start to understand, and beteeeer... Listening, and reacted really fast actually. Let's see the communication part with several bms's, and how you controll them and the master/slave etc .. Greeeeaaat work from JK and our guru working together! Best regards from cold Madrid - Spain
Hi Andy, And thank you again for this video and the previous one about the JK BMS. Well apparently it succeeded! We can say JK team we work really well, it's very good! For all this time, multiple BMS on the market still have defects in their program? Hopefully others will follow this way. In any case, thank you again Andy, your videos are always great and with very good explanations.😉👍
Great video, great test, great results. What a great Andy. We were waiting for these results from weeks, jk are up to Andy's challenge. What else can we ask jk to modify or add? Thank you for the efforts you are making Andy. 🙏🌹❤️
Hi Andy, as usual a great video i would like very much also to see a comparison/review on features on old jk and new jk bms with Peter board dbus serial driver (L.v.d.Walt )as these features are very much the same . Kinda keen to see the comparisons Anyways Great work
I have 3x PB2A16S20P with firmware V14.13 and all of them loose their settings when they are switched off with the button! With the previous firmware (V14.03) they all kept their settings, so this is definitely a bug in the new firmware. SOC calculation is also wrong, because it shouldn´t change when you change the overall capacity. At least all the other functions seem to work (as long as you don´t push the button and the BMS goes back to LiPo settings!!!). Nice work!
Thank you very much Andy you are the best! One question please have you plugged your communications cables like you did in the last video ? (it's to upgrade my firmware on the JK BMS) I can't communicate with the BMS at this time.. USB-RJ45 adapter on the bms's communication board but i don't know what COM PORT Number to choose... i tried many ports with no success
Thank you very much for your generous support. I'm testing this parallel setup right now and am in contact with JK to solve some further 'challenges'. Unfortunately, there is no documentation about all that...
It looks good. Hope to have my pack built over xmas and the new BMS configured. Firmware update required. With that many options now available in the settings Im going to have to keep referring back to this video for the base settings config. You better do a write up as well Andy. I'll be suffering from memory loss every three minutes.
Hello Andy! Thanks for your very informative video's! I have ordered two of the new inverter BMS'es for my DIY battery build. Do you have any information on the voltage that is supplied by the dry contacts / Relay? Could I power a 12V fan with it for instance?
That was great Andy! Thanks for the considered testing. On another note: I'm going to have to turn you in to the SPCRL (Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Robotic Lawnmowers) as we all know that's what that poor thing really was..
Great video again. Suggestion - Compare features of new Jk with old JK and Peter board as well as old JK with dBus serial driver ( Louis vd Walt ), These three option are all very similar in features offered. Would be interesting to see a review of all three.
As always, awesome informative video! Andy, have you checked the CAN bus connection of the Raspberry Pi + CAN HAT with the new JKBMS? As far as I can see, you have tested it here with the Cerbo GX only. Many thanks for your support for such a large community!
As always another great Video. So I bought two back in October when you first spoke of them, I have installed onto my battery, and after this video decided to give the CAN bus a go....have waisted a lot of time attempting and I am starting to think I have broken unit. Just want to confirm the connections. Cerbo End, Pin3 GND, P7 CAN H, P8 CAN L, at the JK BMS END, P7 GND, P5 CAN H and Pin 4 CAN L. if this is correct then my BMS has coms issues. I Upgraded firmware to 14.13 after watching your video and also noticed if you power cycle the BMS, it looses all settings, another poster here made the same comment. Cheers Andy great work.
All working, Turns out the JK-BMS manual with the wiring diagram is wrong. Used the Jakiper Battery CAN cable and it worked immediately. Cerbo could only see one battery with dip sw set to Add 1 & 2 respectively. Found one Dip needs to be set to 0. the second battery is then 1. The PC software cant directly connect to a battery with Add 0, however connects to the battery add 1, then under the parallel tool you can select a battery with address 0. So all in all working, both JKBMSsss reporting to Victron via a single Can Bus lead, just using the battery to battery RS485 link as would expect. Perfect. Thanks Andy for pushing JK to make the perfect BMS...Next I might try getting the Jakiper to talk to the JK using pylon tech instead of Victron proticol. Victron reads Pylon natively I believe. That would be good to have 2 diff brand BMS all talking and reporting through single CAN cable...job for tomorrow
24hrs has elapsed and there is a glitch in the matrix. Any Hints or others experienced this. After being connected and working in parallel for a while, the slave stops reporting to the master. As such the Victron Cerbo only showes half the charge current going into the battery, the rest is unaccounted for. Doesnt seem to effect the system as the master slave naturally balance out anyway. The way I have fixed it is to go into the PC software and select parallel tab and talk to both through the master and it resets the coms. On the App status screen there is a "PCL Module: OFF" status, I have been talking to Helen at JKBMS and she says this needs to be on. But cant tell me as yet (last 30 min) how to do this. Any one else found out what to do here?
now this is the of the best inverter BMS, the programable dry contact finally is here and it is without the need of trigger by alarm, that's just amazing, i always want that function. JK just need to brush up their LCD graphic design (JBD doing very good in LCD graphic design)
Thank you andy my eve batteries are about to arrive.. and ill just order the JK after you do the parallel testing .. so please do it in the next video. Coz i need to parallel 16S 280 with another 16S 280ah batteries .. so would need two sets of batteries woth 2 bms that needs to communicate.. else my installation will get delayed. I cant thank you enough. You saved my bucks where i was going to opt for Neey balancer separately with seplos.. but this one has now xhanged my mind to.99 % i will be 100% sure after you have the parallel comms. In between two batteies
Regarding the slow charge at the end of the charge cycle: you DO need such a feature, since if you’re charging to 57.6V (which is the typical setting for most 48V nominal LFPs), then the highest cells will shoot up too suddenly and the BMS will trigger an OVP, even while the charging is ramping down.
Then, there is something wrong with your pack or too balancing. A good, balanced pack should have no trouble charging to over 3.6V without triggering anything.
@@OffGridGarageAustraliathe same thing happened to you Andy, when you raised the voltage of your batteries. No passive-balancer BMS can cope with a full current charge, no matter how good the cells. And you know that very well.
Thanks for the great content Andy! I have a suggestion for future offgrid garage content: i cannot seem to get the victron ev charger to throttle down the charge amperage. It keeps charging at full power. Would it be possivle to explain your setup? Would be very interesting.
I think I have just found my BMS! - However, discount code does not seem valid and they are not releasing until Jan 31? (Scored a LEAF 24KW that had degraded to 60% (15KW) for less than the BMS.) Would like to see an episode that ponders the best battery size for a particular set of panels.
Seems to be out of stock? Wow, they sold out fast. You can pre-order. I'll get the discount code extended... The battery and solar panel size need to match in some aspect. I'll put the video suggestion on my list. Thank you.
Just a quick comment on the 100% SOC reset function: The method deployed here resets to 100% when a voltage is hit. That is so much better than the HV disconnect reset I found on lots of BMS’s. You have your own improvements on this but one improvement would be to also check the current: only reset if the current is less than some threshold -say 1A would do and cover 99% of the cases. A further improvement would be a current less than some threshold for a given time: say 1 minute. Voltage > 3.45V With current < 1A For at least 1 minute That would be on my wish list for any of my BMS’s….. And then if they could release an FW update to their older BMS's everyone would be happy.
I seem to have an issue with 100% reset triggered at really low SOC. Its caused by a sudden peak in amps by sun coming out. Is there any way to work around that?
Reposting my comment from solardiy forum. Perhaps it is only WORKING "as intended & expected" for Victron system or Victron BMS protocol. BEWARE!!! I have the same JK Inverter BMS with firmware 14.13........and all "charge float mode etc" doesn't seem to work with my Growatt SPF 6000 ES Plus. I am using Growatt RS485 BMS protocol (Tested with Growatt CAN BMS protocol too, no luck). Whenever one of my cell hit SOC-100% Volt (V) value which I set at 3.5V [With Cell OVP 3.65V, Cell OVPR 3.6V, Vol Cell RFV 3.35V and Vol. Cell RCV 3.45V], my Growatt SPF 6000 basically stop charging the battery. It doesn't even go into absorption and float mode. The charging simply stopped whenever SOC-100% Volt (V) value is reached by one of my cell. There isn't much time available for my Neey 10A balancer to works its magic,. For unknown reason, the growatt will start to charge the battery again to 100% if the JK-BMS SOC is down to 95%. I thought the JKBMS supposed to have full control over the charging mechanism? In the practise test video, even though the cell voltage hit SOC-100% Volt (V), it appears that your system still continue to charge unlike mine. Toggling the "Charging Float Mode" on and off doesn't do anything in my case. I even tested with short RCV Time and RFV Time of 6 minutes simlar to the video for verification and no luck either. @OffGridGarageAustralia, is it possible for you to test other BMS protocols? I got a feeling JK only pay special attention to the Victron protocol and not others BMS protocol.
Thanks for sharing this here. I have tested the Victron and also Pylontec protocol successfully with my system. I have noticed in your settings, that you have set RCV lower than SOC-100%. That is not going to work and also makes no sense from a charge logic perspective. Try the following: OVP: 3.65V OVPR: 3.6V RCV: 3.45V SOC-100%: 3.449V RFV: 3.35V If you set your Growatt inverter to Pylon protocol, is there a difference? Let me know...
@@OffGridGarageAustralia Finally the sun shine through after several days of rain and cloudy day. Unfortunately, no luck, I set the Growatt inverter to CAN L52 (for Pylontech) and JKBMS to use Plyontech CAN protocol. Both inverter and bms seems to communicate with each other. The JKBMS "countinued discharge current" value affects Growatt Program 02 Maximum Charging Current. Sadly, it exhibits the same issue with Pylontech protocol even with your recommended settings. The moment any cell hit SOC 100% Volt value, the inverter stopped charging the battery and doesn't go into float at all. At this stage, I tried to turn on and off "Charging Float Mode" and see if it can triggger my inverter to charge again, yet no charging occured. I retried again with Growatt CAN protocol and same thing happened. The charging stopped immediately the moment JKBMS reported 100% to Growatt inverter. I'm completely stumped. Note: JKBMS firmware updated to 14.14 I am not sure which one is at fault here. Growatt inverter or JKBMS? Perhaps JK can configure its BMS to instruct Growatt inverter not to stop charging the moment it send SOC 100% signal or resume charging at float voltage?
@@AshleyL-.-L Thanks for sharing and your feedback. It seems the Growatt stops charging once the BMS reports 100% SOC, regardless of the battery voltage. I guess, it is a Growatt problem but also a JK problem. The JK should not show 100% at a single cell voltage. I will discuss this with JK and get this changed in the next update. It should go to 100% when we change to Float mode, so after the RCV is reached and RCV timer has run out. Then, the battery is fully charged! Please do me a favour and go to their website www.jkbms.net/contact-us and send them an email to Vincent with the details of your finding and testing. I will follow this up with them to get the 100%SOC trigger changed.
I just realised that you aren't using both screw terminals on the BMS for the battery cables. I always thought we had to connect to both terminals on both sides?
Hi Andy. Great Vlog. Any chance you can test the relay contacts in a bit more depth? It would be great to see how they work for voltage alarms and current alarms as well as the temperature you tested. Can multiple triggers for the same relay be set or is it just one for each contact? If multiple per relay contact then this would be great for turning off alternators in campers and boats to save them from BMS disconnects.
Each relay can have only one trigger, selected from the menu. They basically work the same way. So choosing Over Current, you set the point where you want the relay to close and open. Each trigger option has always a value for on and off.
I've got this new BMS here for a while but no further instructions🤷♂️ It is still red, at least the one I have here... Apparently, it also has cloud connectivity and comes with a Wifi dongle now, instead of BT. Still unsure what is new...
This is extremely encouraging and shoes how quick progress can be when working in with the right end-user for engineering input and testing. But beyond this model, has there been any indication about JK flowing all this progress back into the lower voltage/lower current BMSs in their range,to suit boats etc?
Hi Andy, Di you get the same value when measuring the Voltage on the Batterie terminals and on the Batteriebox terminals? My voltahe on the batterie terminals is 52.7V and on the eel terminals 48,6V. 🤔
Hi Andy, These are obviously designed to go inside a server rack style battery case. For those of us using D.I.Y battery shelves can you request they make one with its own IP rated protective case? Preferably heatsink Aluuuuminum but anything to keep dust and bugs out will do. We could 3d print a case for the BMS but not everybody has such toys. Thanks for your hard graft Andy. Gaz 🏴
That will be very difficult. All batteries and electronics need to go into some sort of case or protection, either together or separately. Even they would build such a case, how do you handle all the other connections outside of this BMS? So, if you keep the BMS close to the battery and enclose the battery in a shelf for example, it should be safe enough. And a case with aluminium heatsink will cost money again. People already complain about $100 for a Peter Board...
@@OffGridGarageAustralia Hi mate. I think it is daft they have removed some of their market by selling a naked unprotected BMS. Just a simple case will do, yes there will be a premium but at least it will be protected from dust and bugs. I would like 2 and I though the price would be alot higher than it is. But not unprotected. I have spent thousands of pounds so far I wouldn't complain about the extra price for a protective case.. My Daly wins this one lol, the thing is indestructible 🤣🤣🤣
@@OffGridGarageAustralia Just a follow on side note, my battery shelf will not be hermetically sealed. I will eventually be using louvered doors to allow cooling air flow. Cheers buddy
@@garys-half-baked-offgrid-dream It does not need to be sealed but as long as nothing can be touched or you accidentally drop a tool on the connections, that is all good.
Uhh, that's a tough question, I would have no idea. It depends on the size of your batteries, I guess. If it is for a 12V system, these cases usually have enough space inside to host all components.
I have the Seplos Mason (without a breaker/switch) but I don't have your level of expertise/confidence to give it a go... FYI firmware v14.14 is embedded in new shipping JK's
@@ppi57Ah, the Mason, OK, the BMS swap is a bit more complicated here because of the dimensions and difference in communication boards between the two BMS. Yeah, V14.14 ist out for the BMS. It only adds another supported inverter apparently.
Incredible video. I learned a lot. Without your videos, I couldn't figure out the difference between the older BMS and this newer one called the 'inverter' BMS. I thought "does it have an inverter too?" I echo that JK owes you a ton. In watching your video, I had originally thought that the 'inverter' BMS could actually float the battery, do absorption etc. but that appears to not be true - it only communicates with the charger to change the charge voltage. This brings about many problems because now you have to make N different chargers work with the BMS. Solar charger controllers, Grid/Wall chargers and Inverter/Chargers most of which won't work out of the box, or at all. (Like the EG4 chargeverter) Plus you have to have cables between all systems, coordinate them etc. Lot's of failure points and complexity. Am I correct that 'floating' the battery means charging it up to it's final voltage (say 3.65V) then reducing voltage to 3.6V and letting it sit there for 6 minutes or so, then stop charging. Wouldn't it be possible, even easy to do this in the BMS itself? Given that all charge and discharge current already goes through the MOSFETs, why not just PWM the FETS to effectively decrease the voltage across the pack. The MOSFETs are like a variable resistance in series with the cells. This way the BMS could do its job managing the battery and would be even less dependent on how how the battery is being charged. Just program the charge source to output 3.65V/cell (or whatever) and cut off if it's higher. Then use the above technique to lower the voltage as needed for charging and floating. You could also implement a buck converter but I think using the existing MOSFETs would work, and it might only be a software change and possibly some capacitors. You might even use this technique to have a wider allowable input voltage range - have the BMS control that, since the MOSFETs are in series with the cells already. MOSFETs in inverters and motor drives are PWM'd all the time, that's how you get a sine wave output. Thoughts?
Hi, was auch noch interessant wäre stimmt der Strom und die Berechnung. Bis zu welchem Wert misst er überhaupt? Bei seplos sind es ja 0,5A und im Winter steht das BMS auf 20% und hat auf einmal unterspannungsalarm.
Hi Andy, thanks again for this video! Quick question: When connecting communication of JK BMS and Victron, I think you are connecting GND aswell? What does happen if the BMS interrupts B-/P-? Isn't then there a Minus-'loop' rsp. connection between Victron Minus and B- through the (very thin...) communication GND? Or is there anywhere anything optically isolated in the communication? Thanks & greetings!
That is up to you. I like the Peter because of the remote access and controls I have down to a cell level. I also like the HA integration and data it stores there for long term monitoring and data collection. If communication and battery data this is not important for you, get the new one as it will be cheaper than the old one + a Peter.
Andi awesome stuff! 😎 Quick question: if you're getting bored of those lifepo4 batteries, do you think you could do some experiments with Na Ion cells? Including some nice Versprecher calling Na Natrium ? 😬
Shunts are usually a lot more accurate than clip-on amp-meters for DC measurement. The clip-on has to use a hall-effect sensor to actually figure out DC amps because there is no AC waveform to induce a current in the clip-on's inductor. That said, as long as you zero the clip-on and don't have too many other wires nearby, it should be more accurate than the difference you saw with that many amps going through it.
Yes indeed, the old jk (I'm using an 8s in a 12v config) is too low at low current and to high at high current.. I'm just following my 500A Victron shunt as 'true'. But in this inverter style JK bms you rely on the jk shunt. Hopefully it's giving an okay value when calibrated. Something to test there Andy😎
Great video. What about the issue with communication and the related protocols and ports? As mentioned in former videos. I am for the last days on 14.07, but as far as my brief test went I couldn't change the protocols back (they were locked) and beside RS232 I got basically no com at all. Hope the new FW fixes that.
JK if your reading this, How about a cut down version of this product that only retains the cell balance/monitoring functions and the dry contacts to control Inverter / Mppt. No need to run the load/charge through the BMS.
15:49 At this point, Battery (55.2v) has higher voltage than SCC (53.6V). Once the inverter draws current, it will draw from the battery for a few seconds. Then BMS will instruct SCC to bring up the charging voltage to 55.2v. This causes SOC to rapidly fluctuates between 100% and 99%. Personally I'd use float only on UPS where the battery is mostly on standby, but not on ESS where it goes from charge and discharge in minutes.
It won't do that. It will charge to 55.2V and keep the voltage there for the time you have set in the timer. Then, the BMS will instruct to lower the voltage to 53.6V and stay there for the time you have set. This last timer (Time RFV) usually sits on 6, 8 or 10h). There is no recharge to 55.2V for that day.
@@OffGridGarageAustralia Assume real world install: Battery with this JK bms, 5KW solar panels and SCC (that is compatible with this JK) and Inverter (Victron, Deye) with 1KW constant load all running on a sunny day. Circa 12PM, Battery reached 55.2V; by 1PM JK sent float voltage (53.6v) request to SCC (as intended). Where will Inverter draw power from? a) Battery, because at this exact instance Battery is 55.2V while SCC is sending 53.6V b) SCC, because somehow 53.6V is higher than 55.2V (you know this is not possible) In my experience, Inverter will draw from Battery, causing battery SOC to drop below 100% for a few seconds, triggering SCC to charge back to 55.2V rinse repeat every few minutes.
@@DanBurgaudthat's exactly what I have noticed as well in my newly built system. I couldn't explain why because I thought the system should act like Andy was telling us. Thanks for your explanation, it makes sense
I would use the Peter. That is cheaper than buying two of the new BMS. The Peter has additional features and full remote access but you miss out on the relay function of the new BMS.
Merci pour cette bonne nouvelle maintenant la perfection ce serait la communication de 2 bms jk sur le cerbo mais ça me semble beaucoup plus difficile, je croises les doigts.
Hey Andy, is there a video on how to make the rs485 cable for applying this FW update? Or got any docs other than the one on your website, it doesn't say what pins connect to where on the rj45 port of the inverter
Pin1 A, Pin2 B, Pin3 is GND on the communication board. My USB Adapter has Pin1 GND, Pin3 A and Pin5 B, so I just made an adapter. You need to know the pinout of your adapter. I can connect on all 3 RS485 ports.
Hi Andy, I was looking at buying the JK you show in this video. I clicked your link and it takes me ato a bunch of options. What is the best one for a home battery setup? I am looking to use a Victron MPii 5k, at first and then adding in a second one down the road for split phase. My assumption is to just order a 200amp BMS, but is it needed?
Hey Andy, I am in the market for a BMS for a battery to connect to a Mutiplus II 48/5000 this one seems ideal. But why can't this logic be built into Venus and have it tell the Multiplus what to do? As long as the BMS reports the individual cell voltage to Venus I can't see why not.
Another awesome video and it's clear now that the new JK BMS or an older JK BMS+Peter board really are a one stop solution for DIYers in an affordable price range. One question I still have is. Has anyone worked out a way to access and be able to change BMS parameters via a remote platform using Wifi or is it still just bluetooth for changing the settings?
Thank you very much for all these fantastic videos! I have a Jakiper JK48V100PRO 48V 100Ah battery, and due to space constraints, I need to position it vertically (with the display facing upward and not forward). Do you think there could be any issues? Thanks.
Great Video, one question, in Version 10 of the JK-B2A24S20P BMS when you turn on Balance at the top status area it shows Balance On all the time. But in the newer model HW/SW v11.xx even if Balance is toggled on it shows OFF. I believe it only shows Balance on when it is balancing. Can you please confirm. Thanks
Hi Andy, have you tried the home assistant add on called Batmon to monitor all your bms via Bluetooth no cables or special hardeware needed it reads the bms via ble Bluetooth and can even write some info back sorry if you have covered this before, Have 🎉 a SPAT on me bud and keep up the entertaining show it my favourite even the wife watches it with no interest in solar 😅
Hello Andy. I have been watching ur series on the micro inverters and i thought it was great. I was thinking of getting a wood boiler with an attached stirling engine that produces around 600-1000watts of power while the boiler heats my off grid home. Now i was thinking it should be possible to hook it up in the same way as an micro inverter , back feeding the micro grid so to say, this is just an idea i have at the moment but logically thinking it should be the same right... Anyways great content as always :)
Nice! Just wondering. The BMS will change the voltage to the RCV or RFV values in your inverter (charger) as indicated. What if you have more than one BMS? Or do you just set it up in one of your BMS's? apologies if you already covered this and I missed it.
The first (master) bms is the master. Only this bms send the data to inverter/mppt (CVL and CCL/DCL) Donesnt matter what voltage is set on other bms’s. (CCL/DCL limit is sum. for all set of limits - 1st bms 100A, 2nd bms 100A >> to inverter send 200A. If the master is lost connection from other bms’s, its goes down to 100A.) So, the master bms adjust the voltage limits (bulk/float).
Thumbs up for this great research and that you keep pushing Jikong! But how do you install new firmware? I have the PC software and a USB-RS485 Adaptor. Fully disconnected the BMS first, then use the inverter port and tried device address 0 and 1, but cannot connect. Same with the other ports. Maybe wrong pinout on the RJ45 connector?
Fixed it. Just built an adaptor to get the correct pinout and then I could update the firmware. BUT: There are still many problems with the actual V14.13 firmware! - the BMS looses all it´s settings when you switch it off and it goes to LiPo settings. So you have to set all the settings again and can never switch the BMS off! - SOC reading is wrong. With 3.275V the BMS shows 33% remaining capacity when the capacity is 40Ah. When I set the capacity to 304Ah, suddenly the BMS shows 64% remaining capacity. Shouldn´t it just look at the cell voltage? The rest seems to work, but loosing it´s settings and putting wrong values in, is an absolute no-go! Just imagine charging your LiFePo4 to 4.2V!!! And I have 3 of those BMSs and a total of 48 Eve304 cells.
I would love to see two things: 1. Have the option to inverse the relays. So it will open on action so we can hook up a battery protect to disconnect loads when the battery soc gets too low. 2. For the float, set it so that if it drops below a certain voltage, rebulk (this may be an option).
Well, the relays will have only limited current they can switch, so you will have to connect another larger contactor and can reverse that if you need to. Yep, float voltage off-set will work as well. That's what Victron does...
@@OffGridGarageAustralia Example would be a Victron Battery Protect with the relay for DC loads in an RV. It draws milliamps so I would think the relay would be able to hand. However the Battery Protect requires the relay to be closed in order to operate. I could wire up another relay to do the inverting of the logic, but would be nice if they could build it into their software.
Andy, I use Midnite Classic charge controllers for charging my cells, they use an RS485 communications protocol. Do you know if there will be 3rd party support with these JK BMS software to control them or ones similar?
Andy, I went directly from 14.03 to 14.17. No matter what you do, you cannot enter the same values without error as you have on this video. Main issue seems that if you set up CELL OVP to example 3.65 you cannot set CELL OVPR to 3.6. It needs to be lower than VOL.CELL.RCV, SOC-100% or it will output an error. Is this normal?! Would really be good if there would be sumup of your inverter bms setup, there are current so much videos regarding the topic, it's pretty hard to catch up. Still I'm confused why OVPR needs to be lower than RCV etc?!
This company owes you big time not only for your research and development but for sales. You actually show us and answer the questions we are going to have.... When you look at how many people "listen:" to you ...100 per hour at this point.... you make the best professor at the best university look like he has no influence as you touch so many more people that are actually listening.... you have changed my life and many others. I live RURAL Canada... Starlink and Lithium batteries have changed my world entirly. thanks for sharing
Thank YOU for sharing and you kind words and comment.
That is the main goal of this channel, to trigger people to start their own projects. And RUclips is perfect for that. Honestly, I would do all these tests anyway just for my own sake but am so happy that other people get inspired.
Thank you.
agreed..! at the least, new products for testing from JK (of course for free in exchange )😉
@@OffGridGarageAustralia Andy Is it possible that the BMS cannot set the voltage to which the battery should be discharged? is there only protection voltage?
@@Lertem444 not sure what exactly you mean. The BMS has an under voltage protection but this is not how far the battery normally should be discharged.
@@OffGridGarageAustralia Yes, this is a problem, the inverter does not know to what voltage it can discharge, it is only based on the soc. It's a pity that it doesn't limit the discharge current to 0 if one cell has a lower voltage.
If there would be a Nobel-prize for solar, Andy would be a serious candidate…
Thank you for your amazing work !
👏👏👏
Thanks a lot for your kind words!
Thanks for your tireless lobbying of JKBMS to make a better product for us all Andy :)
Not currently in the market for a BMS but when I do need a new one I now know which one to get :)
Thanks a lot for your support! Sorry, just saw this right now.
I never ever thought that everything major would work - this is really amazing!!!
THX for all your effort on this Andy! 🐸
Andy, is my Sunshine! Thank you Off Grid Garage for all your hard work.
Thank you. Happy to shar the good news.
Hello Andy,
a truly great job. You have tested so many BM systems and have always encountered the same problems. I can still remember when you started with the Seplos BM systems because someone told you that it would control your inverter. I would never have thought it possible that JK would do this now. You also played a part in this through your work. JK probably wouldn't be talking to you like this if you didn't have this range. Congratulations on the 75,000 subscribers. You've really earned it. All the best for you in the future and I look forward to the next instalment on JK BMS. If only it had been 1.5 years earlier. Many thanks and best wishes to Australia from Germany.
P.s. Send some sunshine over. It's just sad here.
Thanks a lot for all your great comments and support, my friend. I appreciate you kind words.
It took us quite a while to get to this point, but a firm stand, and a great community have finally led to this success.
Hello Andy I understand the 75k.
You are a genius, an amazing knowledge.
I'm from Castelnaudary, the town of the Cassoulet.
I understand why peoples are watching ypur videos and why manufacturers are looking for you. You are professor who teaches us.
Thank you for all your help and work to let us just buy and use without testing.
Thanks a lot
William
Great work on this Andy!! Thanks for all you have done for the DIY community. I would love to see a review on the pool cleaner. I have seen your pool cleaner and cordless tools in the background for over a year now and I always wondered what products you would recommend or not recommend. I look forward to what you come up with for 2024. Happy holidays!
Andy you're doing such a great work testing and explaining this stuff. It is really nice to watch your videos!
AS ALWAYS, Thanks Andy. Awesome as usual. Stay cool! Your work is priceless for lots of people around the world, and so much appreciated.
(We’re really into a heat wave now, however A/C is keeping us cool thankfully! 😅 Even the pool is no longer refreshing- more like warm soup.)
Thanks a lot, Dave. Same here, everything you touch is hot!
Wow. The balancer on that BMS rocks. You managed to capture the magical balance zone on video where the voltages diverge, and the current starts to drop. You can even see a bit of the franken cell behavior, where the highest cell switches as we approach the balance zone:
The just before balance zone:
@9:47/53.44V/11.2A cell4 = 3.332V and cell 16=3.346V (-14mV)
Enter the zone (note the franken switch of high cell- a grade A cell would not do that I assume):
@11:57/55.06V/11.2A cell4=3.489V cell16=3.417V (+72mV)
WELL DONE!!
One commemt; The 'old' jk (I'm using an 8s in a 12v config) shows amps too low at low current and to high at high current.. I'm just following my 500A Victron shunt as 'true'.
But in this inverter style JK bms you rely on the jk shunt. Hopefully it's giving an okay value when calibrated. Something to test there Andy😎
Opening an icecold S.P.A.T in the even colder Netherlands. Closing in to our shortest day, your longest and we cycle again.
Cheers!!🍻🍻🍻
Genialllll J'attendais ça avec impatience ❤️ Parfait !!! 🎉 Vivement la fin du test dans la prochaine vidéo.
-------------
Genialllll I've been looking forward to this ❤️ Nice work 🙏😄 Perfect!!!! 🎉 Can't wait for the end of the test in the next video. 😊
I bought 3 of them !!! 😊 last week !
RS485 setup for firmware update - cat 5 pinout jk uses wires 7 and 8 - can only set uart to jk protocol if dips are set to 0 - communication only works if dips are set to 1 - thanks Andy for your time and effort!
I'm about to check this.... wish luck - I'm at wits end.
It's professional explanation, useful to me
Thanks for the feedback.
Thanks for the hard work Andy. Just contributed another $20 us to your beer fund. Thanks again.
Thanks!
Thank you very much for your support! Just found this...
Very informative video. Thank you very much Andy. They fix the firmware, I'm knew it. Whatever I'm ordered the third JK BMS. Because of you Andy :) Because you always making the good knowledge for us. Thank you Andy!!
Aaandyyyyy!!! You got it... You had them working their buts off and deliver almost everything they promised.
It has been sometime since one episode got me this excited. These are great news!
Finally they start to understand, and beteeeer... Listening, and reacted really fast actually.
Let's see the communication part with several bms's, and how you controll them and the master/slave etc ..
Greeeeaaat work from JK and our guru working together!
Best regards from cold Madrid - Spain
And it would be nice to explain the pinout of the RJ45 RS485 / CAN and which cable you use in the next video.
You did it ... congratulations. 👍 Now make them add some Home Assistant integration.
Hey Andy, you said at minute 18:22 I don't want to spend.... Huh! Every time I watch one of your videos I see you in the Garage.
Hi Andy, And thank you again for this video and the previous one about the JK BMS.
Well apparently it succeeded!
We can say JK team we work really well, it's very good!
For all this time, multiple BMS on the market still have defects in their program?
Hopefully others will follow this way.
In any case, thank you again Andy, your videos are always great and with very good explanations.😉👍
Vielen Dank Andy! Hatte mit dem Kauf noch gewartet aber nun kann ich beruhigt ordern^^
Great video, great test, great results. What a great Andy. We were waiting for these results from weeks, jk are up to Andy's challenge. What else can we ask jk to modify or add? Thank you for the efforts you are making Andy. 🙏🌹❤️
Mulțumim!
Thanks a lot for your support.
Hi Andy, as usual a great video i would like very much also to see a comparison/review on features on old jk and new jk bms with Peter board dbus serial driver (L.v.d.Walt )as these features are very much the same . Kinda keen to see the comparisons Anyways Great work
That BMS is looking great? Sounds like they thought of everything!
Cool pool cleaner too!
I have 3x PB2A16S20P with firmware V14.13 and all of them loose their settings when they are switched off with the button! With the previous firmware (V14.03) they all kept their settings, so this is definitely a bug in the new firmware. SOC calculation is also wrong, because it shouldn´t change when you change the overall capacity.
At least all the other functions seem to work (as long as you don´t push the button and the BMS goes back to LiPo settings!!!). Nice work!
is it fixed now?
Thank you very much Andy you are the best!
One question please have you plugged your communications cables like you did in the last video ?
(it's to upgrade my firmware on the JK BMS)
I can't communicate with the BMS at this time..
USB-RJ45 adapter on the bms's communication board but i don't know what COM PORT Number to choose...
i tried many ports with no success
Thank you very much for your generous support.
I'm testing this parallel setup right now and am in contact with JK to solve some further 'challenges'. Unfortunately, there is no documentation about all that...
It looks good. Hope to have my pack built over xmas and the new BMS configured. Firmware update required. With that many options now available in the settings Im going to have to keep referring back to this video for the base settings config. You better do a write up as well Andy. I'll be suffering from memory loss every three minutes.
Hello Andy! Thanks for your very informative video's! I have ordered two of the new inverter BMS'es for my DIY battery build. Do you have any information on the voltage that is supplied by the dry contacts / Relay? Could I power a 12V fan with it for instance?
That was great Andy! Thanks for the considered testing. On another note: I'm going to have to turn you in to the SPCRL (Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Robotic Lawnmowers) as we all know that's what that poor thing really was..
Great review Andy, I have a JK Bms on the way + a Peter for our 100ah Jaki looking forward to your results 👌🇦🇺
Excellent. Excellent, Thank You
Great video again. Suggestion - Compare features of new Jk with old JK and Peter board as well as old JK with dBus serial driver ( Louis vd Walt ), These three option are all very similar in features offered. Would be interesting to see a review of all three.
Andy you are by far THE BEST ONE. An other impressive presentation...
As always, awesome informative video!
Andy, have you checked the CAN bus connection of the Raspberry Pi + CAN HAT with the new JKBMS? As far as I can see, you have tested it here with the Cerbo GX only.
Many thanks for your support for such a large community!
As always another great Video. So I bought two back in October when you first spoke of them, I have installed onto my battery, and after this video decided to give the CAN bus a go....have waisted a lot of time attempting and I am starting to think I have broken unit. Just want to confirm the connections. Cerbo End, Pin3 GND, P7 CAN H, P8 CAN L, at the JK BMS END, P7 GND, P5 CAN H and Pin 4 CAN L. if this is correct then my BMS has coms issues. I Upgraded firmware to 14.13 after watching your video and also noticed if you power cycle the BMS, it looses all settings, another poster here made the same comment. Cheers Andy great work.
All working, Turns out the JK-BMS manual with the wiring diagram is wrong. Used the Jakiper Battery CAN cable and it worked immediately. Cerbo could only see one battery with dip sw set to Add 1 & 2 respectively. Found one Dip needs to be set to 0. the second battery is then 1. The PC software cant directly connect to a battery with Add 0, however connects to the battery add 1, then under the parallel tool you can select a battery with address 0. So all in all working, both JKBMSsss reporting to Victron via a single Can Bus lead, just using the battery to battery RS485 link as would expect. Perfect. Thanks Andy for pushing JK to make the perfect BMS...Next I might try getting the Jakiper to talk to the JK using pylon tech instead of Victron proticol. Victron reads Pylon natively I believe. That would be good to have 2 diff brand BMS all talking and reporting through single CAN cable...job for tomorrow
24hrs has elapsed and there is a glitch in the matrix. Any Hints or others experienced this. After being connected and working in parallel for a while, the slave stops reporting to the master. As such the Victron Cerbo only showes half the charge current going into the battery, the rest is unaccounted for. Doesnt seem to effect the system as the master slave naturally balance out anyway. The way I have fixed it is to go into the PC software and select parallel tab and talk to both through the master and it resets the coms. On the App status screen there is a "PCL Module: OFF" status, I have been talking to Helen at JKBMS and she says this needs to be on. But cant tell me as yet (last 30 min) how to do this. Any one else found out what to do here?
now this is the of the best inverter BMS, the programable dry contact finally is here and it is without the need of trigger by alarm, that's just amazing, i always want that function. JK just need to brush up their LCD graphic design (JBD doing very good in LCD graphic design)
Well done top, job can’t wait to build my new cases now.
Thank you. Yeah, it looks really good and seems to work without issues so far.
Thank you andy my eve batteries are about to arrive.. and ill just order the JK after you do the parallel testing .. so please do it in the next video.
Coz i need to parallel 16S 280 with another 16S 280ah batteries .. so would need two sets of batteries woth 2 bms that needs to communicate.. else my installation will get delayed.
I cant thank you enough. You saved my bucks where i was going to opt for Neey balancer separately with seplos.. but this one has now xhanged my mind to.99 % i will be 100% sure after you have the parallel comms. In between two batteies
Regarding the slow charge at the end of the charge cycle: you DO need such a feature, since if you’re charging to 57.6V (which is the typical setting for most 48V nominal LFPs), then the highest cells will shoot up too suddenly and the BMS will trigger an OVP, even while the charging is ramping down.
Then, there is something wrong with your pack or too balancing.
A good, balanced pack should have no trouble charging to over 3.6V without triggering anything.
@@OffGridGarageAustraliathe same thing happened to you Andy, when you raised the voltage of your batteries. No passive-balancer BMS can cope with a full current charge, no matter how good the cells. And you know that very well.
great job Andy
Thanks for the great content Andy! I have a suggestion for future offgrid garage content: i cannot seem to get the victron ev charger to throttle down the charge amperage. It keeps charging at full power. Would it be possivle to explain your setup? Would be very interesting.
In a world of such negativity
It's so good to find a positive entity!
Good stuff!
I think I have just found my BMS! - However, discount code does not seem valid and they are not releasing until Jan 31? (Scored a LEAF 24KW that had degraded to 60% (15KW) for less than the BMS.) Would like to see an episode that ponders the best battery size for a particular set of panels.
Seems to be out of stock? Wow, they sold out fast. You can pre-order. I'll get the discount code extended...
The battery and solar panel size need to match in some aspect. I'll put the video suggestion on my list. Thank you.
Nice ! Own jk and im love it . What’s the current limit of this dry contact relay ?
well Done!😊
Thank you.
Just a quick comment on the 100% SOC reset function: The method deployed here resets to 100% when a voltage is hit. That is so much better than the HV disconnect reset I found on lots of BMS’s. You have your own improvements on this but one improvement would be to also check the current: only reset if the current is less than some threshold -say 1A would do and cover 99% of the cases. A further improvement would be a current less than some threshold for a given time: say 1 minute.
Voltage > 3.45V
With current < 1A
For at least 1 minute
That would be on my wish list for any of my BMS’s…..
And then if they could release an FW update to their older BMS's everyone would be happy.
I seem to have an issue with 100% reset triggered at really low SOC. Its caused by a sudden peak in amps by sun coming out. Is there any way to work around that?
Thanks Andy
Reposting my comment from solardiy forum.
Perhaps it is only WORKING "as intended & expected" for Victron system or Victron BMS protocol. BEWARE!!!
I have the same JK Inverter BMS with firmware 14.13........and all "charge float mode etc" doesn't seem to work with my Growatt SPF 6000 ES Plus.
I am using Growatt RS485 BMS protocol (Tested with Growatt CAN BMS protocol too, no luck).
Whenever one of my cell hit SOC-100% Volt (V) value which I set at 3.5V [With Cell OVP 3.65V, Cell OVPR 3.6V, Vol Cell RFV 3.35V and Vol. Cell RCV 3.45V], my Growatt SPF 6000 basically stop charging the battery. It doesn't even go into absorption and float mode. The charging simply stopped whenever SOC-100% Volt (V) value is reached by one of my cell. There isn't much time available for my Neey 10A balancer to works its magic,. For unknown reason, the growatt will start to charge the battery again to 100% if the JK-BMS SOC is down to 95%. I thought the JKBMS supposed to have full control over the charging mechanism?
In the practise test video, even though the cell voltage hit SOC-100% Volt (V), it appears that your system still continue to charge unlike mine.
Toggling the "Charging Float Mode" on and off doesn't do anything in my case.
I even tested with short RCV Time and RFV Time of 6 minutes simlar to the video for verification and no luck either.
@OffGridGarageAustralia, is it possible for you to test other BMS protocols? I got a feeling JK only pay special attention to the Victron protocol and not others BMS protocol.
Thumbs up in hopes that Andy does see this post.
Thanks for sharing this here.
I have tested the Victron and also Pylontec protocol successfully with my system.
I have noticed in your settings, that you have set RCV lower than SOC-100%. That is not going to work and also makes no sense from a charge logic perspective.
Try the following:
OVP: 3.65V
OVPR: 3.6V
RCV: 3.45V
SOC-100%: 3.449V
RFV: 3.35V
If you set your Growatt inverter to Pylon protocol, is there a difference?
Let me know...
Interested if the above suggestions from Andy worked on Growatt.
@@OffGridGarageAustralia Finally the sun shine through after several days of rain and cloudy day. Unfortunately, no luck, I set the Growatt inverter to CAN L52 (for Pylontech) and JKBMS to use Plyontech CAN protocol. Both inverter and bms seems to communicate with each other. The JKBMS "countinued discharge current" value affects Growatt Program 02 Maximum Charging Current. Sadly, it exhibits the same issue with Pylontech protocol even with your recommended settings. The moment any cell hit SOC 100% Volt value, the inverter stopped charging the battery and doesn't go into float at all. At this stage, I tried to turn on and off "Charging Float Mode" and see if it can triggger my inverter to charge again, yet no charging occured.
I retried again with Growatt CAN protocol and same thing happened. The charging stopped immediately the moment JKBMS reported 100% to Growatt inverter.
I'm completely stumped. Note: JKBMS firmware updated to 14.14
I am not sure which one is at fault here. Growatt inverter or JKBMS? Perhaps JK can configure its BMS to instruct Growatt inverter not to stop charging the moment it send SOC 100% signal or resume charging at float voltage?
@@AshleyL-.-L Thanks for sharing and your feedback.
It seems the Growatt stops charging once the BMS reports 100% SOC, regardless of the battery voltage. I guess, it is a Growatt problem but also a JK problem.
The JK should not show 100% at a single cell voltage. I will discuss this with JK and get this changed in the next update. It should go to 100% when we change to Float mode, so after the RCV is reached and RCV timer has run out. Then, the battery is fully charged!
Please do me a favour and go to their website www.jkbms.net/contact-us and send them an email to Vincent with the details of your finding and testing. I will follow this up with them to get the 100%SOC trigger changed.
I just realised that you aren't using both screw terminals on the BMS for the battery cables. I always thought we had to connect to both terminals on both sides?
Hi Andy. Great Vlog. Any chance you can test the relay contacts in a bit more depth? It would be great to see how they work for voltage alarms and current alarms as well as the temperature you tested. Can multiple triggers for the same relay be set or is it just one for each contact? If multiple per relay contact then this would be great for turning off alternators in campers and boats to save them from BMS disconnects.
Each relay can have only one trigger, selected from the menu.
They basically work the same way. So choosing Over Current, you set the point where you want the relay to close and open. Each trigger option has always a value for on and off.
Andy great video went to your website, but it doesn't give the model number. I'm assuming it is the JkPB2A1620P, correct me if im wrong
Well, they have 4 different models. When you click on the AliExpress link, you can choose which one you want to buy.
I know you will love this Andy. Daly has a new design, not sure if the circuity and programming was updated.
I've got this new BMS here for a while but no further instructions🤷♂️ It is still red, at least the one I have here...
Apparently, it also has cloud connectivity and comes with a Wifi dongle now, instead of BT.
Still unsure what is new...
🐸🐸🐸🐸 I think I will have to order one in after Xmas Andy .This might be the way to go for my setup.
This is extremely encouraging and shoes how quick progress can be when working in with the right end-user for engineering input and testing. But beyond this model, has there been any indication about JK flowing all this progress back into the lower voltage/lower current BMSs in their range,to suit boats etc?
Looks like some great upgrades! Getting into the Batrium Range of BMS!!
Function wise, yes... just not with the high price tag.
@@OffGridGarageAustralia Very True!😆
Hi Andy,
Di you get the same value when measuring the Voltage on the Batterie terminals and on the Batteriebox terminals?
My voltahe on the batterie terminals is 52.7V and on the eel terminals 48,6V. 🤔
Danke Andy. Where did you connect the Temp Sens? Are they part of the order?
Yes they are included in the balancer loom.
Hi Andy, These are obviously designed to go inside a server rack style battery case.
For those of us using D.I.Y battery shelves can you request they make one with its own IP rated protective case? Preferably heatsink Aluuuuminum but anything to keep dust and bugs out will do.
We could 3d print a case for the BMS but not everybody has such toys.
Thanks for your hard graft Andy.
Gaz 🏴
That will be very difficult. All batteries and electronics need to go into some sort of case or protection, either together or separately.
Even they would build such a case, how do you handle all the other connections outside of this BMS?
So, if you keep the BMS close to the battery and enclose the battery in a shelf for example, it should be safe enough.
And a case with aluminium heatsink will cost money again. People already complain about $100 for a Peter Board...
@@OffGridGarageAustralia Hi mate.
I think it is daft they have removed some of their market by selling a naked unprotected BMS. Just a simple case will do, yes there will be a premium but at least it will be protected from dust and bugs.
I would like 2 and I though the price would be alot higher than it is. But not unprotected. I have spent thousands of pounds so far I wouldn't complain about the extra price for a protective case..
My Daly wins this one lol, the thing is indestructible 🤣🤣🤣
@@OffGridGarageAustralia Just a follow on side note, my battery shelf will not be hermetically sealed. I will eventually be using louvered doors to allow cooling air flow.
Cheers buddy
@@garys-half-baked-offgrid-dream It does not need to be sealed but as long as nothing can be touched or you accidentally drop a tool on the connections, that is all good.
@@OffGridGarageAustralia But Wild Pygmy Haggis Puppies can get in there and then it will be game over lol
Shine on you Crazy Diamond.
Gaz
Hey Andy, Does that pool cleaner get out of the pool before it goes flat? Or do you have to get in to collect it?
Once the battery gets to 10%, it parks itself at a sidewall and I get it out. Takes 5s...
Great stuff. This is the real deal!
Yeah, looks really good!
Hi Andy can you recommend a DIY battery box that will accommodate the new JK... one with a switch/breaker?
Uhh, that's a tough question, I would have no idea. It depends on the size of your batteries, I guess. If it is for a 12V system, these cases usually have enough space inside to host all components.
I have the Seplos Mason (without a breaker/switch) but I don't have your level of expertise/confidence to give it a go... FYI firmware v14.14 is embedded in new shipping JK's
@@ppi57Ah, the Mason, OK, the BMS swap is a bit more complicated here because of the dimensions and difference in communication boards between the two BMS.
Yeah, V14.14 ist out for the BMS. It only adds another supported inverter apparently.
I found one! EEL has a box made for the new JK
Incredible video. I learned a lot. Without your videos, I couldn't figure out the difference between the older BMS and this newer one called the 'inverter' BMS. I thought "does it have an inverter too?" I echo that JK owes you a ton.
In watching your video, I had originally thought that the 'inverter' BMS could actually float the battery, do absorption etc. but that appears to not be true - it only communicates with the charger to change the charge voltage. This brings about many problems because now you have to make N different chargers work with the BMS. Solar charger controllers, Grid/Wall chargers and Inverter/Chargers most of which won't work out of the box, or at all. (Like the EG4 chargeverter) Plus you have to have cables between all systems, coordinate them etc. Lot's of failure points and complexity.
Am I correct that 'floating' the battery means charging it up to it's final voltage (say 3.65V) then reducing voltage to 3.6V and letting it sit there for 6 minutes or so, then stop charging. Wouldn't it be possible, even easy to do this in the BMS itself? Given that all charge and discharge current already goes through the MOSFETs, why not just PWM the FETS to effectively decrease the voltage across the pack. The MOSFETs are like a variable resistance in series with the cells. This way the BMS could do its job managing the battery and would be even less dependent on how how the battery is being charged. Just program the charge source to output 3.65V/cell (or whatever) and cut off if it's higher. Then use the above technique to lower the voltage as needed for charging and floating. You could also implement a buck converter but I think using the existing MOSFETs would work, and it might only be a software change and possibly some capacitors. You might even use this technique to have a wider allowable input voltage range - have the BMS control that, since the MOSFETs are in series with the cells already. MOSFETs in inverters and motor drives are PWM'd all the time, that's how you get a sine wave output.
Thoughts?
Hi, was auch noch interessant wäre stimmt der Strom und die Berechnung. Bis zu welchem Wert misst er überhaupt? Bei seplos sind es ja 0,5A und im Winter steht das BMS auf 20% und hat auf einmal unterspannungsalarm.
Yes, testing is underway...
Hi Andy, thanks again for this video! Quick question: When connecting communication of JK BMS and Victron, I think you are connecting GND aswell? What does happen if the BMS interrupts B-/P-? Isn't then there a Minus-'loop' rsp. connection between Victron Minus and B- through the (very thin...) communication GND? Or is there anywhere anything optically isolated in the communication? Thanks & greetings!
So with a couple of DIY 280 batteries, which is the way to go? Old JK BMS with the Peter, or new style JK?
That is up to you. I like the Peter because of the remote access and controls I have down to a cell level. I also like the HA integration and data it stores there for long term monitoring and data collection.
If communication and battery data this is not important for you, get the new one as it will be cheaper than the old one + a Peter.
Andi awesome stuff! 😎
Quick question: if you're getting bored of those lifepo4 batteries, do you think you could do some experiments with Na Ion cells? Including some nice Versprecher calling Na Natrium ? 😬
I've got Natrium batteries here. Just need to find some time...
of course
Good afternoon. Is there a video on your channel about the process of pairing or connecting two JKBMS JK_PB2A16S20P boards?
Shunts are usually a lot more accurate than clip-on amp-meters for DC measurement. The clip-on has to use a hall-effect sensor to actually figure out DC amps because there is no AC waveform to induce a current in the clip-on's inductor. That said, as long as you zero the clip-on and don't have too many other wires nearby, it should be more accurate than the difference you saw with that many amps going through it.
thats true ,but this bms has got bad out of the box calibration voltage and current.
Yes indeed, the old jk (I'm using an 8s in a 12v config) is too low at low current and to high at high current.. I'm just following my 500A Victron shunt as 'true'.
But in this inverter style JK bms you rely on the jk shunt. Hopefully it's giving an okay value when calibrated. Something to test there Andy😎
Great video.
What about the issue with communication and the related protocols and ports? As mentioned in former videos. I am for the last days on 14.07, but as far as my brief test went I couldn't change the protocols back (they were locked) and beside RS232 I got basically no com at all. Hope the new FW fixes that.
Do you have you working RS232(RJ11) port on new JK-BMS?
Can you provide more details and screenshots?
JK if your reading this, How about a cut down version of this product that only retains the cell balance/monitoring functions and the dry contacts to control Inverter / Mppt. No need to run the load/charge through the BMS.
15:49 At this point, Battery (55.2v) has higher voltage than SCC (53.6V). Once the inverter draws current, it will draw from the battery for a few seconds. Then BMS will instruct SCC to bring up the charging voltage to 55.2v. This causes SOC to rapidly fluctuates between 100% and 99%.
Personally I'd use float only on UPS where the battery is mostly on standby, but not on ESS where it goes from charge and discharge in minutes.
It won't do that. It will charge to 55.2V and keep the voltage there for the time you have set in the timer. Then, the BMS will instruct to lower the voltage to 53.6V and stay there for the time you have set. This last timer (Time RFV) usually sits on 6, 8 or 10h). There is no recharge to 55.2V for that day.
@@OffGridGarageAustralia Assume real world install: Battery with this JK bms, 5KW solar panels and SCC (that is compatible with this JK) and Inverter (Victron, Deye) with 1KW constant load all running on a sunny day.
Circa 12PM, Battery reached 55.2V; by 1PM JK sent float voltage (53.6v) request to SCC (as intended). Where will Inverter draw power from?
a) Battery, because at this exact instance Battery is 55.2V while SCC is sending 53.6V
b) SCC, because somehow 53.6V is higher than 55.2V (you know this is not possible)
In my experience, Inverter will draw from Battery, causing battery SOC to drop below 100% for a few seconds, triggering SCC to charge back to 55.2V rinse repeat every few minutes.
@@DanBurgaudthat's exactly what I have noticed as well in my newly built system. I couldn't explain why because I thought the system should act like Andy was telling us. Thanks for your explanation, it makes sense
Brilliant work Andy. I have 2x old JKs. Am I better to up grade to new JKs or go with the Peter boards?
I would use the Peter. That is cheaper than buying two of the new BMS. The Peter has additional features and full remote access but you miss out on the relay function of the new BMS.
@@OffGridGarageAustralia @eocallaghan Don't think that is correct, two new BMS are cheaper than 2 peter boards and better.
Merci pour cette bonne nouvelle maintenant la perfection ce serait la communication de 2 bms jk sur le cerbo mais ça me semble beaucoup plus difficile, je croises les doigts.
So Andy, whats next after finding, or better creating, the holy grail bms for lifepo4 batteries?
We're not done yet, still need to explore and test the parallel setup.
Got like 10 years worth of projects and videos coming 😄
Hey Andy, is there a video on how to make the rs485 cable for applying this FW update? Or got any docs other than the one on your website, it doesn't say what pins connect to where on the rj45 port of the inverter
Pin1 A, Pin2 B, Pin3 is GND on the communication board. My USB Adapter has Pin1 GND, Pin3 A and Pin5 B, so I just made an adapter. You need to know the pinout of your adapter. I can connect on all 3 RS485 ports.
Why is there a larger B+ wire on the bms - isn't this the same metal as the B16?
Hi Andy, I was looking at buying the JK you show in this video. I clicked your link and it takes me ato a bunch of options. What is the best one for a home battery setup? I am looking to use a Victron MPii 5k, at first and then adding in a second one down the road for split phase. My assumption is to just order a 200amp BMS, but is it needed?
Hey Andy, I am in the market for a BMS for a battery to connect to a Mutiplus II 48/5000 this one seems ideal. But why can't this logic be built into Venus and have it tell the Multiplus what to do? As long as the BMS reports the individual cell voltage to Venus I can't see why not.
👏👏👏
Another awesome video and it's clear now that the new JK BMS or an older JK BMS+Peter board really are a one stop solution for DIYers in an affordable price range. One question I still have is. Has anyone worked out a way to access and be able to change BMS parameters via a remote platform using Wifi or is it still just bluetooth for changing the settings?
Thank you very much for all these fantastic videos! I have a Jakiper JK48V100PRO 48V 100Ah battery, and due to space constraints, I need to position it vertically (with the display facing upward and not forward). Do you think there could be any issues? Thanks.
Do you need float mode for lifepo4? Whats the best charge mode/plan?
Is it still switching the negative polarity?
Great Video, one question, in Version 10 of the JK-B2A24S20P BMS when you turn on Balance at the top status area it shows Balance On all the time. But in the newer model HW/SW v11.xx even if Balance is toggled on it shows OFF. I believe it only shows Balance on when it is balancing. Can you please confirm. Thanks
Hi Andy, have you tried the home assistant add on called Batmon to monitor all your bms via Bluetooth no cables or special hardeware needed it reads the bms via ble Bluetooth and can even write some info back sorry if you have covered this before, Have 🎉 a SPAT on me bud and keep up the entertaining show it my favourite even the wife watches it with no interest in solar 😅
Hello Andy. I have been watching ur series on the micro inverters and i thought it was great. I was thinking of getting a wood boiler with an attached stirling engine that produces around 600-1000watts of power while the boiler heats my off grid home. Now i was thinking it should be possible to hook it up in the same way as an micro inverter , back feeding the micro grid so to say, this is just an idea i have at the moment but logically thinking it should be the same right... Anyways great content as always :)
Nice!
Just wondering. The BMS will change the voltage to the RCV or RFV values in your inverter (charger) as indicated. What if you have more than one BMS? Or do you just set it up in one of your BMS's? apologies if you already covered this and I missed it.
The first (master) bms is the master. Only this bms send the data to inverter/mppt (CVL and CCL/DCL)
Donesnt matter what voltage is set on other bms’s.
(CCL/DCL limit is sum. for all set of limits
- 1st bms 100A, 2nd bms 100A >> to inverter send 200A.
If the master is lost connection from other bms’s, its goes down to 100A.)
So, the master bms adjust the voltage limits (bulk/float).
Correct, the master will be sending all aggregated info to the inverter. It will be in one of the next videos.
Thumbs up for this great research and that you keep pushing Jikong! But how do you install new firmware? I have the PC software and a USB-RS485 Adaptor. Fully disconnected the BMS first, then use the inverter port and tried device address 0 and 1, but cannot connect. Same with the other ports. Maybe wrong pinout on the RJ45 connector?
Fixed it. Just built an adaptor to get the correct pinout and then I could update the firmware. BUT: There are still many problems with the actual V14.13 firmware!
- the BMS looses all it´s settings when you switch it off and it goes to LiPo settings. So you have to set all the settings again and can never switch the BMS off!
- SOC reading is wrong. With 3.275V the BMS shows 33% remaining capacity when the capacity is 40Ah. When I set the capacity to 304Ah, suddenly the BMS shows 64% remaining capacity. Shouldn´t it just look at the cell voltage?
The rest seems to work, but loosing it´s settings and putting wrong values in, is an absolute no-go! Just imagine charging your LiFePo4 to 4.2V!!! And I have 3 of those BMSs and a total of 48 Eve304 cells.
@@stephanklasen2928How do I make this adapter?
Do you have a link to an image or video?
I'd be interested as well. I have multiple rs485 cables, rj45 to usb, and no dice.
Tried several different baud rates on the port too.
I would love to see two things:
1. Have the option to inverse the relays. So it will open on action so we can hook up a battery protect to disconnect loads when the battery soc gets too low.
2. For the float, set it so that if it drops below a certain voltage, rebulk (this may be an option).
Well, the relays will have only limited current they can switch, so you will have to connect another larger contactor and can reverse that if you need to.
Yep, float voltage off-set will work as well. That's what Victron does...
@@OffGridGarageAustralia Example would be a Victron Battery Protect with the relay for DC loads in an RV. It draws milliamps so I would think the relay would be able to hand. However the Battery Protect requires the relay to be closed in order to operate. I could wire up another relay to do the inverting of the logic, but would be nice if they could build it into their software.
Andy, I use Midnite Classic charge controllers for charging my cells, they use an RS485 communications protocol. Do you know if there will be 3rd party support with these JK BMS software to control them or ones similar?
How much it costa and did it have active balancer?
Does the BMS connect directly to a Victron MPPT controller via CAN or do you have to use a Cerbo GX?
Hello Andy, can you help me decide with the jk BMS for a 8s battery. Also if it's good to have 1A or 2A balancer. I'm charging using less than 100A
We need a bit more info:
- how many batteries do you have?
- do you want inverter communication?
- what's the system voltage?
- how do you charge?
Are these only for 48V? The Alibaba listings in your links show them as being 8S-16S but also state 48V in the listing title.
They are 8s-16s, so 24V and 48V systems.
When Australia is hot, how hot does your batteries get (as reported by the BMS's temp probes)?
In my case, my cells get as much as ~8⁰C above ambient.
I can see 40°C in my battery shelf in summer for the really hot days.
We will sort this out soon...
Andy, I went directly from 14.03 to 14.17. No matter what you do, you cannot enter the same values without error as you have on this video. Main issue seems that if you set up CELL OVP to example 3.65 you cannot set CELL OVPR to 3.6. It needs to be lower than VOL.CELL.RCV, SOC-100% or it will output an error. Is this normal?!
Would really be good if there would be sumup of your inverter bms setup, there are current so much videos regarding the topic, it's pretty hard to catch up. Still I'm confused why OVPR needs to be lower than RCV etc?!