I have a few users that reported this issue since last week. I’m investigating what could cause this to suddently happen. I don’t know if it is related to a lack of heat transfer of some users particular setup or if it is related to the XLITE hardware, maybe even due to ESD. All V3 are not exactly the same, I’m gradually improving every month or so and some parts and circuitry have changed along the process for various reasons.It is some kind of continuous improvement. Each board is labeled with a year+month on the silkscreen
The beta firmware seems to work well on my side, but it is still a very recent change. Is your XLITE still able to turn the charge process OFF went you disable charging? I’m curious to know if it has overheated to a point where the mosfets are just bare conductors.
@ENNOID it definitely started acting strange, but it was working flawlessly for 2 months inside the battery box, so I would rather exclude ESD (also I am using nitrite gloves while handling electronics). It’s installed in the box on the 3D printed frame I designed, so it’s not rubbing or touching the box with any of the PCB components, so it leaves some space for the air to circulate around the components. Usually it was not heating up more than 60-65C when charged with 4 or 5A charger.
Indeed I don’t think Disallow Charing button has any affect, but I noticed “I In” is not really showing correct values - oscilating or much lower or close to 0, but the battery is charging cause it’s reflected by increasing SoC and V Tot.
It’s Xlite-20-v3 2022-12
Then, for your particular case, it looks like it got damaged somehow over time. PM me if you need assistance with this. Yes, wearing nitrile gloves is one thing that many user seems to neglect and get this particular issue from the start.
Overtemp protection for cells works since XLITE-V1 when using external thermistors, but overtemp protection for the board itself is a new feature recently added. The on-board humidity/temp sensor was simply not present oin the original XLITE-V1.
Finally I was able to replace the faulty unit. I am testing beta3 firmware and can confirm that temperature thresholds works. Thank you! I have tested few other things and noticed that “maximum charging current allowed” is not working - it should disable charging, right? Might be useful for board builders that want to limit charging current for end customers.
I also noticed that in beta3 BMS cannot transition from External to Charging OPSTATE and I am sure that was not the case in stable version.
In general I am bit confused about the transition between the states for our use case - xlite connected to VESC via CAN with 5V. Power button (or in my build antispark switch) is powering on and off VESC.
In that setup when VESC is turned on then even if OPSTATE transitions to power off BMS stays turned on and luckily transfers the data through CAN. (NOTE: currently it’s not coded yet, but eventually we want to react on lowest cell voltage / pack temperature, etc. and gently force user to stop as just cutting the power off is not an option for balancing devices).
I am not fully sure if everything works as we expect when BMS is in Power Off State. Example would be Beeping on low cell voltage or overtemp.
And just to clarify - I am using External Operation State set as External Enable OPState. I don’t think setting External Operation State to Normal works for our use case as I am not able to configure not used current threshold + timeout so that BMS stays turned on when I do ride break and keep VESC on and in the same time BMS turns itself off immediately or fast enough after turning the VESC off.
I am not even sure if Power Off state makes any sense when BMS is powered on via CAN 5V anyway.
I know that’s not a priority as probably nobody, but me uses external display, but I would love to see all voltages and charging current with a bigger font instead of charging icon. Having voltage and low/high cell voltage on the screen when not charring would be also nice - in External OpMode it’s showing just EXT
External mode is not meant to be used with the XLITE at all…not even available on VESC-TOOL either for that same reason.
I discourage using anything else than VESC-tool for configuring as well.
Max charging current works well with a CAN bus charger such as TC or delta Q as explained in the ENNOID-BMS app parameter help section
There is also no change related to external mode between stable version and beta 3.
The fault code, buzzer, LED works the same way in power off op_state.
Related to the small display, it has some nice functionalities already, but yes it could be further improved. I don’t know if many people are using it. I admit it is quite convenient when you don’t have your phone with you and you want to know the status of your pack. I could likely skip the animation and simply use a single interface for all op_state. The problem is that you need the power button connected for switching between displayed values otherwise the displayed datas does not fit in or are very small
I’m doing a new pull request in the VESC-Tool repo today.
I hope that my proposed changes will be accepted and we will soon see those changes into the main VESC-Tool.
I added some info into the BMS tab for op_state and fault_code:
Hi, I just purchased the XLITE-V3 and connected all the inputs, its a 24s system. Also I connected (and tested for 5V) the CAN-bus from my VESC (3Shul CL700V4), LCD and PowerButton
the issue
VESC tool does not see the XLITE-V3 (but the 3Shul-ESC), no indicator lights are on.
The balance-LED will blink shortly when I connect inputs.
According to user-guide, I disconnected all inputs and measured resistance between 3.3V &
GND pin. Reading: 100Kohm
unit will not react on any Power-Button action (short or long press)
The Charger is a Kelly KCG9615DX, combined Charger/DC-DC
This charger seems to have a feature, or is it a bug called “No-Load-protection” it will switch off all power if not connected to battery.
I tested also to connect the battery directly to charger by unplugging the XT30s and connecting them directly (ths bypassing XLITE). In this case, the chrager starts up, the ESC powers up, CANenableInput/5V is present at CANbus from ESC, and then the balancing LED on XLITE is on, next to it another LED is blinking low and very fast
But still no POWER LED on XLITE .
VESC tool will not see XLITE over CAN, however it connects to 3Shul ESC w/o issues
Questions:
How can I test if the unit is faulty?
Does the 100Kohm reading say its faulty?
Is it the charger’s “No-Load-protection” feature that prevents the XLITE from powering up?
The charger “no load protection” is very likely the source of the problem. The XLITE needs a voltage on the charge input to get awakened, ortherwise it will stay in shutdown. Stay away from kelly charger, I only had very bad comments about it.
Your xlite is surely not faulty. There is a fuse on the xlite next to the battery xt30 connector that can blow up if it is somehow abused/misused.
Doing a video of your setup would be helpful.
Connecting CAN 5V should awaken the xlite too, in a similar way, connecting a standard charger to it will do.
As the pinout diagram shows, balance and xt30 must be plugged-in in order to get the xlite operating.
thank you very much for the fast reply!
I will post a video asap. All that is mounted on a E-Moto based on a Suzi GSX-R, QS 273 Hub, 8Kw, so I do need the DC-DC for the 12V circuit.
I did measure if there’s is 5V present at the CAN enable input, VESC tool connects w/o issues to my ESC.
Isn’t there a way to force wake up the XLITE? Button is not working neither
I dont want to trash the kelly, it has been working nicely for some time now and I like the DC-DC feature in it, saving me another unit. And I dont have the $$$ to buy another charger.
However, I asked at Kelly support if that “No-Load-protection” feature can be deactivated somehow.
so you dont think that I somehow bricked the XLITE?
I’d say that I followed all safety instructions on the UserGuide including the nitrile gloves; however I must admit, that I made one small mistake: I tried to plug the 13-24 balancing plug the other way round, it made contact and I had a very small spark there, before I realized that the plug will not fit this way
If that fuse would be blown, how would that look like? To me the fuse looks healthy, no smoke traces around.
m
ok, fuse is dead. whatsoever, shit happens
can I solder an external fuse on it, it seems too tiny to replace it, but I think I could solder litz wire and connect an external fuse holder. what amperage should that fuse have?
It is a 0.75A 1206 SMD sized fuse. Quite big an easy to solder for someone with some skills, but still difficult to do if you never did this. Don’t bypass the fuse, it is for your safety, you might burn something else if you bypass it. Something else might be damaged, be careful, otherwise, you can send the board back for repair & inspection.
thank you for the photo.
I soldered a new fuse on the board, but when I connected as expalined in the pinout, some other stuff blew out. I am no electronic engineer, just a fairly skilled DIY guy, so plz dont blame me for beeing a dummy.
I guess, there was something like a precharge current on the batts, cause it blew through when I connected the batts.
anyway. that has been a pricey adventure and a day spent installing a housing&soldering all the connectors. I dont have the $$$ to risk another try. …guess I must revert to cheap China ANT-BMS, three for the price of your board. kinda sucks that I cant control it over the VESC, but it worked fine so far, allthough the so called english ANT software is partly on chinese, but thats the way it is if you are just a dummy cheers, m
Likely that some other electronic stuff is now damaged by initially reverse plugging balance cables. I cannot do anything about it from an engineering point of view. There is no BMS or ESC that can handle reverse polarity as far as I know. It can likely be repaired, like swapping a balance IC or the MCU for a new one would likely do the trick.
m’enfin! dont get me wrong here, i dont blame your product. I did not plug reverse polarity (C0-C12), but the second plug C13-C24, so , yes it might have had too much voltage on 13.
What I dont understand, is that precharge current that was present when I plugged the Battery connector, I think this overvolateg did blow it. How can one “discharge” that before plugging the battery to the PCB ?
For environmental reasons I’d rather dont want to send that parcel around the world again. you may want to consider to offer me a smile price for a new unit. that would save one way. thx again.
The environment is totally fine. Believe me, propaganda is damn strong here too, but is pure bullshit, I just don’t fall for it anymore.
I can send a new xlite later this week for free.
Inrush current is quite normal and usually increase with voltage level. On the xlite, precharge is usually not required unless you have long/inductive cables. I test all of my boards at 84V hot-plugging and never had any issue.
To reduce the inrush current, I suggest to discharge your 24S battery a bit prior to plugging-in the xt30 battery power cable to avoid any potential issue. The xlite has been tested for hot-plugging at 100.4V without problems, but the regulator IC is rated 120V absolute, so a failure is possible under certain circumstances or if some other components are already damaged/shorted on the board.
You’ll have problem charging at 15A with the kelly charger unless you cool down the xlite. You are warned.
wow, thats a nice move, bigup! If you send it please PM me, I would love to pay the shipping and have to provide another adress as I will be out of town until nov, 4.
I printed a case for the xlite with a small fan on top that will start if charger is active. Would you suggest to add a heatsink? If yes, where would you put it? underneath?
[about climate change, we may have to discuss in another thread I guess. One thing I can see with my own eyes: the creek where I used to built barrages in my childhood, is dry since several years. My son cant play the same games I have played 30 years ago.]
salut, m
Pffft look at this guy, he thinks the “eNvIroNmEnT” is real. Wake up sheeple, weather is just what happens when the turtle our disk earth sits on gets indigestion, and yet every year we insist on feeding The Great Reptile more and more dorritos. Smh
called “No-Load-protection” it will switch off all power if not connected to battery.