I don’t see why that wouldn’t work. Seems like a great solution.
That’s kind of strange. On ES I remember someone actually measured, and polling the BT module was taking most of the current. Different people measured different patterns of drain though, so it’s at least somewhat firmware version dependent.
I have a python/influxdb/grafana thing running on a rpi3 that graphs cell and pack voltages over time…
Man, it’s like if we’re discussing electric cars. Then you come in and go:
- I wonder why anyone hasn’t mentioned Ford Mustang yet.
- Is that an electric car?
- I don’t know but here’s where you can find more information about it…
I understand that the first post is a bit long to read but please at least read the thread title before making a comment.
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How do you get them to balance like that? I never see my balancing parts flash up or anything like that.
I don’t know how much power it drains but I think it shouldn’t be that much? It does drain power over time because the Bluetooth is just always on, even when the board is off, but with such huge battery the drain should be minimal though.
If read the whole thread. I thought the D596 is a smart BMS. Sorry for bothering.
Check out the balance settings above, pro version app
Maybe possible with a pc connector and the windows app but I quickly gave up on it
I have an issue with my bms, it got stuck at this page when I try to open it.
It does recognize the Bluetooth module, and the charger seems to be able to charge it. (Battery)
But it won’t load bms data.
I was using the bms normally, checking my battery% until suddenly it stopped working.
And from then, connection attempts had been made in vain :/.
I’ve tried to disconnect the Bluetooth module, reconnecting it, nothing seems wrong on it. I’ve also went to disconnect the BMS from the battery but nothing got fixed, still stuck at the same page while trying to load the bms app.
Anyone could help?
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Could be a bad RX or TX wire or some damage on the BT module.
Can you somehow verify that the UART on the BMS is still working? Could be done with an Arduino and a few lines of code.
Oops, I think I just shorted that with my flipsky receiver ._. …
It touched the bluetooth receiver’s antenna and a spark came out of it.
This has happened once before on my power button a really long time ago, but it kept working well, just a part of the antenna got ripped off.
Now it isn’t being detectable with my phone, so… rip?
FU** I think I shored my remote’s receiver too… the wheels aren’t responding to it’s input now…
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Thank you for this wonderful write up @janpom!
I am considering to go BMS-free on all my future builds and am trying to decide whether to use an external smart BMS with an extra display or to use two balance chargers. The latter would be simpler to set up and pass on (if I sold a board).
This balance charger sounds too good to be true:
https://fpvfrenzy.com/isdt-smart-charger-review/
Does anyone have experience with it?
Btw, is there a way to power the two chargers from one PSU, maybe with a diode?
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With two balance chargers you will either want to break the series on the battery pack or use independent power sources for the chargers. Otherwise you may very well short out the battery over the common ground.
One thing to consider is that connecting two balance chargers is a bit tedious and it gets annoying over time.
I suggest that you wait a bit for the FlexiBMS and use it either with DAVEGA or Metr (or both :)). Chances are that once you try that setup, you’ll immediately abandon all your balance charger ideas. 
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Do you mean as an internal setup?
Yes, internal. The FlexiBMS is very small. Adding a big connector for the balance leads for an external setup may very well add more weight to the board than a FlexiBMS.
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As an intermediary solution:
Is this BMS identical to the one you use externally?
I would like to built something similar to your setup.
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Yes, that’s the one.
I’m actually reworking my board and I may no longer have any use for my external charger. Let me know if it could of any use to you. It has some shortcomings but addressing them would still be much less work than starting from scratch.
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You could get a 12s balance charger like the ultra power charger for external balancing.
Than you don’t need two 6s balance charger and also no need to break the 12s pack up into 2x 6s each time you want to charge.
The ultra power charger is around 180-250$ so a brick charger with smart bms and display definitely would come cheaper, but also doesn’t have that much of a balance current.
Edit: nice write up @janpom 
why I have seen this only now 
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