# what do you think about this 16S BMS?



## frodus (Apr 12, 2008)

As long as you don't want to go over 60A, it'l be just fine.


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## pgt400 (Jul 12, 2008)

Thats the older Signalab BMS. The new one is SMD and has LED's for when each channel goes into shunt balance. I've used the newer one for close to a year now, works great (close to 100 cycles). Don't worry about the current rating, if you need to exceed it, just bypass the shunt and output FETs (B- to P-)....let your controller limit the max current. Very important to balance all your cells first with say a single cell charger, as the shunt is low current and it could take a long time to get inital balance otherwise.


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## frodus (Apr 12, 2008)

pgt400 said:


> Thats the older Signalab BMS. The new one is SMD and has LED's for when each channel goes into shunt balance. I've used the newer one for close to a year now, works great (close to 100 cycles). Don't worry about the current rating, if you need to exceed it, just bypass the shunt and output FETs (B- to P-)....let your controller limit the max current. Very important to balance all your cells first with say a single cell charger, as the shunt is low current and it could take a long time to get inital balance otherwise.


PGT is right, but I will add this..... if you DO need to exceed that 60A limit, you should use a relay on the power out pin so that it can disable the controller for cell level LVC. Otherwise its just a balancer and offers no protection whatsoever.

+1 on the equalizing before you charge, I've seen too many people NOT do that.


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## miernik (Nov 28, 2009)

Wow, I found an excellent page with a whole lot of other options, probably many know it, but posting so it is known to anyone who stumbles upon this thread:

http://liionbms.com/php/bms_options.php

Now I will have to spend another week or two analyzing which BMS option is the best for me...

I think I'd like something which will record all parameters (voltages, currents, Ah in/out) of each cell all the time, so I have complete history how I used my battery. And accurate "fuel gauge". Wonder if there is anything like that there that will not ruin my budget. Well, maybe I just hack something with Arduino anyway...


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