# emus bms config



## jacksdad (Apr 13, 2015)

We have had a couple of interesting days after a very helpful conversation with emus engineers they were very surprised about us having a cell module on each battery with the pairs in parallel this was confusing the bms as for the bms and modules it is like having two cell modules on a single cell.




To clarify we had the lower setup but have now swapped to the upper.











I'm interested in anyones view as to the various advantages and disadvantages I was persuaded that because the parallel jointing of two cell modules to each other across a pair of cells with fixed voltage when both these modules start bypassing current it could get difficult if these were unbalanced. It sounds also like the BMS was not going to be easily configured like this.

So we removed half our cell modules and then setup. We had a loose connection on one of the wires between cell modules and this was easily spotted during config if we turned the lighgts off you can see where in the series the green leds stop lighting up so we could find the fault.



With this fixed tomorrow we will attempt to set up the elcon charger and run through the rest of the bms confuguration


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## jacksdad (Apr 13, 2015)

Real progress today fixed the connector fault in the lead between 2 battery rows its really awkward and quite scary working on the rear batteries under the chassis member difficult to get tools in and keep dropping bolts that nearly short across batteries all very nerve racking but finally all sorted. 

We then started entering parameters this was very straightforward and seemed to all make sense we noticed that some parameters are sense checked against each other e.g the fully charged voltage (we set to 3.5) was a key variable which meant others like the overvoltage protection voltage could not be less that 1 v above this and will revert to its original value so you need to enter the parameters in the correct order. 

Once we had done this we then plugged in the charger can bus and contactor control for the elcon charger but not the HV leads and turned the charger on - the BMS immediately detected the can charger and as the average voltages where 3.28 (not bad after 3 years in storage) it started main charging mode asking for 8 amps and turning on the contactor but as we hadn't connected the HV no charging happened but we were happy the CAN connection worked automaticallly. We then connected the HV from the charger and it all started out fine however when the current approached 8amps and went a little over the BMS turned off the charger i think this is because the BMS current senso was measuring a higher current than the bms was producing so the bms turned off the charger as it was detecting 8.6 amps although the charger was only giving 8 amps - not sure exactly but when we set the charger current to 7 amps all was well so this i guess needs some fettling to get the maximum acceptable current. The BMS has an odd way of taking current parameters some are in amps and some as % of 1C which is a bit confusing but i think we worked it out. We then set the charger going for a hour or so loading up 7 or 8 amp hours and raising the voltage by about 1 volt. We don't want a fully charged battery pack as we will likely be storing the batteries again shortly as once we have everything up and running we need a final taking everything of the car for the final setup. 

So everything worked very well in the end the only residual problem is that we cant seem to be able to update the cell group module firmware - but not a huge issue the display works fine.

Here are some pictures.











Hope people find this useful if anyone has a any questions post here and i will answer as best i can. EMUS have been really helpful with their responses. 

I think in conclusion the combination of calb 72ah cam batteries and emus BMS with its specific cell module designed for these and elcon charger seems to work well.


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## gmills (Feb 26, 2017)

jacksdad said:


> I have been setting up my EMUS BMS and have had a few issues but i am slowly fixing these i thought i would share my experience for people doing this in the future i suspect a lot of people are aware of a lot of these things but hopefully could be helpful.
> 
> So being eternal optimists we plugged in the laptop and connected it to the usb port connected to usb+ usb- and 12v/earth - absolutely nothing happened no hardware discovered on the laptop - we have usb C connectors on my pc and no old style USB ports the first problem was the usb lead only had power no data so was a charging only lead so lesson no 1 was to make sure the USB lead u are using carries data - clue was the lead was very thin and had no screening.
> 
> ...


I have just started to configure my BMS with an ElCon charger and I cannot get the BMS to find the CGM's. I am running to strings of cell modules with 24 cells on each string.
Does anyone know of an individual that can discuss this on the phone while running the config software?


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## jacksdad (Apr 13, 2015)

Hi I can help u I’m in uk but happy to speak to you on the phone just a few questions 

when u connect your pc what happens exactly ?? do you have the correct firmware loaded up inthe BMS there is a specific download forthe Elcon charger ?

when u try to load the CGM’s what happens do u see the led’s flash on the cell modules (helps to turn the lights off) I found I had not crimped some of my jelly connectors and so some Did not work. does it find some cells but then fails the processing ??


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## djbills (Apr 7, 2010)

I connect to my EMUS brain over bluetooth instead of USB, and it works really well and is really convenient. I do remember plugging in the USB a couple of times early on and not caring for it - BT is the way to go if you have it on the laptop doing the programming.
I generally find it's a great system and I don't have any problems other than temp sensor drift over time, which is an easy recalibration every so often. Was pretty much plug and play at the time (3-4 years ago) with an Elcon charger + Thundersky batteries. Never have had any issues.
I may go Orion for my other conversion once I get into it's upgrade, just because they've sorted out Chademo. But I do really like the EMUS and have no complaints! Kind of wish I could test the Orion first to make sure I like it as much! I also found the EMUS folks very responsive to a couple of install issues. I still need to get the app working on my iphone, but it works well with an old Android tablet and might just be a Bluetooth issue on the iPhone side.


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## jacksdad (Apr 13, 2015)

That's cool have u got it working now ?? I have never really managed to get the BT connection to work properly i think by module was very old. Did you update the firmware over bluetooth?


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## djbills (Apr 7, 2010)

Yes bluetooth is working great for me. I do think I've updated the firmware once or twice over BT but I have to admit I haven't updated in a while - I'm more of an "ain't broke don't fix it" type when it comes to firmware, and the EMUS version numbers seem backwards to me + the timestamps/dates are confusing. So I'm staying put. That's an area they could use a little improvement in, but maybe European version control is a bit different from software development over here 'states side, not sure!

If you want to know what version I'm on, or if you'd like to know what version of the bluetooth module I'm using, I can fish it out and have a look? It's been able to connect fine to a couple of different machines, but I usually use a Surface Pro 4.


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## jacksdad (Apr 13, 2015)

the main reason i ask is i think you need a specific firmware version for it to work with the elcon charger 

if you go here


Supporting material | EMUS BMS

and download the latest control unit firmware file there is a separate version for each charger they support when u extract the file then u need to load up the elcon one


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## djbills (Apr 7, 2010)

Oh yeah, my setup is running great aside from what I mentioned, which is probably just a different Bluetooth version on the iPhone. Unless you're talking to the OP.
Just shout out if you have any specific questions or issues. Like I said, can snap a photo of my bluetooth module or find out what firmware version I'm on if helpful to getting it going.


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## gmills (Feb 26, 2017)

jacksdad said:


> Hi I can help u I’m in uk but happy to speak to you on the phone just a few questions
> 
> when u connect your pc what happens exactly ?? do you have the correct firmware loaded up inthe BMS there is a specific download forthe Elcon charger ?
> 
> when u try to load the CGM’s what happens do u see the led’s flash on the cell modules (helps to turn the lights off) I found I had not crimped some of my jelly connectors and so some Did not work. does it find some cells but then fails the processing ??


I dont get any LED's showing. I am not aware of any specific firmware for the ElCon charger, but I will check EMUS support site again. I downloaded the BMS software from the site. All I have loaded from the site is the G1 control panel I don't have any documentation on updating firmware.I notice that they have cell group firmware and control unit firmware available. I'll do some reading and see if I can figure out how to update the software.

Thanks


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## gmills (Feb 26, 2017)

I dont get any LED's showing. I am not aware of any specific firmware for the ElCon charger, but I will check EMUS support site again. I downloaded the BMS software from the site. All I have loaded from the site is the G1 control panel I don't have any documentation on updating firmware.I notice that they have cell group firmware and control unit firmware available. I'll do some reading and see if I can figure out how to update the software.


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## gmills (Feb 26, 2017)

I am using the latest control panel software. when I try to "Discover Devices" it does not find any devices. I am guessing that this tab of the control panel is to find the Group Cell Modules? The problem is the manual is not clear about this.
I plan on rechecking all of my connections on the cell modules. I soldered and heat shrink all cell module connections so I should not have the issues you had with jelly connectors, (whatever those are). Then try again and see what happens. I am also not sure what settings I need to make on the control panel under the battery tab before trying to discover CAN devices. 
Working with EMUS tech to understand the control panel and EMUS G1 user manual.


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## jacksdad (Apr 13, 2015)

Are you sure you can do this with a bluetooth connection i only configued the devices using the USB connection, if the leds on the cell modules are not lighting up when you click discover devices then check the can bus is correct i had swapped hi for low at one connection you can check the can by making sure 60 ohms is across the hi/lo at points through the bus.

With the elcon charger im assuming you have the can adaptor and have loaded the elcon specific firmware for the control unit and flashed this onto the unit - im sure this has to be done with the usb connection


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## jacksdad (Apr 13, 2015)

just also checking you have ticked CAN communication rather than serial in cell communication paramater box on the general tab under config ??


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## gmills (Feb 26, 2017)

I have had no problems with the laptop and using USB to connect to the controller. It has been very reliable. As for the CAN Cell Group Modules, CGM's, I found I had the CGM CAN bus connected to the wrong pins on the BMS controller. Once that was fixed the control panel discovered both CGM's. 
Next problem, When trying to configure the CAN Devices, one CGM sees all 24 cell modules and the other does not. How to diagnose the loss of the cell modules. 
Is it something I am doing on the Control Panel under CAN Devices? or possible wiring of the cell modules.
Any suggestions and I'll put this out on the forum.
Pictures and story of this conversion on Facebook at Electric Peugeot
Thanks


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## gmills (Feb 26, 2017)

jacksdad said:


> just also checking you have ticked CAN communication rather than serial in cell communication paramater box on the general tab under config ??


Yes, checked CAN for cell communication parameters.


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## jacksdad (Apr 13, 2015)

ace - its sounds like when i set this up - step by step the problems get fixed. 

First thing to try is disconnecting the cgm that was found and configured correctly leaving only the cgm that did not configure and see if when you do this it then configures all the cell modules attached to this CGM. If not then there is likely a can issue to this cgm or a dry solder etc - you could then try the other cgm with these cell modules to see if its the CGM that is not working.

If the cgm does configure on its own then there is a conflict between the two CGM's i had this because i had two cell modules on each parrallel pair of batteries - what is your exact configuration of batteries ??


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## gmills (Feb 26, 2017)

Good idea, I'll try that. I have 48 cells in single series for a total of 144 volt system. the CAN CGM's each manage 24 cell monitors each on one half of the battery pack. So, not in parallel but in single series. EMUS recommends setting up the configuration in a way that the serial numbers of the CAN group modules would be sorted in ascending order. They go on to state that the cell of the most negative potential in the string will be displayed as the first cell on the left. This does not make much sense since I cannot see the cells, only the group module. Anyway, not sure how much that matters in trying to get the control panel to see all the cells.


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## jacksdad (Apr 13, 2015)

gmills said:


> Good idea, I'll try that. I have 48 cells in single series for a total of 144 volt system. the CAN CGM's each manage 24 cell monitors each on one half of the battery pack. So, not in parallel but in single series. EMUS recommends setting up the configuration in a way that the serial numbers of the CAN group modules would be sorted in ascending order. They go on to state that the cell of the most negative potential in the string will be displayed as the first cell on the left. This does not make much sense since I cannot see the cells, only the group module. Anyway, not sure how much that matters in trying to get the control panel to see all the cells.


That's really similar to me i have 48 cells in series with each cell as 2 batteries in parallel in two separate series strings of 32 and 16. I think from what you say there must be a dodgy connection in your cell modules in the CAM modules i had you could follow the voltage up on the up down wires to check the connections or u have a knackered CGM


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## gmills (Feb 26, 2017)

I am adding Molex Micro fit connectors to the CGM's so I can remove them and or swap them. 
Will let you know what I find.


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## gmills (Feb 26, 2017)

Found the problem, EMUS support thought I had too long a wire from the CGM in the rear of the vehicle to the battery pack in the front of the vehicle. When I tested a long test wire with known good battery pack cell monitors it worked fine. Found the first cell monitor on the front battery pack was at fault. 
Any suggestions on using the Toyota Prius throttle with the Curtis 1329E controller?


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## @Man (Mar 18, 2021)

Hey Guys!! Please help!!
We have been using BMS system for our Electric car Accumulator. 
But we are not able to get the information from our battery pack. The software shows the following error( please see picture below). We also tried changing chip( cell module).
Also, just to let you know our BMS system used to work before a month, and it used to show all the details about the battery cell. Also, our cell module used to blink green.
But when we tried back again few days ago, only two out of ten our cell banks blinked. The first two cell modules blink in the third cell bank but thats it. The rest of the banks do not blink. We tried replacing the third cell module in that third bank, but that did not fix anything. Thank you!!


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## gmills (Feb 26, 2017)

@man, I am having a similar problem. I had the system working and updated my firmware on the controller, now I cannot get one string of cell monitors to be read by the Cell Group Monitor. I have replaced cell modules and the cell modules I am purchasing are different than the original ones. Has anyone had problems with mixing old and new style cell monitors?
I have replaced CGM's and the controller to the latest versions and still cannot get the first CGM to see any cells but I see the first 12 cell monitors blink green of the first string of 24 cell monitors and when I try configuring the CGM's the first CGM does not see any cell monitors.


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