This is advanced user BMS! Not a plug n play system. You add temp sensors, mppt and whatever you want, calibrate it, program it etc. If you don't like something, change it. It's open source. Table of contents: 2:30 Turning it on 3:01 Modifying the Settings for your Battery 4:37 Shunt Installation 7:48 Shunt Parameters Explained 9:00 Modifying a LV2424 to work with SBMS 10:19 Modifying Inverter Control settings on the SBMS 12:47 Data logging and further discussion This video is geared for advanced users, but a "beginner friendly SBMS setup video" is in the works. I ran into quite a few problems with setting it up,and figured that this video of me troubleshooting each problem would be useful for some of you. Once I understand all of the settings, I will make a fast paced, concise setup video. Let me know what you think :) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ *Does off-grid solar confuse you?* Check out my DIY friendly website for solar system blueprints and product recommendations, and so much more! www.mobile-solarpower.com *Join our DIY solar community* #1 largest solar forum on the internet for beginners and professionals alike: www.diysolarforum.com *Check out my free book* Best-selling and beginner-friendly guide to 12V off-grid solar! www.mobile-solarpower.com/the-book.html ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ *My Favorite Online Stores for DIY Solar Products:* *Current Connected* My favorite USA Distributor! Best Prices for EG4, Victron, Solar Panels and high quality components. Fantastic customer support and fast shipping: currentconnected.com/?ref=wp *WattCycle* My favorite 12V budget battery!: www.wattcycle.com/?ref=aaezwkkc *Epoch Batteries* My favorite high-quality 12V battery: www.epochbatteries.com/products/12v-460ah-lifepo4-battery-ip67-heated-bluetooth-victron-comms?rfsn=7352625.50494d *Watts247* Need international shipping for large batteries and big inverters? Check them out! watts247.com/?wpam_id=3 *Rich Solar* Budget 12V Inverters and MPPT: richsolar.com/?ref=h-cvbzfahsek *Battery Hookup* Cheap used lithium cell deals: bit.ly/2mIxSqt 5% off code: diysolar *Contact Information:* I am NOT available for personal solar system consult! If you wish to contact me, this is my direct email: williamprowsediysolar@gmail.com Join the forum at diysolarforum.com/ if you wish to hang out with myself and others and talk about solar *FTC Disclosure Statement and Disclaimers:* Every video includes paid promotion or sponsorship. Some links on this youtube channel may be affiliate links. We may get paid if you buy something or take an action after clicking one of these. My videos are for educational purposes only. Information is subject to change/update at any time. Electricity is DANGEROUS and can kill. Be smart and use common sense :) DIY Solar Power with Will Prowse is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, An affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.com
hey what connectors did you get for the balance wires? What size mm^2 or AWG? I need to connect mine to M6 lugs. Great video, thanks alot Daican also suggested me to run a Victron batteryguard parallel to the inverter. This way you can hook up your DC-DC converters for leds, small fridges or whatever DC gear you have.(oh yea chargers, fuck I have a ton of DC chargers haha)
Let me just say that so much of what was in this video goes completely over my head, and I just keep learning by watching them! Thanks for yet another great video!
I have been following your products for a while and you are doing an awesome job! I am going to build my own system soon and will definitely order some of your products!
Roadsteading Same here. I saw his (ElectroDacus) early video’s and found them very interesting (all of them;). So cool to see Will reviewing one of his products and being enthusiastic about the setup. The real benefit of his system is as you mention the storage of heat which will save you a huge amount of money because youll need a much smaller battery and will still be very comfortable and have plenty of power.
I always appreciate when someone takes the time to integrate lots and lots of documentation into a UI. I've started my first video on hydronic systems and thermal mass management for off grid space, and i've referenced ED's pdf probably 4 times lol
once the dmppt becomes available i might, though i'm resigned to pumping working fluids through solar thermal panels rather than burning off excess PV..... but maaaaybe
ElectroDacus has also explored energy storage in water. Another branch of exploration for Will Prowse might be storage of energy in phase change materials. Basically batteries are great for electricity storage but most energy is used as heat and can be stored in non battery mediums such as water. But the future looks like we will need to have a higher energy dense fluid than water (the current king). There are several out there, it might make for an interesting side project for Will, both as heat storage and cooling storage.
@@fibranijevidra Yeah, unfortunately agree. Will says he's putting together a follow up video. Saw the duration of this one before I started it and thought "no way he's gonna do it justice or make it clear to those who aren't familiar with it already."
@@dhowman Where's a more complete explanation? I have the manuals and while I understand it, Will's video here was super helpful in getting how it would work for me.
I just received mine and I've got it running on my bench with a power supply and a simulated battery using a resistor divider .... I eventually plan on acquiring the new version DSSr20's with built in diversion switching. As you mention, higher voltage strings will require an appropriate charge controller, but if you match your panels to your battery you can run the SSR's straight away. I'm interested in how it manages balancing over time and plan to use my BMS with a Headway 38120 pack. I'm also wanting to integrate with a wind turbine, but the jury is still out on how best to pari with the SBMS... awesome that you reviewed this, and kudos to Dacian, he's a great trove of information and he provides excellent support.
SBMS0 requires two criteria to be met before it starts balancing, a: A voltage difference between cells of 0.01v or greater. b: a charge or discharge current present. This allows balancing through a long range of SOC. The balancing activity is displayed as it is occurring. Use the DSSR20's as isolators/intermediate relays to control the wire signals functions of the wind generator controller, you need a wind gen controller that can be controlled by wire signal, they are out there but not all have that. In the same way the DSSR20's can be used to switch an externally regulated alternator, same principle.
@@bluejeans725 Thanks for the balancing answer... I''ll need to look a little closer at the display to see this in action. Regarding the wind turbine, I've been looking at diversion controllers and other means of disconnecting and/or loading once batteries are recharged. More questions than answers right now, but still working toward that end.
Electrodacus is a solid SBMS. I own a SBMS120, very powerful. The only downside for me is the maximum voltage design, 24Vdc. I started building my own OffGrid system and I wanted to use this SBMS but couldn't use it in 48Vdc application. Very well explained , Will!!!
People do silly stuff so I like to stay in the safe low voltage range that is usually considered to be just 50 or 60V DC and open circuit voltage on 60 and 72 cell panels that you normaly use with an 8s 24V LiFePO4 are already at 40 to 50V DC if you want to go with 48V battery then PV panels open circuit will be in the 80 to 100V range way above low voltage limits.
That is a good point. I cringe at people installing 200voc strings without proper training or equipment. Pwm and 24v pack is a very cost effective and safe setup.
This! this right here, oh my. I am planning a small solar shed build, mostly as a hobby to get my learn on. I've been watching tons of videos and built my own 4s11p 18650 bank in an ammo can. I use that for charging my RC batteries while in the field or device charging when camping. I had been wondering how to charge that and future lithium battery banks from solar. This right here, this is the piece I was looking for, something that will handle the lithium batteries and provide some data logging to feed my inner geek. Now I just need to wrap my head around these Electrodacus products for an order than select a panel and work out the minutia. Thanks for posting dude, this is awesome!
These are designed to outlive 2 or 3 mppt's, if you want more reliability again take the tip Will gave about matching the panels to the batteries so you have a choice to use a more reliable PWM at max efficiency, which brings PWM within a couple % points of the be$t mppts.
Love this video and great product review! It's the first time I have seen a BMS that will do everything I want: monitor individual cell voltages, temperature, overall voltage; send signals to charge and load controllers, and still be easy to use. It make it much easier to integrate a raw LiFePO4 battery bank with off-the-shelf equipment from Victron. Speaking for Victron, I think their gear is more expensive because it is built for the marine industry and has to stand up to high salt environments. There is a substantial additional cost to building in that resistance.
Thanks Will, I sent you an email asking you to make a video about this on June 30 2019, but I don't know if you read it :-) Finally you did it & it will really help me to install my Electrodacus SBMSO now.. especially the small cables & non-victron inverter. I am still preparing my batteries but your video has made me excited & confident to finish the project.
If you use the sbms relay control contacts to switch the inverter on and off, connect it in series with the inverter’s switch rather than parallel. If it’s in parallel, the inverter will stay on if either the switch or the sbms is switching on. If you connect it in series, the inverter will switch off if either is off. BUT - be sure that switch is only a control voltage, not switching main power. Otherwise, you can use the sbms to control a relay that can carry the current.
You should look into using shunt trips to disconnect the battery. They are basically a DC circuit breaker that are tripped by the BMS. Some BMSs (like Batrium) can trigger the shunt trip for many different scenarios to protect your system.
Those can be used using an EXT IOx set as type 5 that has secondary voltage limits in case something fails but inverter remote ON/OFF and DSSR20 are super reliable so if all is installed correctly and tested you will not need that extra level of protection.
@@electrodacus Hi. Please forgive me, I don't have enough technical knowledge to follow what you mean here but could you please clarify something for me? I am planning an off-grid solar power system on an island and am intrigued by your SBMS0, but I had planned to keep most of my loads DC (lights, lake water pump, refrigerator, fans) so that I would not need the AC inverter full time. Do you know of a battery shunt compatible with your SBMS that can also be tripped/disconnected via the same signal as your EXT IO3 sends to an inverter. Low temp or low voltage disconnect, if I have a lot of DC loads, needs something like this, yes?
@@BenjaminRies It is a good idea to have most loads DC that is how my house is also wired. You should look for a Victron BP-65 fairly inexpensive and that will be able to switch ON or OFF your DC loads. There are also larger units like BP-100 and BP-220 but the BP-65 should be good in most cases all of them are fully compatible with the SBMS0 and you will just be connecting the EXT IO3 signal set as type 2 to the remote ON/OFF port of the BP65 and you can even have multiple BP65 on the same EXT IO3 if you want.
One thing to point out Will, the mistake you made connecting the shunts to the negative side can and will damage the control chip in the SBMS0. This is why the shunts have to be connected to the positive side of the battery before the fuses so the shunts can never change polarity to negative. This is not a BMS for a beginner as it is not plug and play. If you consider this cost less than a Victron BVM712 but does the same plus extra bms, it is a great value.
Very true. I thought it was ruined when I found out it was on the wrong side. This is first shunt I've seen on positive side. I'm glad it was not destroyed.
@@WillProwse It will not get damaged unless you make an additional mistake to connect a breaker in between the battery and shunt and then when you disconnect the shunt you get negative voltages (below battery negative level) that will damage the current shunt amplifiers that have a internal protection diode between the sense input and GND (battery negative) so voltage at current shunts needs to be below battery negative level to get that damaged. The way will installed the shunt's will not have damaged the SBMS0 it just did not worked. It is more expensive to implement battery shunts on the positive side that is why most devices implement on the negative side but I do not like that since I like common negative installations and I do not like to have ground potential shift due to current shunt resistance added on the negative side. DSSR20 are the same they interrupt the positive side not the negative again more expensive as is more complex to do but nicer in my opinion.
I have been told shunts are usually placed on the negative side because electronics are cheaper. In a grounded system, having the shunt on the positive side has the great advantage that the negative bus will actually be at ground potential. With a negative side shunt, there will be a small voltage on the negative bus, based on the load of the system.
After watching all your video's I decided on the Electrodacus a few months ago over the Epever and extra's you were recommending at the time because of the reasons you mention here. You get a charger that can look after your lifepo batteries and handle a huge amount of solar for 1/4 the money in some cases. I have 2000w on my roof and when I find a permanent location I will get another 2000 and put them in the sun and park the truck in the shade :) I have been using mine on a small level while I finish building my truck but so far I'm very happy with it, glad you like it too...Now I just need to work out how to get it working with the shunt to monitor capacity properly.
The best Electrodacus video to date. I would really like to see how the DSSR20 components work. The manuals say that you need a 60 panel to match the 24v batteries, so I'd like to see you talk about that. A really bonus would be to have you setup the diversion circuit for a water heater.
On my third solar system thanks to you. But am still buying pre made cable for the battery and inverter wires. Need to re watch your cable making videos. ( did transition to 24 v thanks to you ) Thank you
There is a slightly cheaper redesined version of these on indiegogo right now (search for electrodacus SBMS). From what I understand (and I'm a noob) the great thing about these is that together with the cheap DSSR20 they are PWM charge controllers if you select your solar panels right. Basically solar panels are amperage limited devices so you don't need MPPT or PWM, they can't deliver more amps than a certain amount. A MPPT controller is more energy efficient but simply adding more panels is cheaper less than MPPT which requires a replacement over it's lifetime. So with this you get BMS and long lasting solar charger in one. Plus you can set up a cheap PV heating system using thermal mass to keep your house warm which is very cheap and works even in Canada if you have enough solar panels. So all in all it's a cheap and long term solution to power and heat your off grid house. Really well thought out once you get what it actually does. So lets say you want to put 14x Solar panels on a 40' container house that would be up to 5kW solar. You'd need 10x DSSR20 which cost you like 400-500€. That plus solar panels plus lifepo4 batteries and an inverter and you're set for like 30 years. Plus you can build a cheap and simple thermal battery into your house. I think that is where an overabundance of PV is useful, 5kW solar panels cost you around 2500€ now and you want to plan for the dark winter months. Hope I didn't get anything wrong lol, I'm still learning. Thanks for the video!
I think I just reached the limit of my gadget understanding. I dig what this BMS does, but it is not MY next project. Thank you Will, you are the best!
Would like to see the whole setup, I am leaning this direction over mppt. It seems like it is extremely flexible and cost effective.... plus, got to love open source! BTW thanks for all the videos.
Great review, Will. Looks like a good BMS. You mentioned it has hi/low temp monitoring and cut-off. Would like to see this tested given all the problems you have seen in this area with other units tested.
The temperature limits work on all SBMS models is just not as useful of a function as you may think. Is good as extra level of protection but if battery is not in a temperature controlled environment then you will need an isolated box with a small heater controlled with a $5 digital temperature controller. Once the battery drops below freezing it will take hours to get back to temperature so battery should be in isolated box and maintained at least at +10C at all times if is not possible to have the battery in a heated room. My battery is next to me right now and that is the best place for the battery to be in. I guess you will be using it in an RV or similar sort of application where you do not have a heated space.
I have the SBMS 100 and the SBMS 120, the SBMS 120 for a future project. The other has been used in an offgrid system for the last 4+ years. I love everything about his stuff.
I am using two SBMS with two Tesla Model S batteries, BMS's allows for very good customization and Electrodacus provides extremely good technical support.
Awesome Will glad you got the SBSM same unit as I have just watched your video I have the setup almost complete just gotta hook up to my solar panels 4/100w wired as a 2p setup.
Dacian builds some incredible equipment. Check out his pick and place machines that build his items. All off grid. Great review. I run a SBMS40 into some leaf cells for curiosity.
I'm trying to remember If I've ever seen you use relays for anything. Any inverter that has a switch can replace the switch with a relay. The same goes for low temp. Any thermostat can be used with a relay to switch off power to the charge controller or with a big enough relay cut PV input to the system. If your BMS or Thermostat can't handle the current of a big relay coil you can gang them, using a tiny reed relay to trigger a larger one.
Everyone complains that relays have high idle consumption, and people seem to prefer fet based switching for solar stuff. I have some SSR on the way, so that might be better. But yeah, I love classic relays. They work great
@@WillProwse Careful. There are lots of fake SSRs on the Chinese market that only have one MOSFET in them and don't meet the standard on the lablel. Control circuit relays can be quite efficient if sized carefully. Using big contactors to switch high amperage does take a fair bit of power.
@@WillProwse The SBMS0 already has a sort of small SSR inside on the EXT IO3, IO4, IO5 and IO6 it is based on the Toshiba TLP187 optoisolator with a 300V DC rating and 50mA max current more than sufficient for all remote ON/OFF ports on inverters and same with the MPP inverter that has less than 10mA current trough that ON/OFF switch (I know as I have an older MPP 2424HS inverter powering my house). So no relay is needed as the build in optopisolator is perfect for the job and only uses 2mA when ON compared to 50 to 100mA even for a small mechanical relay. Bill Kerr, If you refer to having large relay switching OFF the inverter DC input then that is a bad idea and relay most likely will get damaged either remain stuck with soldered contacts or just blow the contacts fully. Relays electromechanical or electronic can not deal with large capacitive loads like inverters and Lithium batteries that have almost no internal resistance so can push out many kA. You seen the spark in this video when Will did forgot to precharge the capacitors.
Will, if you put the EXTIO wires to the inverter switch in series with the switch you keep the SBMS0 control of it And you have a choice of deciding whether the inverter works or not while still only allowing it to work while battery conditions permit. Parallel works but isn't foolproof. I liked your suggestion to put a remote switch in series with the EXTIO wires too because sometimes the inverter isn't always mounted in a convenient to reach place and that brought up the flexibility to use other condition switches to put into the control logic without interfering with the SBMS0. Really good focused review, I enjoyed it.
@@rds0009 You can find shunt anywhere like eBay, Amazon, Aliexpress, Digikey ..... just search for 75mV 200A (just an example not sure what current value you will need for your shunts anything from minimum 10A and max 750A will work) and the two shunts can be different values.
Another great video. I would have liked to see you hook up a meter to the batteries just to confirm the accuracy of the panel. I also like data logging not to obsess over but to monitor usage. A little more information about PC & phone interface software and functionality would have been interesting.
I did that with my Klein meter. I actually filmed that but figured it was too boring to add. And people assume I check the accuracy of all my stuff, or else I will tell you.
Already got mine last week. Get the Wifi module, You can use Tablets to display your charts. My SBMS will be used with 1,200 watts if solar, and 300ah/24v lithium
@@WillProwse your channel is very helpful. Great work buddy. Something I find intriguing is the case design. Most people put their PCBs in aluminum or plastic cases. This guy built the whole thing out of PCB material. It's elegant and beautiful.
Nice vid, in 2019 I had a couple extra SBMS40s, sent an email and messages through messenger to send one your way for free to review and make vids on. Never did get a response.
If you leave your batteries out in the cold where they can't be charged then once they have no charge they can't serve you, but if you keep them close to you where they remain in their happy temperature range, they can serve you without interruption. So no temperature cut out is required in this way that also gives you the most into and out of the battery. An insulated and heated battery box is also an option if your application demands that they be housed externally and subject to freezing temperatures. Another method to disallow charge on a cold or hot temperature is a stand alone temp switch connected in series with the EXTIO wires so you can have an extra set of conditions other than what is in the SBMS0 before charge is allowed, you can have as many external conditions as the application requires and have those conditions relevant to the source the condition applies to. The same applies on the output side, when you think about it, doing it this way makes everything very customisable to the application without over complicating the operation of the SBMS0.
At 15:33 you mention the Victron inverter.... very expensive. Ok, I can agree they're not that cheap. But on the other hand, they're one of the best brands in the world !! So is Mastervolt. I've worked with Victrons that are over 25 years and they still perform excellent ! Also spare parts and support are still available after decades. But then again, who needs spare parts for a Victron ?! They never fail or brake down, even if you abuse them (untill certain limits I guess...). Anyway, a nice video as usual !
It seems many people love Victron equipment that was one of the reason I mention them in my manual and they also have remote ON/OFF for almost all their devices as they also started using lithium and realized remote ON/OFF ports are a good idea.
@@electrodacus Is your BMS compatible with the Victron Venus GX series monitors? I've been designing some off grid remote internet tower power designs that can supply all possible data remotely, and there is very little option for the BMS data without going with Victron batteries.
@@JoelKleppinger The SBMS offers all the info GX can offer so it will not be needed. The new SBMS0 (never version that shown in this video) has client mode for the WiFi and MQTT so can be monitored from anywhere.
Using the DSSR20s' diversion feature to heat water would be great test to see Will. You need to use 2 DSSR20s, 4 60 cell solar panels and 1 resistive immersion heater like Dernords's 36V 1200W element.
First time commenting on your videos. I enjoy watching, great info. The one thing you missed is, low temp cut off... How it works? How to build or set it up?
That thing looks cool. The popular system is soooo expensive, its really painful to even consider. Yeah, I know, what’s safety worth? But does that fact mean we should pay 10,000% markup? Hopefully we see more competition in the market. I love that you get excited when the thing did what it say’s it’ll do. Its a sad reality when something simply doing what it’s advertised to do is exciting 😂
If you do not have smart components directly controllable by the BMS, you can use a contactor (a big relay). Use one for loads, a separate one for charge sources.
Most inverters can be controlled this way directly by SBMS and you can not just add a large contractor on the DC line if is an inverter as that will get damaged even if not at the first connection. It can work if that is just for disconnect at low voltage but no reconnect and then you manually reconnect once you precharged the capacitors. This (discharged battery) should not happen in a well designed system. I did not had my battery empty for the past few years and I only have solar no other backup source for electricity. The DSSR20 are charge sources for PV and they can be of course directly controlled. I will try to avoid any other sources as they will be more expensive than PV by large margins about 10x more for grid energy and 50x more for energy from alternator or other fuel based generator and this are such large differences that should be completely avoided if possible and if cost is important.
@@electrodacus Any examples of using direct 12 and/or 24v if a relay/contactor will not work? I will use solar on boat and likely the batteries will need a cutoff when hitting a low voltage.
@@zzzdgr Are you asking about using 12V or 24V DC appliances ? other than very large DC-DC converters then yes you can use something like the Victron BP65 or the large models even multiple of them and they have remote ON/OFF compatible with SBMS0.
Nice presentation, would have liked to see Wi-Fi or Blutooth communication working. That's what's missing from most products on the market. Also what's up with needing 2 shunts? ZEVA doesn't. Finally, still waiting for a BMS that includes active cell balancing AND network communication in ONE package. Enjoy your channel, keep it up.
One shunt is for battery current and one is for PV charging current this way you can know 3 separate thing instead of just one when using a single current shunt. Say you have 30A coming from PV panels and a load of 40A then you will have the PV shunt measuring 30A that will directly supply the load and the difference of 10A comming from battery will be measured by the battery current shunt so you know PV current 30A the battery current 10A and SBMS can calculate the Load current as 40A With a single current shunt for battery you will only know that 10A is going out of the battery and nothing else and while that is good enough to calculate the battery SOC is much nicer to know also the PV current and the Load current and have 3 separate energy counters to know exactly how much energy you used and how much of the load was supplied directly from PV and how much from battery. An extra current shunt is just $10 and I think is worth the cost for all the extra info you can get but you can also use the SBMS0 just with the battery current shunt but you will miss a lot of extra information so I recommend using both shunts. All those devices that use a single current shunt only care about the battery so they have much less information available and you need to install extra meters to get more details about the system. With SBMS0 you do not need any other meters as it will measure everything.
My bad. I am using an AC coupled system with no direct battery charging from the panels and also assuming a charge controller would have a built in meter. Thanks for the clarification
Hi Will! Great video. I have the sbms120. I was wondering, why do you use 2 shunts (1 for charging and 1 for inverter)? Cant you use 1 shunt cause they are bidirectional? Cheers!
Valentine, I just posted an answer to this but here is that same one below "One shunt is for battery current and one is for PV charging current this way you can know 3 separate thing instead of just one when using a single current shunt. Say you have 30A coming from PV panels and a load of 40A then you will have the PV shunt measuring 30A that will directly supply the load and the difference of 10A comming from battery will be measured by the battery current shunt so you know PV current 30A the battery current 10A and SBMS can calculate the Load current as 40A With a single current shunt for battery you will only know that 10A is going out of the battery and nothing else and while that is good enough to calculate the battery SOC is much nicer to know also the PV current and the Load current and have 3 separate energy counters to know exactly how much energy you used and how much of the load was supplied directly from PV and how much from battery. An extra current shunt is just $10 and I think is worth the cost for all the extra info you can get but you can also use the SBMS0 just with the battery current shunt but you will miss a lot of extra information so I recommend using both shunts. All those devices that use a single current shunt only care about the battery so they have much less information available and you need to install extra meters to get more details about the system. With SBMS0 you do not need any other meters as it will measure everything."
Wow, that's a really cool charge controller with many functions that actually works 😲😃 Would like it to have active balancing that charges the lowest cell with the highest one
The SBMS0 balances when two criteria are met. 1. there has to be a cell difference of 0.01v or more, 2. there has to be a charge or discharge current occurring. This means you don't have to cram the batteries full to get balancing to start so allows for a wider range of charge source voltage settings to be useful. This allows the SBMS0 to spend a fair amount of time balancing so the 200mA current is plenty and there is very little heat generated so no heat sink is required on the SBMS0. Seeing as balancing starts with a 0.01v (hundredth) difference the cells end up being balanced to within less than 1% of each other. The cell balancing activity is displayed on the screen as it is happening.
A balancing system that charges the lowest cell from the highest cell requires capacitors. One of the key design characteristics of the SBMS is that is contains no electrolytic capacitors to dry out/age and lead to other failures. I feel it's a very sensible compromise.
@@benspeirs5237 ive seen one that only used inductors and a high frequency to balance up to one amp all the time so if discharging and one cell is running low it will help the overall AH capacity. But i guess this is only needed for low quality not perfectly matched cells
Thanks so much for yet another great video on the Elecrodacus. It reminds me of the Pico from Simarine. I’m very curious on what you think of the Pico. I would REALLY love to see a video of you reviewing the Pico.
The issue with that is there are sooo many variables that it would take forever .. the manual is phenomenal and there are several good utube videos ... its not hard to set up at all ... but you need to know what you are doing ...
It is less likely for someone to tweak things as is a bit complex but option is there if anyone wants to do so. I use a lot of open source stuff so is my way of giving a bit back.
The Electrodacus system unit preforms three functions - BMS, battery monitor, and PWM charge controller. It is quite unique on the market really can't be compared directly to anything else that I know of. Separating the logic from the power handling opens up a lot installation options.
So if your solar panel voltage is too high for your batteries, a PWM charge controller is not good enough, you need a MPPT or, is it just these particular PWM (the orange and green things in Will's hands between aprox. 13:30 and 15:00.) that need solar panel voltage matched to battery voltage?
Have just ordered one o these. keen to try it out. Would love to see more vids of tis being used and esp switching devices on and off. Also you said the dssr20 is pwm when i have been told this is not the case it is a ssr relay not a pwm controller?
How about connecting a timer or load switch to activate the heat gun or load once the battery is at a start-up level and using solar power input instead. All autonomously
great work and i like ur positive attitude in all ur projects. i want to use the bms also, however the batteries i ordered will have a total of 25.6 V. the bms is rated for 24 V. can i still use the electrodacus?
is it suitable to use to build a system using NiMh hybrid car modules like the ones used in toyota cars? he single blade is 7.2 nominal voltage so making a 12v system using it is something i wanna do but i cant rap my head around it completely there are lots of reconditioned NiMh batteries that can be repurposed and it wud be great if i get an answer from you about that thanks
I didn't have resistance value temp sensor, but you can calibrate it yourself if you want and add it. Dacian doesn't use it. This system is made for use with victron mppt, so adding it with battery sense module is always an option. This is a open source system for advanced users. The low temp cut off videos are for cheap, low quality BMS that advertise something without delivering results. It's easy to pick on.
It has low temp disconnect. Connect leads from a 10k ohm thermistor to XT1 terminals shown in Will's video (@10:09 min mark). See manual for thermistor specs and settings.
@@fibranijevidra SBMS0 is designed to work with any device that uses "control lead to ground" as the operation trigger, this includes DSSR20 and many other devices including Victron Mppt that include this function. What you said above is misleading by it's omission of the what you wanted to say which is; "This system is designed for use without the essential need for Mppt or PWM interfaces except in applications where Mppt and PWM provide distinct advantages over not using those devices."
@@bluejeans725 What Will said is missleading and it sounded it is designed to be used excluseively with Victron charger. I just wasn't detailed as you did, but I am sure it is clear what I have meant.
I am interested in this for an EV application where I have a motor with probably a peak of 300A and maybe 50-100A continuous. So I assume that the shunt is sized for the max amps you need as well as the contactor. This EV already has a shunt and main contactor so I don't know if I can use those since they are already sized for the application. He mentioned using two of the MOSFET units in parallel to get more current. Can you do that? The design considerations for these solar systems are a little different than for high current motors.
Hi Will, I love that you gave a review of the Electrodacus SBMS0 system. Even though you mentioned the DSSR20 modules, and mentioned to do some further testing, I have not seen it anywhere yet. Did you do any further try outs with them? I would love to see your findings. I understand that making these videos can be very demanding, but I hope to see you make a test review using the SBMS0 with the DSSR20's to use in a fully functioning PV solar battery charging system.
I love your videos!!! Can you do a semi cheap system specifically for boats (for ppl that live on a boat)? all extra safety measures and adaptations to be specifically for boat use?
Hi I'm looking for 4 or 5 kw TL type inverter for my home and I cannot find any system using 24V and I still love the simplicity of SBMS0. Is there any alternative or solution for it ?
Too bad this doesn’t support 16S configuration for 48 volts? Or does it? And does this do any balancing for the batteries? Thinking of usage in high load systems like electric boats...
Yes the SBMS0 will do cell balancing and max current supported by SBMS0 is 750A that allows for 20kW loads and up to 30kW PV array with dual PV option described at page 16 in the user manual. 16S 48V possible with two SBMS0 in series but not elegant so I do not recommend that tho a few people have done that.
Question: Could a person take one of these and instead of using it to monitor battery info, could we use it to individually monitor each solar panel????
Hey flip your unit over and look. That grey ribbon cable that curls back inside of the BMS is the WiFi add on module. Your WiFi option should be good to go.
A neat bms. Could something like this work to monitor batteries in series instead of cells? Say if i have 4 12 volt batteries to make a 48 volt system.
Have you did a video on how to connect Solar and Wind Turbines to the same or separate charge controllers? I'm looking into this because I get a lot of winds but my research tells me those hybrid charge controllers suck and someone suggests using 2 charge controllers charging separate battery banks but does that mean I have to split the system or can I still use one inverter?
@@WillProwse Thanks, I am hoping I can connect them to one battery bank so I can daisy chain the two charge controllers? The hybrids come with a dump load because I guess they can overcharge.
Those cells are the same cells I used for my new 24v system, and my last 12v one. Did you get them from Carl at Electric Car Parts. We’ve been buying them for about a year. Great product.
This is advanced user BMS! Not a plug n play system. You add temp sensors, mppt and whatever you want, calibrate it, program it etc. If you don't like something, change it. It's open source.
Table of contents:
2:30 Turning it on
3:01 Modifying the Settings for your Battery
4:37 Shunt Installation
7:48 Shunt Parameters Explained
9:00 Modifying a LV2424 to work with SBMS
10:19 Modifying Inverter Control settings on the SBMS
12:47 Data logging and further discussion
This video is geared for advanced users, but a "beginner friendly SBMS setup video" is in the works. I ran into quite a few problems with setting it up,and figured that this video of me troubleshooting each problem would be useful for some of you. Once I understand all of the settings, I will make a fast paced, concise setup video.
Let me know what you think :)
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Very impressive unit, I need to learn all of its finer details, lots of comments below have answered some questions.
hey what connectors did you get for the balance wires? What size mm^2 or AWG?
I need to connect mine to M6 lugs.
Great video, thanks alot
Daican also suggested me to run a Victron batteryguard parallel to the inverter. This way you can hook up your DC-DC converters for leds, small fridges or whatever DC gear you have.(oh yea chargers, fuck I have a ton of DC chargers haha)
Beginner video would be great
This is awesome man!!
what is the shunt link anyone.
Let me just say that so much of what was in this video goes completely over my head, and I just keep learning by watching them! Thanks for yet another great video!
I agree. I keep watching so I can learn. Thank you for making a lot of things easy to understand.
Blessings
Thanks for the great video presentation of the SBMS0.
I have been following your products for a while and you are doing an awesome job! I am going to build my own system soon and will definitely order some of your products!
@@waitingformyclone119 Thank Luc.
@@waitingformyclone119 _Ditto! 😃
Dacian, are you shipping the SBMS and those PWM charge controllers for general availability now?
The first time I saw this product I was impressed. I'm even more impressed now. Keep up the good work.
I really really like how ElectroDacus designs stuff, the water heating load dump project is inspired.
Also I’m jelly and want one
Roadsteading
Same here. I saw his (ElectroDacus) early video’s and found them very interesting (all of them;). So cool to see Will reviewing one of his products and being enthusiastic about the setup.
The real benefit of his system is as you mention the storage of heat which will save you a huge amount of money because youll need a much smaller battery and will still be very comfortable and have plenty of power.
I always appreciate when someone takes the time to integrate lots and lots of documentation into a UI.
I've started my first video on hydronic systems and thermal mass management for off grid space, and i've referenced ED's pdf probably 4 times lol
srsly would kill to get hands on an SBMS and DMPPT, guh
once the dmppt becomes available i might, though i'm resigned to pumping working fluids through solar thermal panels rather than burning off excess PV.....
but maaaaybe
Glad you so positively show your mistakes, others can now learn 👍
Nah! I think he should pay me for a pair of new trousers after 10:16. ;-)
@@inber Same here XDDDD
@@inber XDDDDDDDDD
ElectroDacus has also explored energy storage in water. Another branch of exploration for Will Prowse might be storage of energy in phase change materials. Basically batteries are great for electricity storage but most energy is used as heat and can be stored in non battery mediums such as water. But the future looks like we will need to have a higher energy dense fluid than water (the current king). There are several out there, it might make for an interesting side project for Will, both as heat storage and cooling storage.
Glad to see you playing with this item. Totally the best bms
on the market
Electrodacus' SBMS is a work of art. Very cool.
Thank you, Will. This is the most complete explanation of this special device on the Intertubes.
Quite opposite.
@@fibranijevidra Yeah, unfortunately agree. Will says he's putting together a follow up video. Saw the duration of this one before I started it and thought "no way he's gonna do it justice or make it clear to those who aren't familiar with it already."
@@dhowman Where's a more complete explanation? I have the manuals and while I understand it, Will's video here was super helpful in getting how it would work for me.
Way over my head but always a pleasure to see you so excited when a product works!!!
I just received mine and I've got it running on my bench with a power supply and a simulated battery using a resistor divider .... I eventually plan on acquiring the new version DSSr20's with built in diversion switching. As you mention, higher voltage strings will require an appropriate charge controller, but if you match your panels to your battery you can run the SSR's straight away. I'm interested in how it manages balancing over time and plan to use my BMS with a Headway 38120 pack. I'm also wanting to integrate with a wind turbine, but the jury is still out on how best to pari with the SBMS... awesome that you reviewed this, and kudos to Dacian, he's a great trove of information and he provides excellent support.
SBMS0 requires two criteria to be met before it starts balancing, a: A voltage difference between cells of 0.01v or greater. b: a charge or discharge current present. This allows balancing through a long range of SOC. The balancing activity is displayed as it is occurring. Use the DSSR20's as isolators/intermediate relays to control the wire signals functions of the wind generator controller, you need a wind gen controller that can be controlled by wire signal, they are out there but not all have that. In the same way the DSSR20's can be used to switch an externally regulated alternator, same principle.
@@bluejeans725 Thanks for the balancing answer... I''ll need to look a little closer at the display to see this in action. Regarding the wind turbine, I've been looking at diversion controllers and other means of disconnecting and/or loading once batteries are recharged. More questions than answers right now, but still working toward that end.
My husband loves electricity, batteries, and your videos. Thanks.
Electrodacus is a solid SBMS. I own a SBMS120, very powerful. The only downside for me is the maximum voltage design, 24Vdc. I started building my own OffGrid system and I wanted to use this SBMS but couldn't use it in 48Vdc application. Very well explained , Will!!!
Good point about maximum voltage. Very true. And very cool! Glad to know your unit has held up
People do silly stuff so I like to stay in the safe low voltage range that is usually considered to be just 50 or 60V DC and open circuit voltage on 60 and 72 cell panels that you normaly use with an 8s 24V LiFePO4 are already at 40 to 50V DC if you want to go with 48V battery then PV panels open circuit will be in the 80 to 100V range way above low voltage limits.
That is a good point. I cringe at people installing 200voc strings without proper training or equipment. Pwm and 24v pack is a very cost effective and safe setup.
2:04 I really like your editing style. 👍
Very easy to watch.
Not so easy (quick) to record and edit.
Thanks! 🙏
This! this right here, oh my. I am planning a small solar shed build, mostly as a hobby to get my learn on. I've been watching tons of videos and built my own 4s11p 18650 bank in an ammo can. I use that for charging my RC batteries while in the field or device charging when camping. I had been wondering how to charge that and future lithium battery banks from solar. This right here, this is the piece I was looking for, something that will handle the lithium batteries and provide some data logging to feed my inner geek. Now I just need to wrap my head around these Electrodacus products for an order than select a panel and work out the minutia. Thanks for posting dude, this is awesome!
I love this sbms. Very compact and have lots of functions. Thanks ElectoDacus and Will, P
iv had mine for 2 years, and it works flawlessly just got my 2nd 1 today, will use in my golfcart.
Dylan do you have a 24v setup?
@@thomasnyanfore8424 yes 7s
You said the magic word....longevity. Designed to last, so i will be looking much closer at these. Thanks
These are designed to outlive 2 or 3 mppt's, if you want more reliability again take the tip Will gave about matching the panels to the batteries so you have a choice to use a more reliable PWM at max efficiency, which brings PWM within a couple % points of the be$t mppts.
Love this video and great product review! It's the first time I have seen a BMS that will do everything I want: monitor individual cell voltages, temperature, overall voltage; send signals to charge and load controllers, and still be easy to use. It make it much easier to integrate a raw LiFePO4 battery bank with off-the-shelf equipment from Victron.
Speaking for Victron, I think their gear is more expensive because it is built for the marine industry and has to stand up to high salt environments. There is a substantial additional cost to building in that resistance.
Another great video. It makes me realize how much I have to learn. Glad to have a great sensei!
Yes Thank you
Thanks Will, I sent you an email asking you to make a video about this on June 30 2019, but I don't know if you read it :-) Finally you did it & it will really help me to install my Electrodacus SBMSO now.. especially the small cables & non-victron inverter. I am still preparing my batteries but your video has made me excited & confident to finish the project.
Hey Will love your channel, would love to see you complete a more detailed set up with this system.
I own and use the first designed by ElectroDacus - the SBMS4080 ..... very good design and build quality
There are less than 100pcs of SBMS4080 so you have one of the very few units shipped. Thanks for supporting the project in the very early stages.
@@electrodacus Yeah, I've remember 61 supporters on the first SBMS Kickstarter.
This thing is great for a solar system! Way better than a BMS setup, where you can't disconnect loads or charge system independently.
If you use the sbms relay control contacts to switch the inverter on and off, connect it in series with the inverter’s switch rather than parallel. If it’s in parallel, the inverter will stay on if either the switch or the sbms is switching on. If you connect it in series, the inverter will switch off if either is off. BUT - be sure that switch is only a control voltage, not switching main power. Otherwise, you can use the sbms to control a relay that can carry the current.
Wow Will I don't think I've ever seen you so excited about anything great video
Thanks for all you do buddy.
Electrodacus’s website has USA and Canada auto shipping costs. At first look the website appears to be designed for easy access.
Great tip Will!
You should look into using shunt trips to disconnect the battery. They are basically a DC circuit breaker that are tripped by the BMS. Some BMSs (like Batrium) can trigger the shunt trip for many different scenarios to protect your system.
Those can be used using an EXT IOx set as type 5 that has secondary voltage limits in case something fails but inverter remote ON/OFF and DSSR20 are super reliable so if all is installed correctly and tested you will not need that extra level of protection.
@@electrodacus Hi. Please forgive me, I don't have enough technical knowledge to follow what you mean here but could you please clarify something for me? I am planning an off-grid solar power system on an island and am intrigued by your SBMS0, but I had planned to keep most of my loads DC (lights, lake water pump, refrigerator, fans) so that I would not need the AC inverter full time. Do you know of a battery shunt compatible with your SBMS that can also be tripped/disconnected via the same signal as your EXT IO3 sends to an inverter. Low temp or low voltage disconnect, if I have a lot of DC loads, needs something like this, yes?
@@BenjaminRies It is a good idea to have most loads DC that is how my house is also wired. You should look for a Victron BP-65 fairly inexpensive and that will be able to switch ON or OFF your DC loads. There are also larger units like BP-100 and BP-220 but the BP-65 should be good in most cases all of them are fully compatible with the SBMS0 and you will just be connecting the EXT IO3 signal set as type 2 to the remote ON/OFF port of the BP65 and you can even have multiple BP65 on the same EXT IO3 if you want.
I'm slightly upset I'm only now seeing this video. I do enjoy your content and I'm a huge supporter of open source
its really amazing to watch you get sooo excited with ur new toys... love it
One thing to point out Will, the mistake you made connecting the shunts to the negative side can and will damage the control chip in the SBMS0. This is why the shunts have to be connected to the positive side of the battery before the fuses so the shunts can never change polarity to negative. This is not a BMS for a beginner as it is not plug and play. If you consider this cost less than a Victron BVM712 but does the same plus extra bms, it is a great value.
Very true. I thought it was ruined when I found out it was on the wrong side. This is first shunt I've seen on positive side. I'm glad it was not destroyed.
@@WillProwse It will not get damaged unless you make an additional mistake to connect a breaker in between the battery and shunt and then when you disconnect the shunt you get negative voltages (below battery negative level) that will damage the current shunt amplifiers that have a internal protection diode between the sense input and GND (battery negative) so voltage at current shunts needs to be below battery negative level to get that damaged. The way will installed the shunt's will not have damaged the SBMS0 it just did not worked.
It is more expensive to implement battery shunts on the positive side that is why most devices implement on the negative side but I do not like that since I like common negative installations and I do not like to have ground potential shift due to current shunt resistance added on the negative side.
DSSR20 are the same they interrupt the positive side not the negative again more expensive as is more complex to do but nicer in my opinion.
@@electrodacus smart. Very nice.
I have been told shunts are usually placed on the negative side because electronics are cheaper. In a grounded system, having the shunt on the positive side has the great advantage that the negative bus will actually be at ground potential. With a negative side shunt, there will be a small voltage on the negative bus, based on the load of the system.
@@dhowman Yes that is correct.
After watching all your video's I decided on the Electrodacus a few months ago over the Epever and extra's you were recommending at the time because of the reasons you mention here. You get a charger that can look after your lifepo batteries and handle a huge amount of solar for 1/4 the money in some cases. I have 2000w on my roof and when I find a permanent location I will get another 2000 and put them in the sun and park the truck in the shade :) I have been using mine on a small level while I finish building my truck but so far I'm very happy with it, glad you like it too...Now I just need to work out how to get it working with the shunt to monitor capacity properly.
The best Electrodacus video to date. I would really like to see how the DSSR20 components work. The manuals say that you need a 60 panel to match the 24v batteries, so I'd like to see you talk about that. A really bonus would be to have you setup the diversion circuit for a water heater.
Great video Will. I think that The Everlanders use a version of this on their overland rig.
On my third solar system thanks to you. But am still buying pre made cable for the battery and inverter wires. Need to re watch your cable making videos. ( did transition to 24 v thanks to you ) Thank you
Thank you for posting this. Very useful explanation for a very useful system. Bought it a couple weeks ago.
There is a slightly cheaper redesined version of these on indiegogo right now (search for electrodacus SBMS).
From what I understand (and I'm a noob) the great thing about these is that together with the cheap DSSR20 they are PWM charge controllers if you select your solar panels right. Basically solar panels are amperage limited devices so you don't need MPPT or PWM, they can't deliver more amps than a certain amount. A MPPT controller is more energy efficient but simply adding more panels is cheaper less than MPPT which requires a replacement over it's lifetime.
So with this you get BMS and long lasting solar charger in one. Plus you can set up a cheap PV heating system using thermal mass to keep your house warm which is very cheap and works even in Canada if you have enough solar panels. So all in all it's a cheap and long term solution to power and heat your off grid house. Really well thought out once you get what it actually does.
So lets say you want to put 14x Solar panels on a 40' container house that would be up to 5kW solar. You'd need 10x DSSR20 which cost you like 400-500€. That plus solar panels plus lifepo4 batteries and an inverter and you're set for like 30 years.
Plus you can build a cheap and simple thermal battery into your house. I think that is where an overabundance of PV is useful, 5kW solar panels cost you around 2500€ now and you want to plan for the dark winter months.
Hope I didn't get anything wrong lol, I'm still learning. Thanks for the video!
following
I think I just reached the limit of my gadget understanding. I dig what this BMS does, but it is not MY next project.
Thank you Will, you are the best!
Would like to see the whole setup, I am leaning this direction over mppt. It seems like it is extremely flexible and cost effective.... plus, got to love open source! BTW thanks for all the videos.
Great review, Will. Looks like a good BMS. You mentioned it has hi/low temp monitoring and cut-off. Would like to see this tested given all the problems you have seen in this area with other units tested.
The temperature limits work on all SBMS models is just not as useful of a function as you may think. Is good as extra level of protection but if battery is not in a temperature controlled environment then you will need an isolated box with a small heater controlled with a $5 digital temperature controller. Once the battery drops below freezing it will take hours to get back to temperature so battery should be in isolated box and maintained at least at +10C at all times if is not possible to have the battery in a heated room.
My battery is next to me right now and that is the best place for the battery to be in. I guess you will be using it in an RV or similar sort of application where you do not have a heated space.
14:59 hi Will you promised to revisit the SBMS0 and I would love to see more videos about this. Thank you for your videos I'm learning a lot from you.
Electrodacus is a genius!
Thanks, but I'm sure not a genius :)
@@electrodacus Only geniuses deny they are geniuses!
@@vensonata :) I remember you. We had some conversation a few years ago.
@@electrodacus We are both a little older and still into it!
I have the SBMS 100 and the SBMS 120, the SBMS 120 for a future project. The other has been used in an offgrid system for the last 4+ years. I love everything about his stuff.
I am using two SBMS with two Tesla Model S batteries, BMS's allows for very good customization and Electrodacus provides extremely good technical support.
Are you using them in a 48V configuration?
@@DaFergus 24v
Awesome Will glad you got the SBSM same unit as I have just watched your video I have the setup almost complete just gotta hook up to my solar panels 4/100w wired as a 2p setup.
That is really cool. I wish I had the time to spend on something like this. Keep those videos coming as I enjoy watching them.
Tim Rauscher.
Fantastic video....a BMS that works and is user configurable. Neat job.
I ordered your book through Amazon and it should be arriving Wednesday. Thank you in advance.
What is the name of the book?
DJ BX and SBR, Mobile Solar Power by Will Prowse IV. I’m building a 24v system so I need all the help I can get.
@@jeffgriggs6470 Thank you
I see you read my comment on this products a few weeks ago. He builds very good products.
Dacian builds some incredible equipment. Check out his pick and place machines that build his items. All off grid. Great review. I run a SBMS40 into some leaf cells for curiosity.
I'm trying to remember If I've ever seen you use relays for anything. Any inverter that has a switch can replace the switch with a relay. The same goes for low temp. Any thermostat can be used with a relay to switch off power to the charge controller or with a big enough relay cut PV input to the system. If your BMS or Thermostat can't handle the current of a big relay coil you can gang them, using a tiny reed relay to trigger a larger one.
Everyone complains that relays have high idle consumption, and people seem to prefer fet based switching for solar stuff. I have some SSR on the way, so that might be better. But yeah, I love classic relays. They work great
Chargery bms comes with one. Will test that out soon
@@WillProwse Careful. There are lots of fake SSRs on the Chinese market that only have one MOSFET in them and don't meet the standard on the lablel. Control circuit relays can be quite efficient if sized carefully. Using big contactors to switch high amperage does take a fair bit of power.
@@WillProwse The SBMS0 already has a sort of small SSR inside on the EXT IO3, IO4, IO5 and IO6 it is based on the Toshiba TLP187 optoisolator with a 300V DC rating and 50mA max current more than sufficient for all remote ON/OFF ports on inverters and same with the MPP inverter that has less than 10mA current trough that ON/OFF switch (I know as I have an older MPP 2424HS inverter powering my house).
So no relay is needed as the build in optopisolator is perfect for the job and only uses 2mA when ON compared to 50 to 100mA even for a small mechanical relay.
Bill Kerr, If you refer to having large relay switching OFF the inverter DC input then that is a bad idea and relay most likely will get damaged either remain stuck with soldered contacts or just blow the contacts fully. Relays electromechanical or electronic can not deal with large capacitive loads like inverters and Lithium batteries that have almost no internal resistance so can push out many kA. You seen the spark in this video when Will did forgot to precharge the capacitors.
im from IRAN and i love you work
Will, if you put the EXTIO wires to the inverter switch in series with the switch you keep the SBMS0 control of it And you have a choice of deciding whether the inverter works or not while still only allowing it to work while battery conditions permit. Parallel works but isn't foolproof. I liked your suggestion to put a remote switch in series with the EXTIO wires too because sometimes the inverter isn't always mounted in a convenient to reach place and that brought up the flexibility to use other condition switches to put into the control logic without interfering with the SBMS0. Really good focused review, I enjoyed it.
Good point. Yes I agree. That would be ideal
Nice to check in with what you are doing. You have a lot of subs now!
Thanks 😊
ElectroDacus is nice stuff. Looking forward of having one soon.....👍
Oh and by the way. Can you provide the link where can i acquire the Shunt?
@@rds0009 You can find shunt anywhere like eBay, Amazon, Aliexpress, Digikey ..... just search for 75mV 200A (just an example not sure what current value you will need for your shunts anything from minimum 10A and max 750A will work) and the two shunts can be different values.
Another fine video from the young master :)
Another great video. I would have liked to see you hook up a meter to the batteries just to confirm the accuracy of the panel. I also like data logging not to obsess over but to monitor usage. A little more information about PC & phone interface software and functionality would have been interesting.
I did that with my Klein meter. I actually filmed that but figured it was too boring to add. And people assume I check the accuracy of all my stuff, or else I will tell you.
I'd like to see a couple of ethernet plugs for the CAT5/6 cables and an adapter to connect to the battery and shunt
otherwise, it looks pretty cool!
Already got mine last week. Get the Wifi module, You can use Tablets to display your charts.
My SBMS will be used with 1,200 watts if solar, and 300ah/24v lithium
Get a temperature sensor for the battery. It does low temp disconnect which you have been looking for.
Will do, thanks
@@WillProwse your channel is very helpful. Great work buddy.
Something I find intriguing is the case design. Most people put their PCBs in aluminum or plastic cases. This guy built the whole thing out of PCB material. It's elegant and beautiful.
Nice vid, in 2019 I had a couple extra SBMS40s, sent an email and messages through messenger to send one your way for free to review and make vids on. Never did get a response.
If you leave your batteries out in the cold where they can't be charged then once they have no charge they can't serve you, but if you keep them close to you where they remain in their happy temperature range, they can serve you without interruption. So no temperature cut out is required in this way that also gives you the most into and out of the battery. An insulated and heated battery box is also an option if your application demands that they be housed externally and subject to freezing temperatures. Another method to disallow charge on a cold or hot temperature is a stand alone temp switch connected in series with the EXTIO wires so you can have an extra set of conditions other than what is in the SBMS0 before charge is allowed, you can have as many external conditions as the application requires and have those conditions relevant to the source the condition applies to. The same applies on the output side, when you think about it, doing it this way makes everything very customisable to the application without over complicating the operation of the SBMS0.
At 15:33 you mention the Victron inverter.... very expensive. Ok, I can agree they're not that cheap. But on the other hand, they're one of the best brands in the world !! So is Mastervolt. I've worked with Victrons that are over 25 years and they still perform excellent ! Also spare parts and support are still available after decades. But then again, who needs spare parts for a Victron ?! They never fail or brake down, even if you abuse them (untill certain limits I guess...).
Anyway, a nice video as usual !
Yes great point. Good inverters are worth every penny. Victron is reliable mid level equipment.
It seems many people love Victron equipment that was one of the reason I mention them in my manual and they also have remote ON/OFF for almost all their devices as they also started using lithium and realized remote ON/OFF ports are a good idea.
@@electrodacus Is your BMS compatible with the Victron Venus GX series monitors? I've been designing some off grid remote internet tower power designs that can supply all possible data remotely, and there is very little option for the BMS data without going with Victron batteries.
@@JoelKleppinger The SBMS offers all the info GX can offer so it will not be needed. The new SBMS0 (never version that shown in this video) has client mode for the WiFi and MQTT so can be monitored from anywhere.
Using the DSSR20s' diversion feature to heat water would be great test to see Will. You need to use 2 DSSR20s, 4 60 cell solar panels and 1 resistive immersion heater like Dernords's 36V 1200W element.
First time commenting on your videos. I enjoy watching, great info.
The one thing you missed is, low temp cut off... How it works? How to build or set it up?
That thing looks cool. The popular system is soooo expensive, its really painful to even consider. Yeah, I know, what’s safety worth? But does that fact mean we should pay 10,000% markup? Hopefully we see more competition in the market. I love that you get excited when the thing did what it say’s it’ll do. Its a sad reality when something simply doing what it’s advertised to do is exciting 😂
If you do not have smart components directly controllable by the BMS, you can use a contactor (a big relay). Use one for loads, a separate one for charge sources.
Most inverters can be controlled this way directly by SBMS and you can not just add a large contractor on the DC line if is an inverter as that will get damaged even if not at the first connection. It can work if that is just for disconnect at low voltage but no reconnect and then you manually reconnect once you precharged the capacitors. This (discharged battery) should not happen in a well designed system. I did not had my battery empty for the past few years and I only have solar no other backup source for electricity. The DSSR20 are charge sources for PV and they can be of course directly controlled. I will try to avoid any other sources as they will be more expensive than PV by large margins about 10x more for grid energy and 50x more for energy from alternator or other fuel based generator and this are such large differences that should be completely avoided if possible and if cost is important.
@@electrodacus Any examples of using direct 12 and/or 24v if a relay/contactor will not work? I will use solar on boat and likely the batteries will need a cutoff when hitting a low voltage.
@@zzzdgr Are you asking about using 12V or 24V DC appliances ? other than very large DC-DC converters then yes you can use something like the Victron BP65 or the large models even multiple of them and they have remote ON/OFF compatible with SBMS0.
Nice presentation, would have liked to see Wi-Fi or Blutooth communication working. That's what's missing from most products on the market. Also what's up with needing 2 shunts? ZEVA doesn't. Finally, still waiting for a BMS that includes active cell balancing AND network communication in ONE package. Enjoy your channel, keep it up.
One shunt is for battery current and one is for PV charging current this way you can know 3 separate thing instead of just one when using a single current shunt.
Say you have 30A coming from PV panels and a load of 40A then you will have the PV shunt measuring 30A that will directly supply the load and the difference of 10A comming from battery will be measured by the battery current shunt so you know PV current 30A the battery current 10A and SBMS can calculate the Load current as 40A
With a single current shunt for battery you will only know that 10A is going out of the battery and nothing else and while that is good enough to calculate the battery SOC is much nicer to know also the PV current and the Load current and have 3 separate energy counters to know exactly how much energy you used and how much of the load was supplied directly from PV and how much from battery. An extra current shunt is just $10 and I think is worth the cost for all the extra info you can get but you can also use the SBMS0 just with the battery current shunt but you will miss a lot of extra information so I recommend using both shunts. All those devices that use a single current shunt only care about the battery so they have much less information available and you need to install extra meters to get more details about the system. With SBMS0 you do not need any other meters as it will measure everything.
My bad. I am using an AC coupled system with no direct battery charging from the panels and also assuming a charge controller would have a built in meter. Thanks for the clarification
Hi Will!
Great video. I have the sbms120. I was wondering, why do you use 2 shunts (1 for charging and 1 for inverter)? Cant you use 1 shunt cause they are bidirectional?
Cheers!
One is bi directional and one is for charging.
Valentine, I just posted an answer to this but here is that same one below
"One shunt is for battery current and one is for PV charging current this way you can know 3 separate thing instead of just one when using a single current shunt.
Say you have 30A coming from PV panels and a load of 40A then you will have the PV shunt measuring 30A that will directly supply the load and the difference of 10A comming from battery will be measured by the battery current shunt so you know PV current 30A the battery current 10A and SBMS can calculate the Load current as 40A
With a single current shunt for battery you will only know that 10A is going out of the battery and nothing else and while that is good enough to calculate the battery SOC is much nicer to know also the PV current and the Load current and have 3 separate energy counters to know exactly how much energy you used and how much of the load was supplied directly from PV and how much from battery. An extra current shunt is just $10 and I think is worth the cost for all the extra info you can get but you can also use the SBMS0 just with the battery current shunt but you will miss a lot of extra information so I recommend using both shunts. All those devices that use a single current shunt only care about the battery so they have much less information available and you need to install extra meters to get more details about the system. With SBMS0 you do not need any other meters as it will measure everything."
"GUYS HOW COOL IS THAT!!!" - Will, every video
any followup builds? are these now available?
Wow, that's a really cool charge controller with many functions that actually works 😲😃
Would like it to have active balancing that charges the lowest cell with the highest one
Active balancing is pointless in a new cell system. 200mA balance current is plenty
The SBMS0 balances when two criteria are met. 1. there has to be a cell difference of 0.01v or more, 2. there has to be a charge or discharge current occurring. This means you don't have to cram the batteries full to get balancing to start so allows for a wider range of charge source voltage settings to be useful. This allows the SBMS0 to spend a fair amount of time balancing so the 200mA current is plenty and there is very little heat generated so no heat sink is required on the SBMS0. Seeing as balancing starts with a 0.01v (hundredth) difference the cells end up being balanced to within less than 1% of each other. The cell balancing activity is displayed on the screen as it is happening.
A balancing system that charges the lowest cell from the highest cell requires capacitors. One of the key design characteristics of the SBMS is that is contains no electrolytic capacitors to dry out/age and lead to other failures. I feel it's a very sensible compromise.
@@benspeirs5237 ive seen one that only used inductors and a high frequency to balance up to one amp all the time so if discharging and one cell is running low it will help the overall AH capacity.
But i guess this is only needed for low quality not perfectly matched cells
@@tullgutten huh. I hadn't heard you could do that, but makes sense you store a small amount of charge using inductors.
Thanks so much for yet another great video on the Elecrodacus. It reminds me of the Pico from Simarine. I’m very curious on what you think of the Pico. I would REALLY love to see a video of you reviewing the Pico.
instead of buying another inverter would a battery disconnect do the job?
You should do a video on step by step how to set up the bms
The issue with that is there are sooo many variables that it would take forever .. the manual is phenomenal and there are several good utube videos ... its not hard to set up at all ... but you need to know what you are doing ...
Best part is it looks to be opensource. You can tweak to your heart's delight, if you were so inclined.
It is less likely for someone to tweak things as is a bit complex but option is there if anyone wants to do so. I use a lot of open source stuff so is my way of giving a bit back.
@@electrodacus good on ya for that.
I love your videos I'm always learning, Thanks Will!
The Electrodacus system unit preforms three functions - BMS, battery monitor, and PWM charge controller. It is quite unique on the market really can't be compared directly to anything else that I know of. Separating the logic from the power handling opens up a lot installation options.
Any follow up on this BMS? Would love more videos on it.
So if your solar panel voltage is too high for your batteries, a PWM charge controller is not good enough, you need a MPPT or, is it just these particular PWM (the orange and green things in Will's hands between aprox. 13:30 and 15:00.) that need solar panel voltage matched to battery voltage?
Hi Will thanks again for your video. I don’t understand why my solar panels can’t charge my batteries in winter.Any ideas?
Thanks
Robert
Have just ordered one o these. keen to try it out. Would love to see more vids of tis being used and esp switching devices on and off. Also you said the dssr20 is pwm when i have been told this is not the case it is a ssr relay not a pwm controller?
How about connecting a timer or load switch to activate the heat gun or load once the battery is at a start-up level and using solar power input instead. All autonomously
great work and i like ur positive attitude in all ur projects. i want to use the bms also, however the batteries i ordered will have a total of 25.6 V. the bms is rated for 24 V. can i still use the electrodacus?
is it suitable to use to build a system using NiMh hybrid car modules like the ones used in toyota cars?
he single blade is 7.2 nominal voltage so making a 12v system using it is something i wanna do but i cant rap my head around it completely
there are lots of reconditioned NiMh batteries that can be repurposed and it wud be great if i get an answer from you about that
thanks
Will, you didn't put a link for the crimper?
What about low temperature disconnect? Usually you pay a lot of attention that's work correctly.
Thank you very much.
Best regards.
I didn't have resistance value temp sensor, but you can calibrate it yourself if you want and add it. Dacian doesn't use it. This system is made for use with victron mppt, so adding it with battery sense module is always an option. This is a open source system for advanced users. The low temp cut off videos are for cheap, low quality BMS that advertise something without delivering results. It's easy to pick on.
It has low temp disconnect. Connect leads from a 10k ohm thermistor to XT1 terminals shown in Will's video (@10:09 min mark). See manual for thermistor specs and settings.
@@WillProwse This system is not designed to be used with Victeon MPPT althoug it can be used with it.
@@fibranijevidra SBMS0 is designed to work with any device that uses "control lead to ground" as the operation trigger, this includes DSSR20 and many other devices including Victron Mppt that include this function. What you said above is misleading by it's omission of the what you wanted to say which is; "This system is designed for use without the essential need for Mppt or PWM interfaces except in applications where Mppt and PWM provide distinct advantages over not using those devices."
@@bluejeans725 What Will said is missleading and it sounded it is designed to be used excluseively with Victron charger. I just wasn't detailed as you did, but I am sure it is clear what I have meant.
Great review as usual.
I am an apprentice electrician and wondered if you ever sell the cells that you pull out of stuff. I want to do some trial and error stuff.
I am interested in this for an EV application where I have a motor with probably a peak of 300A and maybe 50-100A continuous. So I assume that the shunt is sized for the max amps you need as well as the contactor. This EV already has a shunt and main contactor so I don't know if I can use those since they are already sized for the application. He mentioned using two of the MOSFET units in parallel to get more current. Can you do that? The design considerations for these solar systems are a little different than for high current motors.
Thank you very much for your time and information.
Hi Will, I love that you gave a review of the Electrodacus SBMS0 system. Even though you mentioned the DSSR20 modules, and mentioned to do some further testing, I have not seen it anywhere yet. Did you do any further try outs with them? I would love to see your findings. I understand that making these videos can be very demanding, but I hope to see you make a test review using the SBMS0 with the DSSR20's to use in a fully functioning PV solar battery charging system.
I love your videos!!! Can you do a semi cheap system specifically for boats (for ppl that live on a boat)? all extra safety measures and adaptations to be specifically for boat use?
Hi I'm looking for 4 or 5 kw TL type inverter for my home and I cannot find any system using 24V and I still love the simplicity of SBMS0. Is there any alternative or solution for it ?
What a great product!!
suggestion? yes.. can you build that setup into a decent looking box or enclosure? great video, Will.
Yes the SBMS0 is front panel mount you can see details in the user manual.
Too bad this doesn’t support 16S configuration for 48 volts? Or does it?
And does this do any balancing for the batteries?
Thinking of usage in high load systems like electric boats...
Yes the SBMS0 will do cell balancing and max current supported by SBMS0 is 750A that allows for 20kW loads and up to 30kW PV array with dual PV option described at page 16 in the user manual.
16S 48V possible with two SBMS0 in series but not elegant so I do not recommend that tho a few people have done that.
Question: Could a person take one of these and instead of using it to monitor battery info, could we use it to individually monitor each solar panel????
Hey flip your unit over and look. That grey ribbon cable that curls back inside of the BMS is the WiFi add on module. Your WiFi option should be good to go.
A neat bms. Could something like this work to monitor batteries in series instead of cells? Say if i have 4 12 volt batteries to make a 48 volt system.
Have you did a video on how to connect Solar and Wind Turbines to the same or separate charge controllers? I'm looking into this because I get a lot of winds but my research tells me those hybrid charge controllers suck and someone suggests using 2 charge controllers charging separate battery banks but does that mean I have to split the system or can I still use one inverter?
Get separate. The hybrid ones do suck. Connect them to one battery and you are set
I would use one battery bank. 48v if you can
@@WillProwse Thanks, I am hoping I can connect them to one battery bank so I can daisy chain the two charge controllers? The hybrids come with a dump load because I guess they can overcharge.
Those cells are the same cells I used for my new 24v system, and my last 12v one. Did you get them from Carl at Electric Car Parts. We’ve been buying them for about a year. Great product.