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Energus Tiny BMS

2019 Apr 19th

We recently took on distribution of a new battery management system from a Lithuanian company called Energus. 

Small, Light, Safe, Simple

All Lithium batteries have some sort of circuit that manages the voltages to make sure that the cells are not over charged or over discharged.  More sophisticated systems also balance the cells, so that each individual cell or group of cells in series is the same voltage, this assures that as the pack is charged or discharged, one cell or group of cells is not reaching the top or bottom before the others.  Unbalanced battery packs can at best have reduced capacity, or at worst a present a dangerous situation where one group of cells is overcharged. 

Some BMS also monitor the pack temperature and will cut off power if there is dangerous overheating or sometimes will cut off charging if the temperature is too low.

All e-bikes have a BMS built into the battery pack, and it's not something you have to think about, it just works in the background.

Folks building their own battery packs will want to purchase an off the shelf BMS to complete their battery pack build.  For E-Bikes there are lots of choices starting from under 20.00 for basic low power Chinese units. More powerful e-bikes or things like electric tractors, electric boats, electric motorcycles, off grid solar batteries, and powerwalls with lithium chemistry will likely need a more sophisticated and powerful solution, and that's where the Energus Tiny BMS comes in.

The Tiny BMS is, as its name implies, very small.  It can be tucked into a battery box where other more bulky packages may not fit. It will manage batteries between 4 and 16 cells in series. It is completely programmable by USB link to a PC.  One of the most important features is that the balancing point can be set to any voltage you like. 

A PAGE ON THE BMS SOFTWARE

Most off the shelf BMS will not begin balancing until a cell reaches 4.2V.  For longevity, many builders will want to charge the pack to a maximum of between 4 and 4.15V, so balancing will not occur until this pack is already very badly out of balance with a regular BMS.

I am building a solar backup power system in the shop that will be able to power up the whole house as well.  We do experience more power outages out here in the Gulf Islands, including an 8 day outage this winter due to a devastating wind storm in December. 

2700 WATT SOLAR INSTALLATION ON THE ROOF OF THE HILLEATER SHOP

This system will include two 44V, 233 amp hour batteries from a wrecked Tesla model S, for a total of 20 kW/h of energy storage, and nine 300 watt solar panels. 

REMOVING TESLA BATTERY MODULES FROM A COMPLETE TESLA MODEL S BATTERY PACK.

Two Energus Tiny BMS boards will protect and manage the batteries.

More details on this project as it progresses.

TWO TESLA MODULES AND A TINY BMS INSTALLED IN AN INSULATED BOX IN THE HILLEATER SHOP

Energus also manufactures lithium battery modules that can be stacked together to make a battery of almost any voltage and capacity.  They are used by schools , manufacturers, and individuals making e-formula electric race cars, drones, robotics, boats motorcycles and airplanes.

ENERGUS CELL MODULE. EACH MODULE IS 3.7V NOMINAL, THEY ARE STACKED TOGETHER TO PRODUCE THE NEEDED VOLTAGE.  THESE ARE CUSTOM ORDER, PLEASE CONTACT US FOR A QUOTE.

For more details on the Energus Tiny BMS see our product pages here