DIY Lithium Battery "Active Cell Balancer" Explained and Tested. Great for LiFePO4!

[@WillProwse]

Does off-grid solar confuse you? Check out my DIY friendly website for solar system packages 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 best-selling, beginner-friendly 12V off-grid solar book (affiliate link): amzn.to/2Aj4dX4 If DIY is not for you, but you love solar and need an offgrid system, check out Tesla Solar. Low prices and great warranty, and they can take your entire house offgrid with their new Powerwalls: ts.la/william57509 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ My solar equipment recommendations (Constantly updated! Check here first): 12V/48V Lithium Batteries: www.mobile-solarpower.com/solar-batteries.html Solar System Component Directory: www.mobile-solarpower.com/solarcomponents.html Plug-N-Play Systems: www.mobile-solarpower.com/full-size-systems.html Complete 48V System Kits: www.mobile-solarpower.com/complete-48v-solar-kits.html DIY Friendly Air Conditioner/ Heat Pumps: www.mobile-solarpower.com/solar-friendly-air-conditioners.html Complete 48V System Blueprint: www.mobile-solarpower.com/48v-complete-system-blueprint.html ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ My Favorite Online Stores for DIY Solar and Coupon Codes: -Current Connected: SOK, Victron and High Quality Components. Best prices and warranty around: currentconnected.com/?ref=wp -Signature Solar: Cheap Server Rack Batteries and Large Solar Panels: www.signaturesolar.com/?ref=h-cvbzfahsek -Ecoflow Delta Official Site: My favorite plug-n-play solar generator: us.ecoflow.com/?aff=7 -AmpereTime: Cheapest 12V batteries around: amperetime.com/products/ampere-time-12v-100ah-lithium-lifepo4-battery?ref=h-cvbzfahsek -Rich Solar: Mega site and cheaper prices than renogy! Check them out: richsolar.com/?ref=h-cvbzfahsek -Shop Solar Kits: Huge site with every solar kit you can imagine! Check it out: shopsolarkits.com/?ref=will-p -Battery Hookup: Cheap cell deals bit.ly/2mIxSqt 10% off code: diysolar -Watts 24/7: Best deals on all-in-one solar power systems, with customer support and distribution here in the USA: watts247.com/?wpam_id=3 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Contact Information: I am NOT available for personal solar system consult! If you wish to contact me, this is my direct email: [e-mail] 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 some form of 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

[@jesseschwartz7714]

Nobody explains what leds means and do when they are solid and when they blink?

[@alitajdari2141]

Thanks Will. Active balancing makes so much more sense than wasting the energy using resistors.

[@levieux1137]

Another benefit of active balancers is that contrary to passive ones, they work all the time even when the battery pack is not fully charged. Passive ones only try to prevent each battery from being overcharged, nothing more, which just slows the charging of other cells down a lot while draining the charge current. I've been studying myself many approaches to achieve this over the last decade, but not being a good electronics guy I always ended up with complex and inefficient circuits. Also tried to implement capacitive charge but it does not work when cells'voltage differ by just a few tens of mV. These new devices are way better by design.

[@KE8MWQ]

Although I would probably never build my own battery I find all your experiments very interesting

[@videokfm]

Don't be scared to build your own battery banks. I started watching youtube videos and thanks to youtube channels like this one I finally built my own solar system for home.Using 8.34Kw solar panels and 24Kwh LTO battery bank. I use 264 off Yinlong 40A cells in a 12P 22S configuration.And by the way I am in South AFrica. So if I can do it then anyone can do it.

[@rickyroaster]

After making a portable diesel heater, I found the 100ah lead acid battery, a bit on the heavy side, and slowly educating myself on the move to LiFePO4 using your very informative channel, cheers for taking the time to do the bits that are important to people like me new to the game.

[@esqueue]

What would have awesome if you used a DC clamp meter on one of the balance leads to confirm the actual charge speed. Great video and I may add this to my diy DashCam backup battery made of 32700 LiFePO4 cells in 4S2P. I also built my ebike batteries using 18650 lithium LiCoO2 cells. I first built a 10s10p but wanted a bit more power so I build a seperate 3s10p battery each with their own BMS and run them in series. I am really contemplating if I should get one and solder a male JST-XH 11 pin and 4 pin connectors to the existing wires and of course sharing the 11th wire between the connections. That way, both battery packs will be balanced between each other.

[@WillProwse]

Aww dang it!!! You are so right. Dang. Will have to do that

[@Kee_Diddy]

Thanks for the heads up Will! I was literally just looking at those on Amazon last night thinking "Man, those things don't look like they could do much"

[@mrj2848]

I just got installed the 16s version on my lifepo4 5.1kwh bank. The easiest way to check it's function is to charge just one cell and the board will wake when the voltage difference goes above 100mV. For sure it works well, I'm impressed myself. At least you showed us that removing any one of the leads to the balancer will cause catastrophic failure (in your follow up video) so thanks for that helpful tip! Also the active balance current is heavily dependant on the voltage difference. Keep up the fantastic work bro!

[@DarrellnKitty]

What one did you use, I am building at 12v 12 battery 904ah system

[@adamk9559]

Will, been watching lots your videos over the past week. I really like the way you explore and test. I decided that to see more, I'd want to support you on Patreon. But I couldn't find anywhere on your KZbin channel that you even had a Patreon page. I searched Google to find you there. It's not begging if you mention it under each video, maybe right after your equipment list. I figure the more people support you, the better and more varied your tests and reviews will be. Keep up the good job.

[@whatmust8146]

I was going to go with active balance only but then after watching Off Grid Garage Utube's i change my mind. I am going with Smart Active Balance that has capability of software monitor and control. Not much more and well worth the extra cost. I never use or like the bms but active balace is a must have. I learned the hard way after having many failures on home built from recycle battery for my lithium solar pack. 14s100p. Had i have the active balance in place that would prevent short life and early failure of pack that i built. for sure.

[@joeo7257]

Is sure seems like a good quality BMS manufacturer would build that in to their BMS.

[@honeybadger6127]

man... I've been looking for something like this for a LONG time.. thanks for sharing bro!

[@rodolphealmaguer8711]

Thank you Will for your input. I will have to purchase a couple for my Chins batteries. I have been trying to balance it following the manufacturer recommendations but fail. Thanks again.

[@jaytrock3217]

I was waiting to hear conjunction with BMS. 3:18 Thanks, great video. I think I will get one of these as a back up.

[@gregnorman4047]

RE: That red BMS you like (looks like there are many sellers on AE)...one AliExpress note was recommending that “you must like to use use inexpensive pcb balance device” (sic, but they certainly speak better English than I speak mandarin) in conjunction with it saying a BMS was great for over/under/temperature protection but was less so for balancing. Now I know what they were referring to. Thanks for another timely explanation.

[@WillProwse]

The balancing on Daly BMS is fine for differences in self discharge rate and solar use. It's fine. Totally different type of balancing. It still works great. Same with Orion and other passive balance BMS boards

[@ecospider5]

I have always wondered why they didn’t make these. I’m glad they finally are. Fantastic video thanks.

[@imho7250]

@7:06 I was wondering the same thing. There as a company in Italy with something called “Flash Balancing” that balances so fast that it can keep up with the normal charger and normal load. So if you had a cell that degraded more than the others, it would send a message to the cloud saying there is a problem, but the battery will keep working almost like normal. Like in your video, the balancer couldn’t keep up with the inverter load, so you had to turn it off early, when the lowest cell reached the danger level. Flash balancing would have kept feeding the lowest cells until all cells reached the minimum voltage. And during charging, when stubborn cell is trying to climb in voltage too fast, the flash balancer is now distributing that excess power to all the other cells as needed to keep balance. The beauty of the system is it would allow you to use fairly low quality cells, and if one degrades you keep on going until you have time for maintenance, then just replace that weak cell.

[@ahaveland]

Am impressed, so just ordered a 16S version for my 14S 6kWh pack. It will also balance small S packs too.

[@WillProwse]

Oh awesome!! I hope you love it. They are pretty cool little boards

[@xlgoldfish]

How is the balancer holding up after a year of use?

[@pmeschultz]

this made me LOL ... a positive review of an active balancer?!?! thanks for all your hard work

[@Steve_1999]

Will, Always interesting & I love this kind of stuff! Did you completely quit the livestreams or will you consider doing one in the future? Btw, that 100K subscribers is approaching. Get yourself a KZbin play button and a celebration vlog.

[@WillProwse]

I avoid livestreams like the plague. I loved doing them, but they always caused a drop in subs (mainly because it spams the persons phone), and past livestream recordings would clutter my video library. Oh yeah! 100k is coming :D I cant believe it! Will have to have a little celebration video I suppose. Ill think of something :D

[@jh1859]

@@WillProwse Good to see you are getting up to a 100k.

[@3lmo2004]

Great find, just order 4 four for my Li-Ion packs in my shed, I took a look today and they are really unbalanced. This should do the job, cheers bru!

[@ghostwriter6699]

Wayne - as Will pointed out earlier in a correction -- NONE of these that he recommended is a TRUE Balancer .. they basically balance one cell to the adjacent cell - not across the entire battery ... There ARE some Balancers that do ACROSS the battery .. and most don't -- and the Chinese are selling the ones that DON'T as the ones that do... anyway .. good luck

[@swormser865]

@@ghostwriter6699 Which ones balance across the whole battery I’m thriving to do 16-32s thx

[@MagallanesPR]

Hey Will... Great vid as always!! I am building a 24v pack composed of two 12v 100a LiFePO4 batteries. Should I put a balancer between the two 12v batts? Thanks for your time!!

[@6thinningsports223]

Nice job Will as usual! Ironic you covered this type of balancer as I was just looking into active balancing as well. Now that I have several of the Deligreen 4s BMS's installed on my LFP's, it was eating at the back of my mind that burning off the extra power to balance the cells was so inefficient! Have you looked at some of the higher amp rated active balancers like the 5a one that uses a buck converter and several capacitors? Again, nice job on all your videos! Keep up the awesome work!

[@WillProwse]

What?!? Where is this 5a balancer?! I would like to know more haha

[@georgeindestructible]

Omg i was watching a video from great scot's channel yesterday about BMS and i was like, why don't they just make a circuit that transfers current from the high voltage battery to the lower one to make it more efficient and now this video! Efficiency

[@tacticaladvance]

You can buy a BMS that do this from Batrium, a 7s will cost $400 lol. So this is a cheaper option.

[@bobbyharding3945]

Hi watched your show on active balancer. U used them on old cells one week they were all balanced

[@kgsalvage6306]

Thanks Will, You answered my question. I was wondering if I could use an active balancer in conjunction with a cheap BMS. My BMS works well till I'm charging and get close to full voltage then I have one cell that reaches 3.65v well before the others, disconnecting the charging in the BMS. I think this will solve my issue. Rather than doing a capacity test on each of my 400- headway 38120 cells. Love your videos! 🌄

[@gregorybiggs2068]

This is great! I have a Tesla battery like you had last year, plus I also have collected about 300 18650s. With all this potential I already own, I'd hate to spend money on anything like Battleborn batteries. But my 18650s won't be as good or in balance with the new, stronger Tesla's. So I think this will really do an excellent balancing job!

[@geebonzo]

That 1.5 amps seems like enough. If my 4 cell 150AH Life system was going down to the bottom, I don't really need to be pulling the last bits out of cells. Since mine are used, I know the weak cell and work around it. Everything is a charge and discharge cycle, so if the battery is balancing during the charge, or just staying balanced in the useful 4 cell capacities, it doesn't matter. I use a programmable disconnect for the bottom. I trust it, after some experimentation. This is a great video, but I'm not in love with the concept. The Battleborn supporters make a lot of the protections circuits, but I'm not sold. Yeah, you need to know the balance situation, even whether the cells are going out of balance and where. You need a low volt disconnect. You might want a temp sensor, but many applications will never get out of the useable range. People aren't making the effort to learn about this stuff or experiment. There's not that much that can go wrong, but maybe they should sell a programmable protection module that you just hook up to the balance points and power connections. Maybe they should put the inverter in that package. If people buy 4 or 6 BB Life's they are buying the same electronics multiple times. GZ is selling refurbs of the 1K on Ebay. Not going to fiddle with the low charge spec. Hopefully they come out with V2. Why not put a boost to the alternator, and 250 watt solar and AC charging, into the specs? It's a heavy sucker, anyway.

[@tacticaladvance]

Active balancing with a top and bottom BMS would be interesting. By doing this you can gain more power from the pack as the main BMS would cut off normal when one of the cells gets to the lowest point. Might need 6-7 Active balancers.

[@kenperry3376]

All these need is a programable I/O port so we can protect from over and under cell level voltages then over priced systems such as Batrium will be dead to me. It's coming and I can't wait!

[@WillProwse]

Oh man I totally agree. And those are so overpriced. It's crazy.

[@re-thinkthis4880]

I have been looking for something like this for a while. I will post a video showing some way out of balance batteries and my best attempt so far at getting them in line. I will also get these devices that you mention to help the matter soon.

[@KingTesticus]

The only things you're missing are the crazy white hair, the lab coat, and maniacal laugh. Saved to favorites & watch again. (And thumbs up of course)

[@WillProwse]

Haha! Thanks :D

[@decoy271]

Please be aware that this is a sequential active balancer. That means it always and only kicks in if there is a difference of 0.1V between two NEIGHBORING cells. These will then be balanced down to a 30mV difference. No big deal for a 3S system ... but if you opt for a 16S system, the difference between the lowest battery voltage and the highest one will render this device useless: If the cell with lowest voltage is No.1 and the highest cell is No.16, you could end up with a difference of w.c. 1.6V before it starts balancing! After balancing you'd end up with still an imbalance of 16x 30mV = 0.48V. Check out the "5A Capacitor Active Equalizer Balancer" - it seems to overcome this problem.

[@georgedemean2228]

i Will, what you think about the "Active Cell Balancer" do you still recommend them? Thanks 👍

[@lpi6608]

very impressed with the ACB more then a bms

[@stuartdavies8388]

I've been messing around with the 8S version, had great results so I'll be using it on my LiFePO4 8S solar batteries.

[@DaDude999]

I have the 8s version too, but I want to use it on my 7S LiPo pack. I don't know what to do with the 8+ lead. Do you?

[@larrybell4599]

How do you think an active balancer would work with 4 complete 12v batteries in series in a battery bank? Thank you for making so many great videos!

[@Sailorman6996]

Seems great. I wonder if there is similar balance device for lead acid 2 volt per cell? Or even devices for lead acid whole battery bank, balancing several 12 volt batteries? My application would be E-max 110s electric scooter with 4 lead gel batteries in series 48V (60Ah). Was thinking of replacing with similar, but interested in LiFePO4 too. Just that I need a warning before I drain them as original is designed to protect low voltage for lead batteries.

[@Tsiri09]

Thank you. I've been hearing the phrase "balance the batteries" without knowing what that meant. This clarifies so much! If I buy brand new batteries, do they still need a balancer?

[@MrJibran999]

Yes. Internal resistance resistance of each cells in a battery bank is different most of the times, therefore it creates the unbalancing issues in it. Apart from that the BMS also protects the battery from overcharge, overdischarge, over current which is an important aspect if you are using Li-ion battery packs. It is always important to buy impedance graded and matched cells from the seller if you want to build a battery pack for your EV or any application which has a high cyclic usage, this ensures the longer life life of your batteries and also ensures that the cells are balanced most of the time.

[@wrldsdumstgenius]

Thanks Will for another excellent video. Can you recommend a charge controller with low temp disconnect like you mentioned in the video?

[@WillProwse]

Recommending the victron for that. More info on the sensor setup can be found in the parts list on this page: www.mobile-solarpower.com/diy-lifepo4-solar-battery1.html

[@brucestarr4438]

Hey Will, at 4:44 you have the two resistors in parallel, that cuts the resistance in half. You want them in series to increase the resistance.

[@gottafly2day]

Will was discharging the battery, so he needed lower resistance.

[@immortalsofar5314]

I've been playing with the Arduino lately. Connecting a cell to the analog port gives you its voltage. Sending a signal from the digital port to a power transistor will create connections. It might not be cheaper than what you get on eBay but it certainly gives you pin-point control!

[@waynemitchell7871]

That little gadget is made for better performance 18560 cells because of the higher voltage than Lifepo4. Now if they made that for the lithium iron phosphate battery correct working parameters would be perfect for such application Lifepo4.

[@matveyadzhigirey8950]

Thanks Will! Exactly what I have been looking for to use with my Tesla module. One correction: you won't be able to use 2 (or more) of these on a single battery bank, because as soon as one starts balancing the cells, their voltages will change enough where the 2nd balancer would either not activate, or may actually start "undoing" some of the balancing that the 1st balancer is doing (since the lowest cell may now have the highest voltage and vice versa).

[@WillProwse]

Good point!!! I meant that for the application of mismatched cells that will be off by a ton. But yeah, if you have healthy cells, multiple balancers would be a horrible idea. But if cells are not matched by capacity, and one is off by a lot, multiple converters could push current into one cell, together. I'd have to test how big of a difference they would need to be for it to happen though. Probably better to test this first. Do you see what I mean? Do you think that would work?

[@matveyadzhigirey8950]

​@@WillProwse I see what you are saying. It may work, but would depend on the software in the balancers. I wasn't able to get my 2 iCharger Duos working together that way - they would halt with error messages. Give it a try and post a video :) If they end up fighting too much, you can try hooking up the 2nd balancer to only 2 cells - the "bad" one and a cell adjacent to it - which may speed up balancing without throwing off the other balancer as much.

[@WillProwse]

@@matveyadzhigirey8950 oh weird! I actually did test it and it works great on my end. I am doing a new test at this very moment to see how much current they balance with. Then I will do two balancer test again. Should be co

[@matveyadzhigirey8950]

@@WillProwse Great! I guess it depends on the balancer - some work OK with other balancers and some don't.

[@henryshoneybeerescue1962]

@@WillProwse I have a similar problem: I want to balance 45 cells (DIY EV, a Suzuki Carry running with 145 volts, 22Kwh). Batteries are old. The BMS top-balances them, but they are all over the place when discharging. I can only find these balancers for up to 18 cells. Do you think I can “overlap” the balancers, so that cell 18 and 35 would be connected to two balancing circuits? Or would I need to keep them separate, and accept that balancing in 3 groups would be better than not at all? Thanks

[@mikemeneray1437]

always excellent, Thanks again Will.

[@briancalvery5704]

I'm planning on building my own battery and this active balancer looks like a great addition - however I'm wondering about the implications of having it connected when there is a possibility of below freezing temperatures. Couldn't it be a significant problem if it tries to balance when below freezing? Would there be a way to wire it in to other devices to shut it off in the case?

[@Bumataur]

This is a great question…

[@mjbarran]

I continue to learn from your videos. You present very well....

[@svenfischer6171]

Active cell balancing is way more better, but the cheap one like this do have one problem in common: They swap the power only from the neighbour cells. Sounds not bad, but if you have many in serial, imagine how long it would take if cell 2 is high and 9 s low. It has to transfer all the cells, cell by cell! This takes very long. Balancer with high amp do also balance during discharge to support the overall capacity increase!

[@ecospider5]

I used old 18650 cells to build a 12s10p pack. My lowest bank keeps getting worse and is limiting the capacity of the whole pack. This would be a great fix for mismatched crap cells that loose capacity differently over time. I just hope the price goes down to $15. $35 is a little high for my hobby stuff. But if you spent more than $600 on your batteries this is a well priced fix.

[@brucebaker9961]

Will you inspire me. I found a deal on 320 32700 LiFePo4 cylindrical cells 3.2V 5500mAh. Plan to build three 15s by 7p 48volt batteries to run my Shipping container home out in the middle of the Navaho reservation. installing three of theese 15s active balancers. Sort of like a LiFePO4 Tesla. If I can get anything close to 4KWh, why not for $260 investment! Can't find cheaper storage! Thanks Bruce Baker

[@mitchellbarnow1709]

Nasty old cells! You crack me up, Will, but your knowledge is priceless!

[@beforebefore]

These inductive balancers only shift energy to/from one cell up or down the stack... which is a huge limitation on anything larger than 4 cells. Capacitive balancers will shift (share) across the entire stack, and at up to 5 Amps.

[@jesp999]

Great! i have been waiting so see something like this. I am going to try to get one if they make it for 18650 cell packs because I am going to build a new 36v ebike battery that i only want to charge to 90% to get the most cycles out of it. For my Van solar build I just got a Torque Power 12V 100Ah LiFePo4 Deep Cycle Battery on ebay for super low action win, which I think is similar to the battleborn. It has bluetooth built in. I am wondering if these drop in batteries like torque power battleborn have inside them a BMS or active cell balancer. Because I got a good price I choose to buy a drop in rather than do a battery build for my van to run my fridge and fan. I think active-balancing makes way more sense. Thanks for the video.

[@deltatoofow]

Will are you done with your lifestyle and personal videos? Such a shame if so, really cheered up my day i think you had a hardcore following of base fans who really appreciated it a lot,thank you

[@WillProwse]

I want to, but those personal videos got a lot of downvotes. So I listened and took them down. If people upvotes and shared them more, I would keep them. I'm sorry. I might start another channel for my personal stuff soon. I'll let you know. Thanks for letting me know :)

[@stevegorkowski3246]

I have done testing with this board on LTO cells and on LTO that has a lower voltage the charge current was 60ma. They said current would be higher at higher voltage. One of the two 3s boards was bad out of the box, so I have not tested over lap one cell on two boards to cascade boards. It should work but it takes 2 boards and the replacement board just came in this week. I can give you more information when I test the boards.

[@WillProwse]

Wow that's crazy!! Good to know. Thank you for the info

[@stevegorkowski3246]

@@WillProwse I will be doing single cell over lap testing with two cascaded boards, so the amount of cells supported would be unlimited if it works. I do 20s packs.

[@peter5500]

Any luck with the LTO packs, I have paired it with a ANT BMS and together I only get 150mA, it is too slow to save runaway cells. I am charging at 20A

[@rickadrian2675]

Great video. I am looking to build a small system that will power a 12v auto bilge pump to keep a dingy empty. I was looking to use 4 x 18650 cells and this could be a great addition as the unit needs to be set and forget. Maybe a micro-micro system with just a 1.5w panel could be a good video subject?

[@DCGULL01]

OMG, Will! Is this the answer to Top and/or Bottom balancing the cells? It allows maximum range for all batteries (regardless of both internal resistance and say- one cell being way more used and having a lower charge). I think at $10 bux, it is a MUST HAVE for all DIY Li-on batteries, no? With such a high charge/discharge rate- it prolly works pretty quickly as well. I bet the battery you just tested has increased overall capacity if tested again (top & bottom balanced from 1st tests, right?) This one $10 dollar 'add on' although slightly redundant, makes battery life & functionality higher across all DIY builds, right? Sorry, lots of questions, but, seemingly a blessing for those of us who want the benefits of DIY, but, fear the failure risks of doing so. There's a lot of confidence behind say a BattleBorn warranty (at a high cost tho) vs. DIY, even with new cells & a good BMS. Dave

[@WillProwse]

kzbin.info/www/bejne/mZ69XpKph9N6oJo

[@SolarEngineering]

interesting, I just tested same balancer on 6S LiPo battery and it failed (over 300mV cell diff after balancing!)

[@mgadaleta]

Hello. Would it be possible to connect the active balancers in cascade? I want to do an experiment, I would like to connect 80 lifepo4 32700 cells in series so I would need to make an 80S balancer by putting 4 21S connected in cascade. It will be possible? Thanks

[@PJWalmsley]

Neat stuff! Any boards solution like this for a larger pack (21s)? Could/should I use multiple of the smaller boards? Would it make any sense to use a bunch of 2s chips? Or two larger balancers designed for 16s with extra leads on some of the cells? Would you advise keeping these boards outside of the pack for heat reasons or is the healthy dissipation from one of these negligible?

[@TripleAstyle1]

Love the videos! QUESTION- I have a battery backup generator that requires 100w, 36v input with an 8mm cable. I can't find any solar panel that has 36v output, is it a matter of getting a simple 100w panel and a charge controller that switches to 36v output to the battery backup? THANKS! Keep the videos coming!

[@zgirl1029]

Hi Will, this 50 something women has really enjoyed your videos . Where I live in Virginia the county has nearly made it impossible to do residential solar. Therefore, what generator do you recommend for about 2000kw? Thanks

[@stratfordacademyclaytarget1306]

I hope you need a 2000w instead of 2000kw? Here is like to a 2000kw generator😳 www.generac.com/industrial/products/diesel-generators/configured/2000kw-diesel-generator

[@1yobrevef]

I was wondering, with SDG&E in my home state of California is increasing the price per kw through there time of use plan. 47cents per kWh on peak (4pm-9pm) and 19cents per kWh on off peak (12am-6am) could a battery storage system be built that could save you money. Like if you used the battery just to run a window A/C or frige?

[@ecrehou50]

do you think that this active balancer is up to date a this time ? And do you think that we can put 2 or 3 on the same batterie ? (to go faster)

[@ooowoodstockooo]

Always interresting stuff! The electric vehicle movement is also so exciting. I wonder if i could buy a cheap e-scooter or bit bigger and use its built in battery to power my tiny flat at night plus take me to work (5 miles) PLUS charge it via sunlight by day. Can you test this for us and make a howto video about it would be lifechanging for me.

[@ecospider5]

The battery in a $300 e-scooter is usually 400wh or less because of shipping laws. That won’t power a fridge or a heater but could do an 8w led light and a 10w heating blanket for a couple hours. In the summer a 2 foot x 3 foot solar panel should have no problem charging that over 8 hours.

[@reptiloidx8942]

ABSOLUTELY GREAT EXPLANATION NOW I PERFECTLY KNOW WHAT TO BUY NOW . KISSES

[@ninja5672]

If I understand this correctly, since it isn't a resister load, it cannot drain your batteries if it fails (like a cheap BMS may). It may still short out and melt, but that is a lot cheaper to replace. (I'm always careful of ebay electronic boards)

[@chrisward5626]

Hi will love your channel . Hey i was looking at the 14.8v lipo batteries for rc cars and was thinking they would go well in a small 12v battery pack for charging phones or whatever and maybe even for jumpstarting a car . And maybe a small solar system to charge it . What do you think ? Could you design and do a story on it ??

[@SamValiant]

I'm in the process of building a couple of 320ah 12v batteries with jbd bms, am i totally fine to just wire these in parallel with the bms? Always good to double check!

[@maxvanmilian]

Thanks for the hint. In the past I only found the big onces with 2 or 5 Amp for over 100 Dollar. Need it for 14S LiIon. Until 17S is possible.

[@volodumurkalunyak4651]

You can use 3s or 4s modules to get up to 14 or 17s. Just ajacent modules have to share a cell

[@dylandesmond]

they sell these in 17s... just connect more in parallel to get the desired amp usage

[@gerardomullins7315]

Wazzup Will? Interesting stuff here. Curious, what battery monitor are using in the vid?

[@WillProwse]

amzn.to/2F1nKzr

[@MasterDJRenn]

Bought this exact same one and as soon as i plugged in the board the wires melted and burned my fingers, read the Amazon reviews and the same thing happened to quite a few people.....

[@WillProwse]

These are sold on Amazon?! I had no idea

[@MasterDJRenn]

@@WillProwse Amazon, eBay, Aliexpress all have the identical board. Lucky for me i was able to pull out the harness before the board or wire burst into flames. Was using on 4s4p Headway cells.

[@aspitofmud6257]

So I've been considering puting house solar panels (3-327w each) on my van so I can run A/C on solar in the desert. Any thoughts, comments or suggestions?

[@meowzic]

thanks for this video, def going to buy a few of these for my batteries :)

[@robertbidochon7949]

Very interesting videos, too bad you don't do vlogs anymore : (

[@WillProwse]

Seems like people loved them, or hated them. They were the most disliked videos I had, and were not shared much, so I had to take them down. I always listen to the feedback of my viewers, and if people complain, I take them off and change what I am doing. I might make a vlog channel in the future though. People who liked them, seemed to love them haha

[@robertbidochon7949]

@@WillProwse ahah nice option, I like your life perception, that's what makes your vlogs interesting and fun

[@richardnani7282]

@@WillProwse what are vlogs?

[@SvetzBowman]

Is a 1.2 amp active balancer big enough or would a 5 amp be better (guessing a 5 amp would have more parasitic power loss)? If the inverter generally pulls 200w continuous, that's 50w per cell or ~16 amps per cell. 1.2 / 16 = ~7% ... so it's enough if the cell impedance's are all within ~7%? That might allow maximum power utilization for charging and discharge out of a pack, but is it the right way to think about it? If I understand it, then it's very attractive if the balancer's amperage can overcome cell impedance you no longer have to worry about min/max cell voltage (just min/max pack voltage). Can't wait to see how it works with your gnarly cells... looking forward to your thoughts on that experiment.

[@WildlyIntrepid]

I was wondering if it would be worth having a BMS like the 30$ on you have with a backup of the cell balancer you are showing? My application is inside our sailboat and I really want to avoid thermal runaway since that would most likely sink my boat. Basically wondering if they can work side by side and if one fails will the other take over?

[@WildlyIntrepid]

So it sounds like I can use them together. Also I guess I could put multiple togehter for extra redundancy as well as faster balancing? Since I would be in a warmer climate would i need to worry about anything else? What about low and high voltage cutoffs?

[@pleasecho2]

In using this in conjunction with a BMS you just parallel the leads?

[@greenyelectronics]

great video, thanks for sharing

[@مرتضىصالح-ف6ض]

Hello I have a question Is there a problem if more than one (active BMS) pill is placed in parallel for fast voltage balancing? Thanks 😊

[@jamest.5001]

I don't know if I'd rather have this , maybe if there is ALOT of balancing going on, and the system is needing the power, I think the resistor type, can use a PWM variable balancing, to vary the current, to adjust to the charge current, and a balancer that can start balancing when charging starts, at any voltage!! Some cheap bms, you can easily overcharge, BBC because the limited bal. Current, and they do not always work at proper voltages, I'm thinking about getting the chargery 8s universal bms/ monitor/ balancer, if it works out , I'll get one for my main 6s bank, that supplies up to 300amps to my inverter, I need something for my 4s life bank, for 12v stuffs!

[@OH8STN]

Awesome video Will 👍

[@MrToddsCorner]

Of course not knowing enough about BMS units I purchased 7 BMS modules for 7 4S2P 63Ah batteries (used) for my travel trailer. I didn't know the difference between active and non-active balancing. The batteries at 100% charge are at 4.2v per cell/16.8 volts total. To extend the life I've decided to set a top charge at 15.8v. I do this also because my 6000 watt inverter shuts off at 16 volts, so I have to keep below that limit. I am also limiting discharge to 13.8 volts, though the batteries are spec'd to go to 12.8 volts. Again I'm limiting max charge and discharge to extend the battery life. Learning here though that the 7 BMS modules I have will only balance once the batteries get to max 4.2v per cell and balance up the lower cells while keeping the topped off cells from over charging. Since I'll never charge that high I need something that will actively balance at any voltage, and these active units look like what I need, especially when I put the batteries in storage mode at 3.7v/14.8 total. Live and learn. If this sounds wrong, I would appreciate some feedback. Thanks. Now bummed - saw Will's update when he found this active ballancer well.... doesn't. I had already ordered one. In testing I'm finding out it is inconsistent in turning on. After connecting it up I decided to discharge three of the four cells. The ballancer was disconnected during the drain. So I had 3.68, 3.61, 3.61, 3.62. I plugged in the ballancer and it turned on. It shouldn't turn on until the voltage spread is .1 volt, not .06 or .07. I unplugged the ballancer and continued to drain to 3.68, 3.58, 3.57, 3.61. I plugged in the ballancer and nada, nothing, just a flash from the LEDs when first connected. I unplugged and plugged back in 5 or six times and the ballancer finally cicked on. I have my meter on so am now watching to see if it'll ballancer the lower cells and one high one. I don't trust it and think I'll go back to manual ballancing with my meter.

[@PatricksDIY]

I have purchased about 10 of these things, What I noticed is they are not all the same, for example I have one that I connected to view current when purposefully coupling out of balance cells together, and would get above the 1.2, it would go as high as 1.4 at times, then I would get the others, that looked to passively .2 or .4 worth of current, looking at the chips on the board and the manufacturer listed, it seems to be different between those 2, so it seems to be hit or miss on which one gets sent to you even if you order them from the same place.

[@milordas]

yes, it is good for LiFepo4 batteries, because those batteries have 2000+ life cycle, but what about li-ion wich have only 300-500 life cycle? is it good for them too? do it shortens battery life cycle if were using AB?

[@freedomkitesurfingphilippi4503]

What about also using a victron battery protector (or similar product) to cut the battery’s out at extreme high and low voltages?

[@mikelujanable]

I have a 7 kwh setup but my BMS(chargery) cannot keep up. I am starting with 5 of these installed on each 3s set.(15s setup) Then I will be trying 5 of the deligreen qnbbm between each 3s. Hopefully this makes up for my used cells charging and discharging balance issues. Around 1kw solar seems about where they get over 300mah apart. Would like to add more solar but this is my limiting factor right now.

[@henryperity9412]

Nasty old cells ? Any tricks on bringing unused 200 amp LiFepo 4 Thunder storm 3.2 volt cells back to life. The cells have been unused for 3-4 years ,

[@371508129]

Not related to this video but I saw on a UK narrow boat vlog a fellow was installing a lead carbon battery as an upgrade from traditional batteries. Question. What are lead carbon batteries and are they any good and available in the US?

[@SNxr400r]

Love you videos...I'm trying to find your video that had Amazon links to your tools...like your crimpers...fittings....etc etc...I'm about to put solar on my bus and need these tools and forget which video you did about the basic tools needed.....

[@WillProwse]

Thanks! And sure thing: www.mobile-solarpower.com/tools.html

[@heardandtested]

Will it work for diy lifepo4 car audio battery?. Was thinking about buying 5 of them for even more faster balancing.

[@wilfredstewart3348]

I was having trouble finding active balancing cells that worked in nz for lithium titanate so I got some dc to dc converters that are finely tunable and charge each cell separately. Not fast to do 11 cells but each cell is the same after charging.

[@rajgj7041]

Same thing for 4.2 v batteryes , i used 2-3 bms in parallel to get more balance

[@alanpetersen4615]

I have the opportunity to purchase two different 12V LiFeP04 Battery packages (one 12V 100AH, of a particular size, and the other 12V 200AH battery of a different size), from two different manufacturers. My goal is to place the two 12V batteries in Parallel. My question is: (1.) Is it safe to place two dissimilar manufactured batteries in Parallel? (2.) Can it damage either one, or both of the Battery packages?

[@andreasschiffner1808]

Hello :) I use the same Active Cell Balancer, but... The 3 red LEDs - do not light up! I checked the wiring several times. do you have an idea for me Thank you, regards Andy

[@noodlesd9126]

Thanks great video. You mentioned in the previous bms video not to run more than 2 in parallel. Does this unit have the same limitation?

[@Adz.M]

Only one balancer should always be used, because the act of balancing changes voltages, which would throw off the 2nd balancer.

[@noodlesd9126]

Marina Adzhigirey I get it. That makes sense. Thanks you

[@WillProwse]

No you can use two. It's not bad. One might turn off first and the other one will finish it depending on the accuracy but it doesn't matter.

[@LakbayDrone]

My system currently 12v/100Ah battery with active cell balancing. Im planning to go 24v/100Ah batterry system. My Question is can i add additional (1board) in able to balance 24v battery instead buying another board 8s active balancer.

[@cyrielblezer2593]

Hi Will, I have watched several of your recordings as well as the one about the 4S active balancer. I mainly work with ebike and escooter batteries. I bought myself a 16S active balancer, hooked it up and at first stage it worked fine. I disconnected it, did a little measuring and connected it again. Then some components on my active balancer got extremly hot and burned within seconds. Any idea what I did wrong?

[@rcinfla9017]

These balancers have an issue with voltage sensing to determine which way to push balance current. Problem is all the individual I.C.'s operate asynchronously. Next door neighbor chip can be pushing balance current while its adjacent chip is making voltage comparison sensing. The common wiring lead wire to battery terminal gets a voltage drop or rise from pump current that screws up the sample reading on adjacent I.C. This can cause a chip to balance pump in wrong direction. The longer and smaller the gauge of the connection wiring to cells the worse the issue.

[@bluetrepidation]

Any idea on identifying the chip they are using on this board? Have a datasheet for it?

[@KingTesticus]

oo, great question. me too Will, if you're reading these, an election shepherd is curious...

[@jeffsenecal4168]

I bought one of these. Off amazon, checked the wiring twice, it immediately smoked and caught fire as soon as I plugged it in lol.