First Look: iSDT BG-8S Smart Battery Checker (BattGo)

Quick check of the iSDT BG-8S battery checker and balancer.
iSDT BG-8S on Banggood.com
bit.ly/2y3qib1

[@schwartzenheimer1]

You've got accuracy and resolution confused. Accuracy is the reading compared to a known standard, while resolution is the smallest detectable (or measurable) change. Since the unit seems able to read down to a millivolt, it seems to be operating correctly. The actual voltage may be +/- 5mv, but how important is that for cell balancing? Not very. Great videos, thanks for making them, and sharing...cheers.

[@paulgrimshaw6301]

I think you may be confusing "accuracy" with "resolution" at 13:30. The resolution of the display is clearly 1mV, but the values shown may still be inaccurate by up to 5mV.

[@JulianIlett]

That's true, although something has changed with 3dp on the unit's display and only 2 decimal places in the manual.

[@ufohunter3688]

I think it was about time I became one of your Patron supporters. Joined a few minutes ago. Thanks for your entertaining and informative content.

[@volvo09]

Very cool unit! Good price too, hearing from another comment that it supports quick charge makes it even cooler. Going to bookmark this and just might get one.

[@PIXscotland]

The resolution displayed is likely an average of some oversampling. I do that to try to reduce ADC drift. Reading and averaging 100/1000 reads will get you what appears to be a much higher resolution (and probably accuracy.) The appearance of the resolution/accuracy is due to the ability of the value to drift with the noise on the ADC but the value does track well.

[@RWBHere]

That accuracy isn’t the _resolution_ of the display; it's the _expected error_ in the displayed figures. Thanks Julian.

[@southwestbushcraft9339]

That is Quite a good bit of kit thanks Julian.

[@presjar4016]

Does the unit balance cells by shunting higher voltage cells into the lower or does it just use an internal load?

[@kai7474]

The 2 decimal places found in the manual is likely the limitation of the BattGo monitoring chip, it may only read 2 decimal places of precision and report that data down the XT60i bus, while the voltage sensing device directly on the balance port is more precise... The +/- 5mV accuracy is likely still valid. You're seeing shifting values of 1mV on the screen, this does not mean that it's more accurate than +/- 5mV, it means it's got precision/resolution of 1mV, it could still be reading up to 5mV incorrect on a cell if it is within spec of +/-5mV accuracy...

[@frankheijkamp3792]

I like these kind of products. It is a brave attempt to make LiPo / LiFe a bit more fool proof. Obviously not water tight. You can still burn down your house if you abuse a battery pack. There is just a little bit more information to hand, a bit more insurance that the charger and battery pack "understand" each other. I'm looking forward to how the BattGo standard will develop. Please keep posting video's about this.

[@JulianIlett]

Will do - thanks Frank :)

[@andymouse]

Julian has been making these great vids for years I am sure he understands the law

[@vazza69]

Love that thing!

[@ksss2000]

I've got one of the cellmeter 8 and that came with an light bulb that connects to it as a discharge resistor. Maybe is your one is missing that bulb that's why it isn't discharging fast enough.

[@DazzaDirect]

Hi Julian and all, long time watcher , first time commenter, i think with regards to the 5mv accuracy you mention the Chinglish translation is more that he resolution of the device is 1mv (as shown) but with an +or- accuracy of the 5mv it states. Side note, i do a lot of lead acid charging mostly 7ah, 17ah and 40ah all @12v, can you recommend the correct type of diode i could use, thanks in advance

[@AdamWelchUK]

Quite a neat little thing. It'd be nice to know the discharge current. That USB port is QC3.0 compatible too I see. Cheers Julian

[@JulianIlett]

+Adam Welch I'm really liking this little cell tester. I'm thinking of testing the discharge current by bodging up a little extender for the balance port.

[@AdamWelchUK]

Julian Ilett Please do! I've been through the manual and it doesn't seem to say what it is. Not enough of these types of devices do 8s so it's nice to see this one coming to the market.

[@FPVSkittles]

do you know if there is a way to check the voltage on a tiny whoop sized battery? It says it will do 1s but idk how to make it read out the voltage. I have connected a separate battery to the XT-60 to give it at least 5V but when I connect the tiny whoop 1s battery via a JST like shown in the pictures of the product I get no voltage shown in cell #1. Any ideas?

[@williambolanos8532]

Hi, Why does your Battgo not show information about battery type and load percentage?

[@jamest.5001]

do they sell a board that can be attached to any battery pack. like a cell protection or BMS. with temp and other capabilities. to work with the batgo device? that would be a nice next step. if they do not!

[@markflack9191]

It will be good when you get a smart battery, it sounds like this could be a very useful feature to have.

[@JulianIlett]

Thanks Mark, I've found a suitable battery so I'll be taking a look at that in due course.

[@pbox9642]

what is the balance currant on this device ? keep up the good work.regards

[@TheColinputer]

If battgo gets popular and more used it will be great. I use lipos all the time for various things and know how to use them safely. But even with that ive still put packs on for the wrong charge rates and capacities and whatever. So something like this which seems almost like a small BMS unit in the packs would help protect packs and people less experiences IMO

[@7328971]

Does it measure the C rating of the battery?Thanks

[@GadgetReviewVideos]

FYI, I own the iSDT BC-8S, this would be great and small to wire up in your bike for live monitoring. Bright OLED screen, can adjust the brightness, draws little power, fairly accurate, can alter you via sound and lights flashing of low voltage for a cell pack and a problem detected with the battery when riding. So if you’re looking to monitor your battery riding your E-Bike I recommend this one. And if the e-bike battery can take a fast C rated charge I also own the iSDT Q6 300W/14Amp charger. It’s great if you have the proper power supply running it and the batteries can handle the charging current. I don’t know much about this new 3 pin XT60 plug BattGo, but sounds like a smart monitoring system for hobby batteries and other batteries built into the protection with the battery like some laptop batteries already do. Nothing new, just new to this plug style for hobby use I guess. I dint think I’ll upgrade batteries for this, maybe as they need to be but not just for the feature now. Some smart batteries like DJI batteries have been doing this type of on board battery monitoring for years now also.

[@JulianIlett]

Yeah, I like the look of the BC-8S. It has an alarm for voltage difference (between cells) which I could use while charging the pack.

[@proluxelectronics7419]

Must be doing some fancy power transfer balancing trick or it would get pretty warm..

[@DoRC]

The batt go site didn't disappoint in the chinglish dept

[@SteveHodge]

Can't see how the XT60i can replace the balanced charging port. It might be able to supply individual cell info, but how can it do balanced charging or discharging?

[@JulianIlett]

It would require balancing circuits in the battery itself. Maybe that's not possible due to the heat generated.

[@SteveHodge]

Julian Ilett You could do that without the BattGo stuff too. It'd be just like super capacitor banks with their protection circuits. But yeah, not ideal to dump heat in the battery pack.

[@MrBrymstond]

+Julian Ilett this is for the BG pertaining to that single link for smart battery ISDT BG-Linker BattGO Smart Battery Linker Adapter www.banggood.com/ISDT-BG-Linker-BattGO-Smart-Battery-Linker-Adapter-p-1195278.html?rmmds=search

[@JulianIlett]

Yeah, that unit is on its way too :)

[@GadgetReviewVideos]

For the battery output range they are mainly talking about the XT60 plug. From the balancing port only if you plug it in without the XT60 very rarely would a single cell be over 4.35 V depending on the pick setup. I guess some batteries could be higher on a single monitoring wire depending on how the pack is wired for the RC hobby, and iSDT is mostly RC hobby battery equipment. At cells using a 8 Series configurations with max charge of 4.35 for high voltage cells it still won’t go over 36V total. And since this balancing port won’t read more then 8 cells I think your safe to plug in about any battery. Unless you wired up the 10 Series cell pack on the 8 or 9 wire then it will damage the unit, so home made pack wired wrong to the balancer port could be an issue. This is a great page for seeing how to wire the packs and balancer plugs correctly for beginners. scriptasylum.com/rc_speed/lipo.html

[@MrOrangeman18]

shame battgo hasnt taken off. would be good if they sold the pcb that you could add to a pack (retrofit). trying to find any battgo stuff is proving hard

[@alexandermatias761]

can i series 3 of them for a 20s battery?

[@PolakeXD]

Yes, but sometimes you will get a row with different voltages like the first 8 cells have 3.40v, another ones with 3.32v and the third ones are balanced to 4.03v. If something like that happens and this happened to me twice, then you will need an Battery Management System anyway in order to balance charge all the cells.

[@ngth9898]

You have one of these already, haven't you? Why not compare those two and see what all has changed over the years.

[@MrBrymstond]

I didn't know you're a fan of infowars.. Awesome.

[@EnglishTurbines]

Nice device...but nobody has any Smart Batteries..?

[@andymouse]

"breath light" ? didn't this used to be known as " heartbeat" ?

[@frankvee]

Accuracy is + or - 5 mW, meaning each cell reading may be off by 5mW. 5mW is the ACCURACY, not the resolution.

[@dash8brj]

Auto storage on battgo batteries is just a ripoff of the function on DJI batteries. When you charge your drone batteries for a DJI product, and then decide not to fly before the auto storage mode kicks in (set on the IOS/android device used to see the camera of the drone), they bleed themselves down using some smarts and a resistor. They get sligtly warm, but nothing alarming :)

[@6A8G]

Hi Julian, I find your videos very good, the picture quality is very good so in this one, why does the audio have such a crap sample rate?

[@pirateman1966]

What can he do? Think about it! Since none of us have any problems with Audio or Video, do you not think the problem is from your end?

[@IrishSkruffles]

+PirateKitty I noticed the strange audio too, one cannot speak for all. He was leaving constructive criticism and bringing the problem to Julian's attention in a non harsh manner.. Yes he said "crap" but only for the audio in this particular video, indicating a problem on Julian's end, one which probably has an easy fix too.

[@JulianIlett]

Almost certainly because I'm no longer using the KZbin Video Editor. I'm now having to use Windows Movie Maker instead.

[@pirateman1966]

I am not speaking for all. I am simply saying; if it was a production issue, we would all experience it. Since we don't, it must be a particular KZbin server. KZbin, like Google search engine, has hundreds of servers around the world, serving millions or requests per second!

[@pirateman1966]

When this happens to me once in a while, I close the browser and open a new session. It usually fixes it by going to a less crowded server.

[@DjResR]

Accuracy is not resolution, mate. It may show 1mV steps but it can be 5mV off from the actual voltage._

[@OtakuSanel]

you're confusing precision with accuracy. It may be precise to 1mv but it's accuracy may still be +/- 5mv

[@ninehundreddollarluxuryyac5958]

This is the third video I've watched about these things and nobody knows or is willing to say exactly how they work because the instructions are rubbish and everyone does a quick review before they know how to use it. I charged my 4s LiFePo4 battery, got the meter into LiFePo4 mode and applied load. I'm measuring load over time to determine the batteries capacity. Soon this thing is sounding an alarm. But why? What does the tweedle sound alarm mean? All cell voltages are highlighted in red, but are within nominal cell voltage limits. (3.298, 3.305, 3.302, 3.308) 13.2V for the 4s pack. Why is it sounding an alarm, and what is it trying to say is wrong? Why is there no useful instructions and why are ALL the reviews superficial and devoid of any useful information a person would need to know when actually operating a battery using this monitor?

[@robh1908]

Banggood isn't cheap anymore.

[@techy4198]

3:10 well there goes my other ear

[@notroop]

You forgot to mark this as includes paid promotion.

[@JulianIlett]

+notroop I wasn't paid

[@notroop]

Oh, I was under the impression that it needed the notification even if you just got the product for free. I think AvE said something about it in a recent video. Oh well.

[@JulianIlett]

+notroop according to ofcom, the inclusion of products provided free of charge is not product placement.

[@pirateman1966]

So you are the one that gave a thumbs down?

[@SatyajitRoy2048]

PirateKitty I gave thumbs down for accuracy and resolution at 13:20

[@ed-jf3xh]

i-ron? Really?

[@pirateman1966]

Yes really.

[@philipcross1586]

so you can`t charge a battery thru this unit only balance it or discharge it, 2 functions some smart chargers have that can charge a battery have built in, i personally don`t have a need for one so banggood please don`t send me a free unit to review.

[@Roy_Tellason]

I did see a micro-USB connector on the right hand side of this unit, but he didn't address it...

[@MeiklesAndDimes]

There is a difference between resolution and accuracy

[@MrBrymstond]

You never know which device is accurate.

[@felixcat4346]

Could Julian say "BATT GO" more times and with more emphasis.

[@pirateman1966]

You again? Why do you do this? In EVERY comment you make on the Electronic channels, you come out looking like an entitled ass. You have zero videos yourself, yet critic others like this! I will troll you from now on if I see your comments being mean and shitty. See how you like it being on the receiving end.

[@richardgrier4721]

Accuracy and resolution are not the same specification.

[@pirateman1966]

Its not "specification". Its "Definition".

[@SatyajitRoy2048]

13:20 accuracy and resolution are two different things.

[@pirateman1966]

Please collect your "Shit-on-a-stick" prize on your way out, for correcting something that was obvious to the rest of us.

[@SatyajitRoy2048]

Yes watching this kind of videos really a "shit-on-a-stick" kind of prize because you need to spend time in writing comments. I am not being paid for that. Will you ?

[@markr9069]

He was hardly attacking. Stop being a bellend

[@pirateman1966]

What business is it of yours drunk?

[@therealmeisl5609]

13:12 resulotion is not the same as accuracy...

[@kyoudaiken]

Somehow your videos from your phone are now stuttering and you even have audio problems in your videos.

[@JulianIlett]

+Kyôdai Ken You can blame youtube's decision to scrap their video editor, which worked really well.

[@stevejones8665]

Julian Ilett I am watching this and don't see any problems with either your Video or Audio running fine at highest resolution on my 4K display so guess it could be a problem with the viewer's Internet or if there using Windozy LOL. Using Linux and also tried Android on phone with no problems 👍👍👍

[@ufohunter3688]

Since none of us have any problems, its safe to say you have a shitty service and are blaming it on others.

[@Inspironator]

Watching you mettle through the operation of these devices is painfully unprofessional.

[@pirateman1966]

We like it like that. You are welcome to piss off and not watch.

[@maicod]

who said Julian aims to be a professional youtuber ? IMHO he's just a tech savvy consumer playing with stuff and showing us all the troubles and delights he runs into

[@rudw.wichmann4287]

PirateKitty qq

[@simontay4851]

BattGo sounds like a bit of gimmick I think to be honest.