Monitor cells in a battery array?
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I have a PV system w/ a 16cell battery array. I'd like to monitor the health of the array as well as individual cells. Has anyone seen or done a project like that? I'm trying to get pointed in the right direction. Any advice?
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@Matt-Stone you need some type of battery management system (BMS) with serial output. Here is an example of it.
I haven't used this exact device myself the most challenging part would be trying to decode the protocol they encode all the data with.
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Hi Matt,
Looking to do something similar, in my case I just want to monitor two voltages in my system:
- PV voltage (0-150V)
- Battery bank (40V-80V)
I ordered an AD7999 A/D converter from control everything. My board has 4 ports, but I think they sell A/D converters with more ports. Don't know if you can use multiple of the same, since the I2C address I think is hardcoded.
Just getting started with my project
Bas
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that's sounds similar to my project. The battery monitor on my power wall monitors the entire array. I want individual readings on each battery in the array. 8x6v in series = 48v system.... (I also have PV in, so I may hook that up also
)If you make progress. I hope you report in here. I'll do the same.
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My first finding: the COntrolEverything AD7999 does not work with the provided Python code
Reading are not reliable. Will see if I can get the C version cross compiled
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i haven't made much progress on this. I'm not sure how to really begin. Does anyone have a conceptual wiring diagram that I could start from? If I made a GitHub project would you guys contribute?
thanks
-stone
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@Zheng-Han I'm not sure I need a BMS. The system has a smarter inverter/charger for AC and a MPPT solar charge controller. I'm really just looking for a way to monitor DC voltage in at several points in the system (maybe as many as ~20 -- 16 batteries, 3 PV strings).
In my case, the batteries in my array are sealed lead acid. I found this BMS Voltage Display Energy Transfer Equalizer, Lead Acid 4/ 8 /16 string 36V 48V 60V Lithium Battery Protection Plate
think we would have any luck connection this to an onion somehow? think it would do what I'm describing?