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paulis asked

Charging a Victron Lithium Smart battery with a Blue Smart IP65 12/25 - Which BMS to use?

Hello,

I bought a Victron 160ah Lithium battery and a Blue Smart IP65 12/25 and I was wondering which BMS do I need to use.

My usage is extremely simple, i will charge the battery at home with the Blue Smart charger and then put the battery in my caravan to use it in my 12V system.


I spent a lot of time reading the forum but I am still not sure and afraid to make a mistake.


- Do I really need a BMS or is this charger enough for such a simple system?

- If I need a BMS, will the miniBMS be enough or do i need other equipment to charge the battery properly and safely?


Thank you very much in advance for your answer.



Lithium BatteryBMScharger
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5 Answers
Elimac avatar image
Elimac answered ·

You can customise the charge profile. I would set absorption to 13.8V. This can prevent, in principle, that all cells stay below 3.45 / 3.50V. It is still better to have a BMS that can monitor individual cells because if one goes wrong, the others will suffer too, and overall voltage can still be ok, thus fooling you that everything is (seems) good.

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ejrossouw answered ·

Hi @Paulis If you are keeping the battery connected to the charger at home all the time, a bms will be adviseable. In my view however, if you plan to only charge / maintain the battery e.g. once a month when not in use, you can charge and monitor the cells when doing so to keep things in check. You will basically do the job of the bms by turning off the charger when any cell approaches 3.75V. Do all cells exceed 3.75 or only one?

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ejrossouw avatar image
ejrossouw answered ·

Hi @paulis. The charger is perfectly fine on its own for use as you described and you will not need a bms. Just ensure you choose the correct charge profile, which should be lithium.

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paulis answered ·

Hi @ejrossouw, Thank you for your answer. Yes I chose the LiFePO4 profile, the only worry that I have is that multiple times the individual cell voltage went above 3,75V which is apparently not good and I was thinking that having a BMS would block/stop that from happening.

Anyway, thank you very much for you answer, I feel reassured and less stressed!


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paulis answered ·

Thank you very much both for your precise and helpful answer. Yes, I charge it once or twice a month and I now feel reassured. I will probably order a miniBMS but I am happy to know that until then I can monitor myself the cell voltage and stop charging when a cell is above 3,75V (it is always just one cell).

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