question

You say you are happy to pay for quality, but in the next paragraph you state you are impressed with REC but it's very pricey. The maximum integration with Victron is going to be REC. Batrium does work as well, but I don't have any experience with using it. However if you think REC is expensive, Batrium is even more.

While it's not officially supported by Victron, REC makes sure their BMS communicates with Victron gear. You do get what you pay for with REC. With that said, how do you plan on using this system? Will it have DC loads? Their 16s configuration doesn't support disabling external loads (like DC loads) so you have to keep that in mind. If the battery is fully discharged by a DC load (that the BMS can't control) then it will disconnect the main contactor which basically turns off the battery.

Batrium works quite well with my victron system and my lifepo4 cells. But it is quite expensive too. It integrated fully into the cerbo and victron environment.

Jens

Hi whafa,

i had tested a lot of BMS´in the last years, but not Batrium or REC - both are very expensive and i tried to find a solution that works, but for a "diy"-price.

To describe all the other BMS i tested woud be too much for this forum, but i can give you a good recommendation for the following sources:

On youtube look for the channels "offgrid garage" by Andy from Australia - he did a lot of tests too and has links on his hp to inexpensive sources on aliexpress. Especially look for the Hankzor BMS. I will install this in my next project too. Second channel on youtube ist "Meine Energiewende", a german guy, very familiar with Victron products an also with the Hankzor BMS. On https://www.youtube.com/shorts/fw_fJFkhnX0 he shows the wiring for this BMS with a Victron installation and it works fine.

Nevertheless is it a lot of work to read, listen and understand all the backgrounds, to install this combination yourself, but if you understand your system, it´s much more fun and a lot of money you can save.

Hi @Whafa

don't know the price range you are talking about for mentioned products but I can testify that Seplos BMS are working well within the victron environment (I have 6 of them chained and with one BMS CAN link)

The only disadvantage I found up to now is that the RS485 link (allowing you to see / program the BMS datas) is not compatible with BMS CAN, which means you must disable the BMS CAN communication for the time being you need to send new configuration to the BMS, fortunately this is not really common.

Tao make a good BMS, but you need a master (12v base system) & 3 slaves (extensions)

They integrate with Victron via CANbus & have Dynamic 4amp cell balancing, There is a comparison sheet on the Website

TAO Performance ‣ Lithium Battery & Energy Management System

The ones I have used are TAO and 123 smart BMS, the best priced one is 123Smart BMS, it also has a FULL interface to the Cerbo being a USB connection unit. we have installed over 100 sets of these ourselves and they have proformed VERY well, you can also connect by Bluetooth, and there support is excellent.

I even can not understand why Victron is not willing to make the system more open for other DIY BMS systems, like JK Hankzor, Daly, LLT which are in a very good price level and more technically up to date than REC and other BMS Systems for 500-1000 €. The supported BMS are working with passive balancing, mechanical contactors etc. vs. Hankzor / Daly which are working with modern MOS,they can select between switchen charge and discharge current, have active balancing funktions and Smart APPs working out of the box. For those BMS it is necesary to use third parts drivers and hours of trail and errors as well a study at Youtube-University. Due that Victron devices are also produced in China, it would be a easiness for their chinese engineers to make it compatible for the chinese BMS stuff.

I have just setup a 48V lithium battery (16s) with a batrium BMS. This was actually originally a proprietary lithium battery from another maker, where I removed its BMS so I could use the cells, and discard the inverter part, to use with a Victron system. Works well with the cerbo/victron system but ...Batrium however is difficult to get into, their documentation is while fairly complete, also disordered.

I am trying to find an alternative which works like a GenZ battery: ie a self managed lithium battery which simply takes a charge like a dumb lead acid battery, and will not exercise direct control over the MPPT charging, or the Multiplus when the voltage gets lowish, like 51.5v. (At this relatively high voltage, the MPII starts to switch off, because of 'low battery voltage', clearly a problem.) Anyway...I am about to go a do a quick review of the following BMSs, some mentioned here:

• Batrium as non-canbus
• Orion
• Chargery
• 123Smart BMS
• Tiny BMS
• DIY BMS
• Daly
• REC
• Hankzor
• Seplos
• Tao
• Electrodacus

Don´t forget this "problem":
https://community.victronenergy.com/questions/106290/bug-in-ess-dc-feed-in-enabled-charge-current-limit.html?childToView=181085#comment-181085

> Conclusion: The BMS has to reduce the CVL when a single cell-voltage is getting too high!

Only REC and Batrium are doing this what I know (with latest Firmware allegedly also the Seplos).

With other BMS (which only reduce the CCL) you have to implement it yourself or you have to take perfect matched cells, a strong balancer and a max. CVL of 3,55V (per cell, to have some reserve)

I will add my experience to this list. I have three systems running Daly 250 amp SmartBMS with 460Ah 16S LiFePO4 batteries. It can manage 0.2 amp balancing by default. Daly make an active balancer module you can add for around 1-2 amps balance. Using this enables control of balancing via the app/PC software.

I am using 3rd party 16S 5A active balancers in parallel to the BMS instead, seemed simpler and more effective and it has been so far.

The setup was easy just check and connect the balancing cables, the BMS turns on. You can use a Bluetooth UART addon which just plugs into the UART port and an app. However, it's better to opt to have the UART to RS485 cable supplied by Daly and connect it instead to a PC. Now you get more data and some software which can upgrade the firmware etc.

My systems run a maximum of 70 amps on the DC, so the BMS is over-specified. However, it does not get hot and the fan never turns on.

If the cells get out of balance the BMS will show a low pack voltage to the inverter which will back off or shut down. I have attempted recently to connect this BMS to a Multiplus II via CAN in order that it can act as the battery monitor instead of the MP2, but have not yet had any success. There is a thread about it here

https://community.victronenergy.com/questions/178547/multiplus-ii-connection-with-daly-bms-daly-interfa.html?childToView=193995#answer-193995

If I manage to get it working I will post my solution on that thread.

I have no doubt that some more expensive BMS solutions can do better and with more finesse. However, for around £100/$120 it seems to be working extremely well. It has never done anything odd or unpredictable and I do not doubt it's ability to protect my cells.

The new JK BMS seems to be ok.

https://off-grid-garage.com/battery-management-systems-bms/

With latest firmware full integration with Victron.
I did order one for mine new to build 3 phase system.

Latest JK BMS seems to be the best answer to your problem, has integrated equalizer as well. Although the product start looking ok, and progress quite fast in the last 4 month, it is still a work in progress. But even so, I would trade GLADDLY my Seplos 10E for an JK BMS for the functionality has inside!!

As I mention, it is still a work in progress. The community of Andy s Garage just found it out about a major error in the new JK BMS ; you should NOT USE thsi device at the moment!!

I just wrote JK if I should directly return the BMS (still in shipping process to me) or how they planning to fix this issue.

How a faulty BMS can be recognized, and if the issue will be fixed in a new firmware or a hardware change has to be made.

As soon the developers do have a solution I will get a message from them.

Seems the parameters are stored in ram memory only, they should save them in flash memory.
Think next firmware version will fix the issue.

But your correct what will be the next bug, can you trust this BMS,…?

Just got a mail from JK
They will send me the latest V14.17 firmware to fix the problem.

See off grid garage already uploaded it.