2:19 If it costs $100~$100 per BMS, might as well buy the new JK BMS...

Have you checked the expansion/bloating of cells inside your Battery Shelf? Mine bloated by 2mm on both sides. I will be redoing my battery shelf soon to add some compression to prevent it from further expansion.

Have you tried the *keep_alive* flag with multiple batteries or a single one? If with multiple then it will explain why you have disconnections happening as the BLE stack on ESP32 doesn't properly support concurrent devices so it has to cycle through all of them. Having dedicated ESP32 per each BMS should fix this and make it more reliable and convenient to use! :)

Would a larger capacity BMS say 10A also solve this problem ?

if you put the current clamp between the input of the multiplus and the pv inverter on the left then if you can set the export of the multiplus to 0 Watts, it should run the loads with the power it needs from the solar/batteries connected to the multiplus, then any excess load would first be taken from the "export" solar inverter but not charge the batteries from it unless you set the multiplus to charge from gird. the Export Solar would continue to export as normal. I think. I makes sense to me anyway. Could be miles out, if the multiplus doesnt use a current clamp to work out it's export

SUMMARY The content discusses the use of Peter boards and BatMon integration for battery management systems (BMS) in an off-grid garage setup in Australia, comparing their effectiveness, reliability, and cost. IDEAS: - Rainy weather can surprisingly increase solar power generation, contrary to common expectations. - Peter boards offer a plug-and-play solution for integrating BMS with Victron systems. - BatMon provides a free alternative for monitoring BMS via Bluetooth and Home Assistant. - The reliability of wired connections for BMS is contrasted with the potential issues of Bluetooth. - Home Assistant can automate alerts for battery issues using data from BMS. - The cost of Peter boards is justified by their ease of setup and reliability. - Tinkering with hardware and software is required for most free BMS monitoring solutions. - Bluetooth's range limitations necessitate strategic placement of Home Assistant servers. - BatMon supports a wide range of BMS devices, offering flexibility in setup. - MQTT protocol enables integration of BMS data into Home Assistant for automation. - Physical cable connections offer more reliable BMS communication than wireless alternatives. - The frequency of data updates is crucial for accurate monitoring of battery systems. - BatMon allows for detailed monitoring without additional hardware, but with limitations. - Direct control over BMS through BatMon may pose safety concerns without proper security. - The ease of accessing BMS data varies significantly between wired and wireless solutions. - Bluetooth interference can affect the reliability of wireless BMS monitoring solutions. - The cost-effectiveness of BatMon is balanced by its less reliable data transmission. - The choice between Peter boards and BatMon depends on user needs for control versus monitoring. - Security concerns arise with the ability to control BMS settings without authentication. - The practicality of monitoring multiple batteries is challenged by wireless communication issues. - Home Assistant's role in centralizing battery data can streamline the monitoring process. - The limitations of Bluetooth connectivity highlight the trade-offs of wireless BMS solutions.

Can you test the SmartBms Utility app? I've seen it in in some forums but don't know if it is really that good. Thank you great video BTW!

Με έχεις μάθει πολλά. Σε ευχαριστώ!!!

It is a good thing that 2 amp active balancing is built into BMS's now which solves these problems.. Battery construction has also improved..

Try this project - syssi/esphome -jk-bms. With Esp32 board i connect to jkbms directly to 4 pin port. Grab all data to Mqtt (to Home Assistant). This project can connect by Bluetooth to BMS. But i prefer directly connection. Finally - grab all data by Wi-fi.

Moin 👍👍👌

I think you may be running into a limitation of how many bluetooth devices can be connected at one time.

I've been using batmon for quite a while. I have several batteries as well. I found that each Bluetooth adapter can only handle 2 or 3 devices, before it get's overloaded. I added multiple bluetooth adaptors, and kept the count to 2 or 3 per device. This resolved it for me.

I had exactly the same random stability Bluetooth problems when I made an esp32 to HA (rpi4) running under ESPHome. At the time I thought it was a bad esp32 board, so gave up and went TTL to esp (very similar to the Peter board), and that’s rock solid. There must be something wrong with the entire Bluetooth code in HA if totally different hardware gives the same issues.

Hi andy where can we purchase a peter board? Can you use peter board when your battery banks are in parallel and is communicating vis rs485.

Don't some of the bluetooth bms go to sleep ? I wonder if the Batmon does something to keep them awake and that is why it makes them beep sometimes ?

I just received my first ever order of cells of this size using the link provided by Andy. (TLDR I got 16 MB31 cells and my initial testing and experience matches with what Andy says). I just wanted to share my experience for anyone else who was looking into getting these cells and is ordering cells this large for the first time. I used the link Andy provides on his site to Alibaba store. Put in the order for the 16 cells and installed the Alibaba app. Glad I did because I was contacted by Amy Peng, after the order went in. She let me know the site defaults my order to Express delivery and that the actual delivery will be by sea and take 55-65 days and said Alibaba was show the order as delivered in 10 days but that the actual delivery would show up in 55+ days. I was confused by this a but but agreed that was fine because I expected them to come by ship and take over a month. It did make me a bit nervous as this is a fair bit of money to gable on but over the last month Amy would reach out through Alibaba and update me on the status of my delivery and she let me know when the batteries made it to shore. I ordered the cells as soon as the first video dropped and they showed up maybe even faster than 55 days. I opened one box so far and looked over the two cells. There was no bloating and the barcode was laser etched into the metal of the cell and matched with what Andy found in the videos. The cells looked to be in perfect condition with no signs of them being used and repackaged as new cells. I have personally ran into sellers who have done this on a much smaller order of cell in the past so I was worried a little for this order. I tested them using the same tester Andy has and was able to reproduce pulling 332 amp out of the first cell I have tested. I still have 15 more to test but everything Andy mentioned in the video I am able to confirm worked as he said it would. Andy you do a great job teaching everyone about how batteries work. I have not missed a single video of yours after watching for multiple years now. Keep up the good work and thank you for finding reputable sellers and sharing that information with us. There is a reason your channel is blowing and that is due to your hard work and funny personality, keep up the great work!

Hallo Andy, vermutlich habe ich nicht ganz verstanden, wie Du die JKBMS über Bluetooth verbindest. In den Daten zu dem SMlight SLZB-06(M) wird nirgendwo erwähnt, dass auch eine BT zu Ethernet-Verbindung unterstützt wird. Es ist in den Geräten zwar ein ESP verbaut der dies unterstützen könnte, aber in der Software-Oberfäche zu diesem Gerät habe ich nicht gesehen, dass es eine Konfiguration für BT gibt. Hier wird die Zeilgruppe der Zigbee-Anwender adressiert. Hast Du hier den ESP umkonfiguriert oder funktioniert BT ‚out of the box‘? - Ich hätte gerne meine Victron BT-Komponenten überwacht, aber das BT-Signal reicht nicht so weit wie ich es benötige. Um eine Fehlinvestion zu vermeiden, würde ich sichergehen wollen, dass ich meine Idee damit umsetzen kann. VG

As I found out, the last wire of connector 2 and the first of conn. 3 are internally connected, on some drawings from JK the first pin on conn. 3 is even named 'NC'. But I'm surprised to see how easily you switch on the JK BMS with a short press on the button! If I do so on my 150A Inverter-BMS v15, all LEDs light up as long as I press the button and everything is off if I release it. So I have to press several seconds and sometimes I need some tries till it stays really 'on'. Is that a fault or a feature? It has even switched itself off without any reason once, not the battery but the whole BMS itself!

You don't need to move your homeassistant device. Homeassistant can communicate with remote bluetooth devices with cheap ESPHome Bluetooth Proxy devices.

How about SeralBattary? It‘s free and uses RS485 to JKBMS. For me stable since 1,5 Years without any Issue. Update rate would say around 1-2 sec

Hello Andy I've been following your channel for a long time and was very impressed with the introduction of the JK-BMS. Of course, I quickly bought one in the hope that it would work with my system, especially since the 2A balancer completely convinced me. I don't know if I understood correctly that you were or are involved in the development, but in any case I'm eagerly waiting for a firmware update that supports my system because it works perfectly with Seplos-BMS. It's about the interaction of JK_PB2A16S20P (vers. 15.17) with an SMA battery inverter_Sunny Island At Seplos the protocol is called: SMA_CAN or Sofar_Can protocol Do you perhaps have any influence on the developers so that this is implemented in a next FW update? Thanks Keep it up, you keep inspiring me Thomas

Andy bravo for this video which, as usual, deals with very interesting subjects. I appreciate your ability to make controversial videos. I obviously can't let pass the fact that you suggest that a paid solution is necessarily better than an open-source solution! Especially as the paid solution you're referring to is based for the most part on open-source code! I'm not particularly familiar with the Batmon application, but you raise a number of questionable points about it. Most of the criticisms relate to security, so let's take a look at some of these issues. As far as the ability to cut the charge or discharge of the BMS is concerned, the problem, if there is one, comes solely from the BMS and not from the application. As long as this possibility is given, it seems normal to be able to use it. If for any reason you don't want to use it, simply don't show this option on your dashboard. You seem to like the way Peter's card uses the "charging enable" control to actually perform a different operation from what it's called, which is simply to reduce the charging current. If this is what you want to do, it's extremely simple to write a script to do this in HA or, if it's too complicated for you, ask the author of the application to add this option (thanks to responsiveness of open-source developers)! Now, as far as security issues concerning the Bluetooth link is concerned, these have nothing to do with the application, but are problems linked to the use of BLE peripherals. I'm not a great Bluetooth specialist, but from what I understand, unlike normal Bluetooth, BLE doesn't establish a master-slave relationship (which requires the slave to go into pairing mode). The BLE protocol allows you to connect sporadically to the device in order to save energy (hence the name BLE), so there's a risk of intrusion, but the likelihood of someone passing close to your battery with a Bluetooth sniffer and having the right application to control it is, I think, very low. But if you're worried about this, the only solution to guarantee complete security is to use a BMS without Bluetooth connectivity. To sum up, for the two problems you mention, the solution must come from the BMS manufacturer and not from the Batmon application.

Respira parla più piano ,sembri una Ferrari non riesco a seguirti...grazie

Hallo kannst du die Batterie empfehlen LG

2 frogs for that Batman Andy 👎

Yes, switching off bluetooth is a important safety feature...at least Victron gives you all the option ☺

Hello Regarding voltage measurements. Have you thought about the accuracy of your instrument? As you have it, you have approx. 5% deviation. You must use an instrument with at least 6 digits and 0.5% deviation. Or even better with 0.1% deviation. Greetings

Andy, didn't see that in the video but did you check the keep_alive option in the batmon addon? It may help with your issues as it prevents the disconnect/reconnect sequence from happening, saving some time and adding stability to the connection. And no more bipbip either 😄 I also checked concurrent_sampling + bt_power_cycle + install_newer_bleak in my settings. With those settings I'm getting instantaneous response from switching on/off charge/discharge/balance switches. 5 sec sampling + 10s publish. All working great but I only have 1 JK to monitor 😉

Great video & explanations! It looks like Victron updated the CerboGX manual to include a lot of these details. Section 11.4. DVCC features for all systems These features apply to all types of systems when DVCC is enabled; with or without ESS Assistant, with lead-acid or other normal batteries as well as when an intelligent CAN-bus BMS connected battery is installed:...

Thanks Andy 👍👍 Away again out West in the van at the moment and almost no internet, so I’ve been missing your videos unfortunately. 😢 (I can watch this .. but only at minimum resolution.) Maybe it’s time for Starlink. As always, love your work, cheers. 👍👍

Works fine with me 3 jk’s for few month now without any issues

I think the connection issue is from the shear number of devices it detects and the 10 second setting, no way can it connect to all of those devices within 10 seconds, it is probably causing a race condition, change it to 30 seconds and see what happens.

When I once said that Bluetooth in BMSs are a wide open gate to all curious, "pranksters" and openly malicious people - I was laughed at... Some even accused me of some kind of obsession because I suggested turning off or electrically disabling Bluetooth. And what now? Am I a prophet? :))) Thousands of people around the world have just learned how to stick their nose into other people's affairs... I have no grudge against Andy, on the contrary, it's very good that he revealed it. People should be aware of the risks.

bms blue tooth protocal is a little bit diff on each company so they need code update. for jk bms witch popolar it easy to find people to do the job. blue tooth protocal by design it meant to stay connected. not keep connect and disconnect. the down side is it will not accept another connection at the same time. For my case i wrote the program my self. it can connect to bmp pretty reliable and read data pretty fast (in milli seconds) Also the range of blue tooth can be extend a little by additional blue tooth antenna. But like you said it can be security issue if it goes too far.

Thanks for this great information about monitoring a BMS that uses Bluetooth.. Would be easier if manufacturers like JK would just go WiFi wireless with a web server chip and install or have an optional add on board.. I still plan to buy an Android based TV box like the Q96 pro and reflash it to be an Android PC then use Windows remote desktop to link to it across my network so I can remotely control the 2 JK BMS.. For $20 to $30 US off Ebay and free firmware flash programs off the internet it won't be that hard or expensive but a learning curve none the less..

Interesting project. I installed it on my HA computer and unfortunately it does not see my batteries. They have JBD BMS but are not found by Batmon. The installation is working correctly as if I enable dummy in the config it works. I even added an external BT dongle. Bummer as it seemed like an interesting idea.

bloody bluetooth mate, hate it

Chinese drip torture

Thanks Andy

Hm, isn't your garage your "real home"? So home assistant is correctly placed there. Same applies for me 😛

Passwords? Victron devices have BT passwords but so many people don't even bother to change from the default.

You have more job to do with your network cabinet, you need to drill holes for external wifi and bt antenna connectors 🤣

Andy, i applolgise but I am not familiar with Home Assistant. Is it a Rasberry Pi software or is it hardware application I have to purchase elsewhere.

Cold is great for solar.

As this is not my topic...i will ask fornthe algo...is there something new from stuart?

Did you change the Bluetooth password or is the software just using the default password? You can try a Bluetooth dongle on the Nuc with a longer cable to get it out of the network box and closer to the battery's.

Andy, in my batmon the charge, discharge and balance switches work in real time, I use it frequently and I also use the pin. What you refer are not Batmon fault but poor signal, first thing put the bluetooth dongle outside the case, you must have an usb extension to use the bluetooth. Also lower your publish_period to 40. The only thing I miss is be able to use mobile JK app and Batmon at the same time. I also use batmon with my Victron smartshunt to give me a global batteries value.

Congrats and thanks for sharing. Your video helped me a lot!!!

I tried to tell you this a couple years ago, and you told me "I don't have any confidence in Home Assistant". Me and 3 of my local friends all have been using HA to run our systems VERY RELIABLY for several years. Much better than the Victron solution. Some of us use BATMON, and I also developed an ESP based board (the Dave Board) that performs the same as the Peter Board, and costs us USD4 per board. We are all very happy with the vendor-neutral HA system, especially since none of us have Victron brand inverters.