FreeLists / 18650 / [18650] BMS Controller

["Edward Ang" <EdAng@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Davide,

I think we missed an important component of our system.  On your block
diagram, you drew a "Pack V and I Sensor Addr:0" block.  But, we do not have
any details on this module.  Are you envision this to be another BMS module
with special features or are you envision this to be part of the BMS
controller function?  Or, it is a PIC reading measurement from the Emeter?

On my side, I have gotten my new PFC-30 charger and a few 10k digipots.  I
am starting to play around with them using a PIC18F258.  This PIC has USART,
SPI, and also CAN that could be used at the same time.  We might have to use
PIC18F458 which also have parallel port features later.

For now, I plan to modify my PFC-30 to be RS-232 controlled with the
following features:
1)  Increase/reduce charging voltage
2)  Increase/reduce charging current

Future features:
3)  Accept calibration data
4)  Control charger with several different charging curves
5)  Record # of completed charge cycles
6)  Decide to use a different curve upon completion of a certain number of
cycles

I have also decided to build a lead acid BMS based on what we have so far.
Since it is so similar, it would not need a lot of effort.  It is like
killing 2 birds with one stone.  And, current EVs with lead acid batteries
do need a complete BMS system.  There isn't a complete system available.
Any LiIon system is not going to be available for at least a year or 2 or
more.  And, EV owners might not decide to switch to LiIon later.  This would
allow us to put more "beta" units out there to fully debug the high level
control algorithm and GUI.

Ed Ang
AIR Lab
(510)673-7602