elithion?

[pbiJim]

Is anyone here using an elithion BMS? If so, how is it working out for you? What are the upsides & pitfalls that you have run into?

I'm especially interested in hearing about any systems that are being used with large LiPo4 banks.

[CharlieJ]

I have read the Owner's book on BMS and received quotes for some of my projects. They appear to produce an excellent, feature rich product. It is my opinion that, for fractional C house banks, and possibly even propulsion banks < 100VDC, that we do not require all of the features and complexity.

[Maine Sail]

Originally Posted by CharlieJ

I have read the Owner's book on BMS and received quotes for some of my projects. They appear to produce an excellent, feature rich product. It is my opinion that, for fractional C house banks, and possibly even propulsion banks < 100VDC, that we do not require all of the features and complexity.

+1 ! Nice peace of gear but not aimed at off grid/house bank use...

The House Power BMS is a great piece of gear for the money. There are some tweaks I would like to see but for the money it really can't be beat.

One feature I really like is that it will NOT shunt balance if you are using the HVC feature. Shunt balancing is rather controversial and its necessity in a fractional "C" system, kept OUT OF THE KNEES, is debatable. Start pushing charging votlages above 14.2V and the need for balancing can become a necessity...

The HP BMS HVC breaks the charge sources away at 14.2V. This means it is best not to set any charge source higher than 14.0V. Even the best regulators, controllers & chargers can have a .2V swing...

You need to manually disable HVC in order to shunt balance... I find this to be a good safe measure.

Genasun builds one of the nicest BMS systems however they no longer sell them for DIY builds...


There are lots of "fancy" BMS systems out there but most are geared towards high voltage multi-cell banks not off grid fractional "C" use banks....

[OceanPlanet]

One of our first Li projects was a 48V propulsion bank several years ago with one of the very first Elithion BMS (Lithiumate Pro). I think it was serial #6! It was complicated, and eventually had some minor issues, and wound up replacing it last year for the client with the latest revision. The new units are indeed very feature-rich and that particular project is hardly using the capabilities that we wish we could have (long story). The new unit's balancing parameters are much more advanced now and mostly programmable. However it is quite expensive! Even the Genasun BMS (which is still a better BMS, IMHO, even if we can't sell the BMS only) is about 1/2 the price.

For a full-featured high-voltage custom system the Elithion is a perfectly good way to go. We actually have one in stock, mostly just to play around with when we find the time. Which never seems to happen, so I may have to give it to Maine Sail...;-)