I currently have 4 100ah smart lithium batteries on my boat with the BMS connected to a multiplus 3000. I would like to add more batteries but apparently the BMS will only handle a maximum of 5 batteries. Is there any way of having 6 batteries either on one BMS, or could I have 2 domestic battery banks each with its own BMS linked together as a 12v system? Thank you
I presume you are using the VE-BMS unit with the batteries yes the books says that the max is 5 batteries, if you add a 5th and 6th in I suspect that it will work fine. IT will be a suck and see if it will work though, and if it does not then just leave the 6th one out of the link and swap it into the link once a month and another one out of the link.
Its only going to come into play if one cell goes low or high in the one battery. more than likely it would be a low issue on the others would cut out anyway.
You wont get victron saying yes to this as they have to draw a line somewhere and its the sum of the resistance of having 6 instead of 5 in series thats the possible issue.
if it does not work with 6 you will know straight away as the multiplus will not charge or it will not allow any loads.
well thats my thoughts on the issue.
if thats of any help
If you do the above (leave batt 5 and 6 out of the BMS) then do make sure all the batteries are fully charged and somewhat balanced to the rest of the batteries, before you start draining them. If the batteries are not protected by the BMS and the newly connected batteries have a lower SoC you could drain them beyond their lower voltage limits.
