afternoon all,
Not a problem you will be glad to know, but this question is based on the back of a previous issue I asked about, now resolved.
Is there a way to monitor the individual batteries within a battery bank? Apologies if this can be done and is blindingly obvious, I have missed it !
If I was able to see all 4 batteries, I would be able to see that only 2 were connected for this issue.
Having opened up the lynx distributor I can’t see an obvious answer to this one.
Any advise would, as ever, be most appreciated !
Martin
In a bank with 4 parallel batteries, the only way to monitor individual batteries would be with a shunt in the -ve cable of each battery. Generally this would be an expensive solution, compared to a DC clamp test meter that can be applied to any cable for a quick check.
maybe you have or you can by a battery management system (BMS), which monitors voltage of each single cell. Or just get a bunch of small measurment devices.
Some BMS can be read out by EspHome or send data directly via MQTT and than be graphed in HomeAssistant.
Maybe search for JK-BMS, Pace BMS, Seplos BMS.
About the wording:
A battery consists of multiple cells, which are connected in series. This will sum up the voltage and retain the ampere hours (Ah). A set of 16x 100AH LFP cells will give you a 48V battery with 100Ah or about 5kWh.
Several batteries will give you a (battery) bank, somteims referred to as “stack”.
Batteries are often paralled, retaining voltage and summing up the AHs.
A stack of 4 batteries from the example above, will give you a 48V system with 20 kWh capacity.
The BMSs shall communicate with each other and give a combined information to the Victron GX device.
thanks Mike - yes, I saw that one pair of batteries was on 13.3V and the other pair on 13.5V (I had to lift out the top pair in their holding bay), and then backtracked to inside the Lynx distributor.
I now know and will check again, I was hoping I could avoid partially dismantling the battery banks to check
and will check again, I was hoping I could avoid partially dismantling the battery banks to check