Hi there,
This post is for the handfull of people who would like to be able to use the features of the Lynx BMS, without necessarily using Victron’s batteries… (Sorry Victron )
For the original series of BMS’s, this was actually really easy. You simply follow the instructions in the manual to debug the BMS system using an extension lead instead of actually connecting a battery, and bang you have yourself a working setup. This allows you to use the BMS as an emergency button (using its remote terminals to shut down), you get to use the pre-charge for larger inverters (quattro 15kva) and some capacity monitoring. Just make sure you disable/change DVCC battery after you hooked up the BMS with the extension lead, because it won’t work properly and might damage your batteries.
Now for the follow up and where I might need someone smarter then me to help me out here. The Smart BMS NG is supposed to be the same, but better in every way. However this new version won’t allow the same usage (at least for me). The manual still says to short the battery in and out port using a extension lead, after which no error’s should be returned. However, the BMS won’t close its contactor because of a “Cable Fault” with “No Battery Detected” errors. The original BMS is a lot harder to come by right now and their pricing is identical, so if anyone knows is there is a way to make this work, or what I’m doing wrong, I’d love to hear it.
I doubt that you are doing anything wrong. I have my NG Lynx but my batteries are delayed and I tried setting it up using this old hack but ran into the same error. I do not expect there to be an easy way around it.
The old system relied on simple comms, I assume the BMS only received messages if there was a battery problem so putting the lead in place meant the BMS received no comms = all is well.
The NG is full digital comms and expects to receive battery info all the time as it forwards cell info to Bluetooth and GX device in normal operation so no info = no battery or comms failure.
Yeah, figured as much… I knew about the digital communication but was put off by the chapter in the manual saying that it could be done. Maybe there was a way, but it has since been removed to prevent this type of usage?
All the new features of the NG BMS are based on the new communication between battery and BMS.
Without the NG battery both BMS have the exact same features.
So if you plan to use the BMS without the Victron battery just use the “old” Lynx BMS.
Thank you for clearing this up. We had ordered the “old” model, but received the NG by accident. We have taken them out of the system and will replace them with the non NG when it will be available from our distributor again.
I’ll mark the topic as closed/solved and will keep this in mind. Thanks again.
)