I found out that my battery is discharged in a few months by the AE-LMD17 REV A1 BMS, so I can't use it. The battery voltage drops below the lower limit, whereby the BMS disables re-charging. The consume current is measured, it is just 60uA. This low current is not the cause of the discharging; it would take 8 years to discharge the battery. Without the BMS connected, the battery voltage remains constant.
Maybe the battery cell voltages vary among themselves because of temperature changes. This keeps the BMS re-balancing, which discharges the battery.
Here, the capacity cell balancing BMS "AE-LMD17 REV A1" is reviewed and tested. Click here for the general article about BMS.
Original capacity cell balancing BMS "AE-LMD17 REV A1"
LiFePO4 A123 12s2p battery pack with capacity balancing BMS for e-bike
The power MOSFET board is flipped over and shortened:
Lithium Ion / LiFePO4 battery management system with capacitive cell balancing
There are 11 flying capacitors for 12 battery cells.
Battery type | LiFePO4 |
Single Cell Over Charge Protection Voltage | 3.85V ± 30mV |
Battery Pack Over Charge Protection Voltage | 43.8V ± 30mV |
Battery Pack Over Charge Release Voltage | |
Single Cell Over Discharge Protection Voltage | 2.50V ± 20mV |
Maximum cell balance current | 2.5A |
Battery Pack Over Discharge Protection Voltage | 29.4V ± 20mV |
Maximal Continuous Discharging Current | 60A |
Maximal Pulse Discharging Current | 80A |
Maximal Charging Current | 15A |
Over Discharge Current Protection Detection Current | 100A |
Over Charge Protection Delay Time | 2s |
Over Discharge Protection Delay Time | 0.5s |
Over Discharge Current Protection Delay Time | 50ms |
Consume Current | 200uA |
Output impedance | 0.12mΩ |
The voltage of each cells equalization precision | |
Dimensions | 108mm x 52mm x 20mm |
Weight | 108g |
Working temperature range | -15°C ... 75°C |
Wiring diagram capacitive battery cell balancing BMS
During charging, the current flows into the battery while during load or discharge the current flows in the opposite direction. Therefore, a BMS need two transistors in opposite direction in series:
The other two transistors are always in reverse mode and turned on to avoid the body diode loss.
The BMS electronic is encapsulated. Of course this is an extra challenge to see what's inside. By heating the epoxy it will be soft and can be removed, though with great difficulty.
Capacitive cell balancing BMS without encapsulation top
Capacity cell balancing BMS without encapsulation bottom
Unfortunately, the IC markings are gone. Per cell *1) it contains these components:
*1) The cell balance electronics is built around the two IC’s and the three SOT-26 mosfets. It contains 11 similar circuits, not 12!
Together with about 60 parts for the control circuit it contains more than 600 electronic components.
The battery voltage protection circuit is reengineered:
BMS battery cell voltage protection
Capacity balancing BMS on the test bench
I had to build a high current / low voltage power supply to test the BMS.
I have measured the cell-balancing current as a function of the LiFePO4 battery cell voltage difference. The balance current can be more than 4A, see the chart. The relationship is 7mA/mV.
Cell balance current versus battery cell voltage difference
The cell balance frequency is 20kHz.
Single Cell Overcharge Protection Voltage | 3.95V (see histogram) |
Battery Pack Overcharge Protection Voltage | 44.8V (3.7V/cell) |
Single Cell Overdischarge Protection Voltage | 2.15V (see histogram) |
Battery Pack Overdischarge Protection Voltage | 28.9V (2.4V/cell) |
Consume Current | 60uA (cell 12) |
To test the battery pack protection, the battery pack is charged with a constant current of 6A, this is 3A per cell. The battery pack overcharge protection voltage is 44.8V, which is outside the specification. The protection voltage is 3.7V per cell, which is higher than the recommended A123 value of 3.6V. At the circle in the graph we see that the charging process is not stopped immediately because the protection voltage is too high. Also the charging process is repeated. At this point, the BMS must be improved.
A123 26650M1A 12s2p charge graph
The battery capacity meets the A123 26650M1A specification; the load time to 3.6V is 2740s. The gross battery capacity = 2740s x 3A = 2.3Ah.
For the spreading in the single cell protection voltages, see the histograms:
Bms single cell overcharge protection voltage tolerance
Bms single cell overdischarge protection voltage tolerance
I use a 5 x 20mm F16A fuse in series with the battery. Making a short circuit doesn’t blow up the fuse, so the over discharge current protection works fine. But I wonder how the overcurrent protections works, the BMS contains no shunt.