REC BMS for 24-series LTO cells for Sunny Island


  • Hi, this is my first post, as I just found this company as a reseller of REC BMS.

    I'm building a new battery system for my double-split-phase Sunny Island backup power system.

    The battery will consist of 24 blocks in series, where each block consists of 18 LTO pouch cells having a capacity of 55 AHr per pouch (nominal). So to the BMS this looks like 24 series cells @ 2.2V nominal per cell and about 1,000 AHr capacity.

    Most of the REC BMS models seem to have a limit of 16 cells max, being designed for higher-voltage lithium chemistries.

    What would be the appropriate model, or master-slave combination of models, to work for this battery?

    [I'm not sure I'll make use of the balancing resistors, because at 2.2 VPC the balancing current would be pretty low for a 1000-AHr pack. Instead I'm considering a separate active balancer, such as the Neey 24S15EB (up to 15 amps balancing current).]

    As far as precharge control, I've already designed and built a precharge system that uses DC vacuum contactors, a main and a pre-charge with a power resistor, for each SI inverter (each inverter also has its own 250A DC breaker in series with the contactors). This system accepts a relay closure signal to turn on all four inverters, which can also turn them off when there is an out-of-spec condition at the battery. Then there is a separate contactor with relay closure input signal that can interrupt the current from the DC charge controller when necessary. So this means I'd like a pair of hardware signals from the BMS that represent "overcharged" and "overdischarged" error conditions.

    Finally, what are the options for controlling and monitoring the BMS? I see there is a WiFi option, but is there an Ethernet option? I could use either, but prefer wired networking.



  • Hi Peter,

    I can answer a few questions here for you.

    There is an extra output that can be configured using the Tasks section of the WiFi for your ssplit bus system

    For a 22 cell configuration you would use 2 of the 2Q Slaves in a series configuration

    No ethernet, but the wifi can be configured as either and AP or STA device for connection to a local home network

    I am mentioing Tine from REC for your LTO question

    @Tine Andrejasic 

     


  • Thank you Rick.

    In order to use the two 2Q slaves, do you also need a Master unit?


  • @Peter 

    Well The resistors inside the BMS are 4Ohms, this means when balancing @ 2.5V that is minimum threshold it would be 0.625 A when balancing, but actually a bit lower since the BMS performs measurement and then the balancing is switched off. 

    You would have to use 2 series connected Slaves and Master BMS. I would have to make a custom Firmware for series connected Slaves for SMA SI, since we only have Parallel option.

    If you already have the cells OK, but I would consider buying LiFePO4 and install a single 2Q BMS unit.

     


  • Hello Tine,

    Thank you for your reply. Now it is 9 months later and I am finally installing my battery system.

    I had bought the surplus ("new-old-stock") LTO cells several years ago, so changing to LiFePO4 is not an option. Here is a photo:23 LTO cell blocks on rack

    You said you don't have the firmware yet for series-connected slaves for the SMA SI; is that still true?

    If so, how long would it take to produce that series-connected-slaves version of the firmware?

    I'm ready to purchase this system, and have sent an email inquiry to OGM asking for a quote.

    For reference, here is a photo of the other side of the battery room, showing the SMA inverters:

    Quad Sunny Island inverters

    Finally, I've already purchased a Neey 10-amp active balancer system, which will have its own independent wires connected to the individual cell bus bars. So if possible, I'd like to disable the resistive balancing function within the REC BMS.

    Note that the photo of the cell blocks is missing the cell interconnection links, which are laminated flexible copper bus bars having a total thickness of about 1 cm and a width of 5 cm. Based on their typical length of about 10 cm, the resistance of each link is about 4 micro-ohms. At the maximum system current of 500 amps (24 kW!), the drop would be about 2 mV between cells. And under more typical operating conditions (6 kW), the drop would only be about 0.5 mV between cells. However my calculation omits the contact resistance at the clamped joints at both ends of the link. Based on various experimental results found in the literature, my clamped joints should add another 4 micro-ohms at each end, thus tripling the voltage drop between cells to 6 mV at full load and 1.5 mV at typical load. I trust this is acceptable.


  • Well we can write the code for 2 Serial Slaves for SMA SI. We have it for Victron already. I strongly advise not to use Neey BMS in conjunction with REC. This is why:

    • it introduces measuring errors since it is balancing while the REC BMS is measuring cells
    • it does only  voltage balancing, this means that if curent changes and so does the cell voltage (Cell voltage is cell open circuit voltage + I * RintCell + RC component) it tries to balance it again and again,.... Simply said it does not balance accorfing the open circuit cell voltage but open circuit + I * RintCell + RC component. If it balances the cells @ +50 A charging it will have to balance it again @ the end of charge when the charge current drops ner zero.
    • REC BMS measures current and measures cell internal impedance and can efficiently balance with lower balancing current. Cells should be pre-balanced though.

    We would charge 35€ for the firmware update though.

     


  • @tine Thank you for your fast and detailed reply! 

    May I ask what is the "RC" component? "C" as in capacitance? 

    Based on your advice, I will disable the Neey balancer and only use it initially, and manually if/when the 0.5-amp resistive balancing is unable to keep up (periodically, day once a month or as needed). That way I can ensure that the system is quiescent while it balances, then turn it off again. 

    I need to read the WiFi manual, but is there a way to detect the high and low cell voltages remotely (on my LAN)?

    Can OGM add the $37 fee to my invoice, or do I take delivery of the system first, then pay REC separately for the firmware upgrade?


  • Sorry, 35€ is more like US$38, not $37.


  • Peter, I will answer your tech questions here

    1)  WiFi values can be read using HTTP get calls.  There is another thread on this forum with info and others who are doing it.  You will need to set up the Wi-Fi module as a STA "station" device on your home subnet.  Instructions for this are in the tutorials section of the REC NA site here:

    https://rec-bms-na.com/tutorials/

    2)  Yes, we can include customization costs in our quote


  • Thanks Rick. HTTP calls will work great for me.


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