For those of us that dont have a smart BMS, is there an easy way to pull off enclosure, check the BMS plug, and get digested numbers, ready to compare? Perhaps something like a spreadsheet etc? I never would have been able to fit a smart BMS.
Also, is it possible, to check per cell, and then address PER CELL charging? Without taking the cell out of the loop? Can I just attach my magnet thingies, to ends of cell, and then charge, or does that afffect more than the cell?
Are cells in p packs already equal, due to physics? If I check and they are all same, does that mean there is no dead or weak cell?
Looking to verify that BMS is doing its job. And to address any out of balance cells.
I made a spreadsheet when I was having some issues, I measured everything in relation to the black terminal, this avoided having to approach the BMS plug with two probes. It was only subtraction to calculate the real voltage.
The point of the BMS is that it will discharge the highest packs to the lowest, then the whole pack can be charged together, I wouldn’t recommend getting in there with 4.2V unless you were really desperate, and probably remove the BMS if you do that, as it wouldn’t like to see one group on charge, but according to both ‘physics’ and ‘electronics’ that will be fine.
All the cells in the P pack are equal, you do not need to worry about their voltage.
If you had a dead/weak/disconnected cell, then you would likely see two things:
At the end of a ride one group will be significantly lower than the others.
(on a balanced empty pack) If you stopped it mid charge (left it to settle overnight without a BMS) then you would see the weak pack higher than the others.
I had thought about making an interface cable from my normal BMS to a smart one. So I could plug in my pack and read it out, although really I’m waiting for the FlexBMS, currently lots of flying blind