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Li-Ion BMS options
A comparison of commercially available Li-Ion BMSs
These tables compare Li-Ion BMSs available on the market today.
This information does not constitute an endorsement of any of these companies and products.
While the information presented here is believed to be accurate, Elithion takes no responsibility for any errors.
Please send us comments, corrections and additions.
This table explains the difference between digital and analog BMSs, and between Protectors, Balancers, Monitors, Displays and Regulators.
Protectors (thick dotted line), Balancers (thick line), Monitors and displays (thin dotted line).
Note: log scales. Sources: (15)
Protectors (thin line), Balancers (thick line).
Note: log scales. Sources: (15)
Sophisticated digital technology, able to measure and report every cell voltage, to calculate SOC, to balance the battery pack, and to cut-off the battery current.
To see additional information, hover your cursor over the  icons.
Sophisticated digital technology, able to measure and report every cell voltage, to calculate SOC, to balance the battery pack, and to request that the battery current be shut off to protect it.
Does not include a switch to cut off the battery current.
To see additional information, hover your cursor over the icons.
Company
(1)
| Location
| Picture
(2)
| Model
| Topology
(3)
| No of cells
(4)
| Cell shape
(5)
| Temper.
(7)
| Curr.
sense
(8)
| "Fuel
gauge"
(9)
| Comm.
(10)
| Fan
drive
(11)
| Contac.
drive
(12)
| Displ.
(13)
| Case
(14)
|
American Electric Vehicles
(no link: site not navigable)
| US
Colorado
| 
| -
| Centralized
| 1~150
| Any
| ✓
| ✓
| ✓
| CAN
Serial
| ✓
| ✓
| -
| Metal
|
| Black Sheep Technology
| US
No. Carolina
| 
| Stack V1
| Master / slave
| 1~32
| Any
| ✓
| ✓
| ✓
| Serial
| ✓
| ✓
| ✓
| -
|
| Cage V2
| 1~48
| ✓
| ✓
| ✓
| Serial
| ✓
| ✓
| ✓
|
| Mini V3
| Any
| ✓
| ✓
| ✓
| Serial
| ✓
| ✓
| ✓
|
| BMS Auto V4
| Any
| ✓
| ✓
| ✓
| Serial
| ✓
| ✓
| ✓
| Automotive
grade
|
Convert the future
Resold by Jungle Motors
| US
CA
| 
| Flex BMS48
| Centralized
| 48
| Any
| ✓
| ✓
| ✓
| Internal Bus
| ✓
| -
| ✓
| Plastic
|
Company
(1)
| Location
| Picture
(2)
| Model
| Topology
(3)
| No of cells
(4)
| Cell shape
(5)
| Temper.
(7)
| Curr.
sense
(8)
| "Fuel
gauge"
(9)
| Comm.
(10)
| Fan
drive
(11)
| Contac.
drive
(12)
| Displ.
(13)
| Case
(14)
|
| Elithion
| US
Colorado
| 
| Lithiumate™
| Distributed
| 1~255
| Sml cyl
Lrg cyl
Prism.
Pouch
| ✓
| ✓
| ✓
| Wire
CAN
RS232
| ✓
| ✓
| Avail.
| -
|
| EVST
| China
Guangzhou
| 
| BMS-4
| Master / slave
| ???
| ???
| ✓
| ✓
| ✓
| CAN
RS485
| -
| -
| ✓
| Metal
|
Peter Perkins
| UK
| 
| -
| Distributed
|
1~255
| Prismatic
| ✓
| ✓
| ✓
| Wire
RS232
| -
| -
| Included
| -
|
| REAP systems
| UK
England
| 
| -
| Modular
| 4~168
| Any
| ✓
| ✓: 2 inputs
| ✓
| Wire
CAN
RS232
RS485/
RS422
| -
| ✓: 2
| Avail.
| -
|
Company
(1)
| Location
| Picture
(2)
| Model
| Topology
(3)
| No of cells
(4)
| Cell shape
(5)
| Temper.
(7)
| Curr.
sense
(8)
| "Fuel
gauge"
(9)
| Comm.
(10)
| Fan
drive
(11)
| Contac.
drive
(12)
| Displ.
(13)
| Case
(14)
|
Sophisticated digital technology, able to measure and report every cell voltage, to calculate SOC, and to request that the battery current be shut off to protect it.
Not able to balance the battery pack.
To see additional information, hover your cursor over the icons.
Company
(1)
| Location
| Picture
(2)
| Model
| Topology
(3)
| No of cells
(4)
| Cell shape
(5)
| Temper.
(7)
| Curr.
sense
(8)
| "Fuel
gauge"
(9)
| Comm.
(10)
| Fan
drive
(11)
| Contac.
drive
(12)
| Displ.
(13)
| Case
(14)
|
| Guantou
| China
Heilongjiang
| 
| GTBMS005A-MC8
| Master / slave
| 100
| Any
| ✓
| ✓
| ✓
| Wire
| -
| -
| ✓
| ✓
|
| GTBMS005A-MC11
| Wire, CAN, USB
| ✓
|
| GTBMS005A-MC16
|
| GTBMS005A-MC17
| ✓
|
| Lithium Start
| US - CA
San Francisco
| 
| BluFlex
| Distributed
| Any
| 26650 small cyl.
| ✓
| -
| -
| Wire
| -
| -
| -
| -
|
Company
(1)
| Location
| Picture
(2)
| Model
| Topology
(3)
| No of cells
(4)
| Cell shape
(5)
| Temper.
(7)
| Curr.
sense
(8)
| "Fuel
gauge"
(9)
| Comm.
(10)
| Fan
drive
(11)
| Contac.
drive
(12)
| Displ.
(13)
| Case
(14)
|
| KJHall Motor Co
| US
Colorado
| 
| PackTrakr
| Master / slave
| 6~30
| Any
| ✓
| ✓
| -
| RS232
| -
| -
| Incl.
| Plastic
|
Worley Parsons
Rebranded by Leo industries,
Singapore
| UK
| 
| LBSU-4-100
| Centralized
| 4~28
| Any LiPo
| ✓
| -
| -
| Wire /
simplex
RS232
| -
| ✓
| -
| -
|
Ningbo Yangming
(no link: attack website)
Sold by Elite Power
| China
Zhe Jiang prov.
| 
| BMS40
| Master / slave
| 10,20,
30...100
| Any
| ✓
| ✓
| ✓
| ?
| ?
|
| Incl.
| Metal
|
Unknown Manuf.
Rebranded by Richard Edminston / RCEV products / Pensacola FLA (no website)
| China
| 
| -
| Master / slave
| At least 32
| Any
| ✓
| ✓
| ✓
| CAN
|
|
| Incl.
| Metal
|
Company
(1)
| Location
| Picture
(2)
| Model
| Topology
(3)
| No of cells
(4)
| Cell shape
(5)
| Temper.
(7)
| Curr.
sense
(8)
| "Fuel
gauge"
(9)
| Comm.
(10)
| Fan
drive
(11)
| Contac.
drive
(12)
| Displ.
(13)
| Case
(14)
|
Sophisticated digital technology, able to measure and report every cell voltage, and to calculate SOC.
Not able to balance the battery pack; does not protect the battery (does not request that the battery current be shut off).
To see additional information, hover your cursor over the icons.
- A protection circuit is a BMS that also includes a way to interrupt the battery current to protect the battery (unlike a protection circuit, a standard BMS must rely on external devices (charger, motor controller, contactors) to reduce or stop the battery current when the BMS tells them to)
- Protection circuits usually are meant for small batteries (cell phones, laptops) as they can usually only handle a few Amps of battery current
Sources of commercially available circuit protectors for small Li-Ion batteries:
- All battery.
- SmarTec.
- Lithium Balance Also from Clayton power (see above)
- Pow-R Solve, from Southwest Electronic Energy Group
- BMS Version 2.6, from Rechargeable Lithium Power; simple analog; cell level LVC and HVC with charger current control, balance; up to 24 cells; based on the Fechter/Goodrum open source design
- BMS Version 4.0, from Rechargeable Lithium Power; simple analog; cell level LVC and HVC with charger current control, balance, fan control, 50 A battery current switch; scalable to 400V packs; based on the Fechter/Goodrum open source design
- Overview, All-In-One, 4, 5, 8, 12 and 16 in series, BV48A60, 16 series,from Yesa
- Various, from ONS power
- Various from EcityPower, sold by BMS battery and EVPST
- BMS4S1P-STD, from Cyclone
- 24 V, 36 V and 48 V, from Kennedy Alternative Energy
- BMS4S1P-STD, from Cyclone
Simple analog technology, just able to detect that some cell's voltage is too low or too high, but unable to report which one. Able to balance the battery.
To see additional information, hover your cursor over the icons.
Simple analog technology, just able to detect that some cell's voltage is too low or too high, but unable to report which one. Does not balance the battery.
To see additional information, hover your cursor over the icons.
Regulators (also called "equalizers" or "balancers") are sometimes used in Li-Ion packs as a simple protection against overcharging.
A regulator is required across each cell.
A regulator performs balancing during charging by bypassing charging current from the fully charged cells, so that other cells in the battery can finish charging.
Elite Power Solutions Battery Balancer.
What regulators do:
- Regulator remove excess energy from cells whose voltage is above a certain threshold, but that's all they do
What regulators don't do:
- Regulator can't keep individual cells in a battery from overcharging
- Regulator don't monitor the entire battery, and don't report on its status
- Regulators do not protect a pack from undercharging
- Regulators are not able to tell the charger to stop charging: a human has to keep an eye on the regulators (which usually have LEDs) and shut down the charger
- Regulators cannot not tell external devices to slow down or stop charging or discharging; therefore, a pack with regulators can still be under-charged, and overcharging may damage the regulators
- Regulators can't protect themselves from overheat: they will be damaged if a CCCV charger's end current is higher than the regulators can bypass
Sources of commercially available regulators for Li-Ion cells:
- Company: Trade names are the property of their respective owners. A few other companies are getting ready to offer Li-Ion BMSs, but are not yet ready to be listed here (for example, Evie Systems).
Some cell manufacturers (most notably Valence) offer proprietary BMS for their cells, only available as part of a complete battery.
- Picture:
• Click to see the complete picture (if available)
- Topology (more info):
• BMS: does not include a switch to cut off the battery current
• Protector: includes a switch to cut off the battery current
• Centralized ("spaghetti"): single BMS controller with n+1 wires going to n cells
• Centralized with slaves: single BMS controller connected to a few slave boards, each with n+1 wires going to n cells
• Modular: single BMS controller with n+1 wires going to n cells; expanded by adding more, identical BMS controllers
• Distributed: small board mounted on each cell; BMS controller connected just to the 2 cells at either end of a battery
- Number of cells: this is the acceptable range in the number of cells in series. The number of cells in parallel does not matter.
- Cell shape:
• Small cylindrical: cylindrical cells to be welded, such as the 18650 or the 26650 sizes
• Large cylindrical: cylindrical cells with screw terminations at either end
• Prismatic: boxy cells with screw terminations on top, such as Thundersky
• Pouch: soft bags with tabs on one end, such as Kokam
• Any: there are no electronics on the cells, so the BMS works with all the above, using wires
- Balance: The BMS is able to remove energy just from the most charged cells, to allow the other cells to reach the same level of charge. A balanced pack will have the maximum possible capacity. This is not as important for Hybrid Electric Vehicles.
- Temperature: The BMS is able to measure and report individual cells' temperature. (The 'more info' tells you if the temperature measurement is not for every cell.)
- Current sense: The BMS includes a current sensor or at least an input for a current sensor, to measure battery current. This enables the BMS to react to excessive current, and to calculate the SOS or DOD.
- "Fuel gauge": a.k.a.: "Gas Gauge". The BMS calculates the SOC (State Of Charge) or DOD (Depth Of Discharge), by integrating the battery current. Devices that simply use the voltage to estimate SOC are not included here.
- Communications: In general, the BMS must communicate with the rest of the system, to report the status of the pack, and be able to limit charging and discharging of the pack, in order to protect it.
• Wire: separate wires are used, each with a single, specific function, such as to turn on the charger relay.
• CAN: CAN bus, common in vehicles and European industrial equipment.
• RS232: serial point-to-point communication, usually used only for initial set-up and testing, but some time also available for communication during operation.
- Fan: The BMS is able to control or drive a cooling system
- Contactors: The BMS is able to control or drive a set of contactors between the battery pack and the load, including a precharge relay. Many motor controllers already have this function built in, so BMS controller that includes this function is not required.
- Display: Either the BMS includes a SOC display, or the company sells a display that is compatible with the BMS.
- Case: Whether the BMS controller is enclosed (metal or plastic case), or it is an open PCB assembly. Unless otherwise noted, any cell-mounted boards are assumed to be open PCB assemblies.
- Price: from manufacturers' websites or discussion with them or their clients. Conversions into US $ based on rates effective at the time of writing. Unless otherwise noted, prices are for small quantities.
Companies that offer custom BMS designs:
- Axeon Power - UK - Scotland
- Black Sheep Technology - US, No Carolina
- Boundless - US - Colorado:
- Producing packs and standalones with integrated BMS to OEM customers
- For Cobalt Oxide, Iron Phosphate and Titanate cells
- "Fancy" BMS, distributed topology, master-slave set-up with no sense wires (uses fiber optic cables)
- Current Sense, Fan Drive, Contactor Drive, Display optional
- Comm: RS232, CAN, I2C, TTL
- Two product lines: standalone and pack
- standalone: Com wires between cell BMS
- pack: Com wires between modules (24v multiples in the pack architecture)
- Energy CS - US - California
- Metric Mind, US - Oregon
- MPower (Axeon Power) - UK - Scotland
- REAP - UK
- BMS, from ITI Energy, for which they invested 1.5 million pounds!
- Generic BMS, from Ricardo: central with slaves (up to 16 cells / slave), very high measuremeny accuracy.
Some open source, DIY BMS projects:
List of available BMSs (not just Li-Ion)
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BMS types
