ReFuel 2011 (video)

OK, let’s finish off the week with a nice, fun video- the ReFuel race, which they ust ran this past week.

This just looks like plain, flat-out fun.  Great race, great venue, and a great bunch of guys.  If I lived on the Left Coast, I’d be there in a flash…  For more info, see the ReFuelRaces site, here.

Progress Report: The Details

Whereat the Devil lies…  (but also the fun).  Here’s the status, after a great weekend hiding in the shop:

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Photoshoot in Maine- R5e Runs, and Photos

Camping in Maine is always a gamble, no less in June, but I got the bike rolling with some scooter batteries and some photos shot in the first day.  Fortunately, since the rest of the week turned into a deluge.  It works, it rolls, everything fits and it looks purty to boot, but now is the “punchlist” phase of the project – literally tearing everything down, doing final finish and fit, and re-assembling to be just perfect.

OCD is such an ugly term…

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Notes: Finishing Aluminum

Seems like every time I do this I have to figure out what works all over again…  well, here’s what works.  Now I just have to remember to look here first.

Step one: sanding disk on die grinder.  Takes out major surface marks and scratches, and removes paint and adhesives.

Step two: hand sanding with 150 grit sandpaper (one direction only).  Gives you a rough “brushed” finish.

Step three: wet hand sanding with 400 (one direction only)  Gives you a finer finish.

Step four: glass bead blasting.  Generally this will not remove all the “brushed” look, but it smooths and polishes the surface.

Step five: polishing compound with buffer.  Makes it shiny.

Step six: Wash with hot water and soap, then treat with AMSOIL Miracle Wash (waterless cleaning/polishing spray).  This cleans any aluminum dust and polishing compound, and the AMSOIL gives you a nice protective coating.

Review: Manzanita MK3 BMS- Conclusions

Somewhere along the way in this review it dawned on me I was working with simply the best BMS system available.  There.  That’s my conclusion.  Please remember this is the first working BMS I’ve looked at, so it’s been a great learning process, and also note I said BMS system.  The Manzanita is a complete system-based concept of not only battery management (including charge management), but cell, pack and overall data logging.  I went back and looked at other products available, and there simply is nothing out there like it.

I’d love to be in a position to test the reliability and function of the system, but there’s just no way I can do it.  However, you can take a quick look at who’s using it and judge for yourself.  It’s a big list, but if you narrow it down to motorcycles, it’s a list with names you’ve heard before: Chip Yates.  Killacycle.  Motocycsz.  I could go on, but I risk talking out of school…  I’m not sure what the sponsorship/support arrangements are…  They’ve cut their teeth building systems for cars, systems that are simply the highest performance packages out there.  You can bet that, if you’re tapping the Elemental Forces to power your motorcycle, the Manzanita BMS system is going to be the most bulletproof system you can get.  Yes, I’d love to get my hands on one and try to break it, but honestly, I can’t imagine doing anything to it that, say, Chip Yates hasn’t already tried to do… (photo above: Chip Yates and the Swigz team with Gene Seymour)

It’s clearly a pricey system, but you can’t even say pricey compared to any real product.  The closest package out there is the Elithion BMS, and it doesn’t have the same features or functionality.  The other products available, probably the “Mini-BMS” is one of the more popular, may be great products, are a lot cheaper, but are simply not in the same class.   To get similar features you have to combine them with other products, like the Cycle Analyst or CellLogger.

Besides being a great set of features, the MK3 is built in the US, and it’s built by the folks at Manzanita…  not some off-shore manufacturer.  I’ve been told they use all the highest-grade components, and I have little doubt that’s true.  In electronics, price = reliability, period.

So, bottom line?  I’m sold.  When you consider the cost of your batteries, the fact that you may change out your battery systems and need some flexibility in this investment, and the cost of your whole effort (as in building and racing a competition bike), as well as the notoriously bad reputation the BMS has as a point of failure, it seems to me that a system like this is where you need to suck it up and put your money- hobby builder or not.

Stuff I learned.

OK, I’m going to show you this shot at the risk of freaking Gene and the boys at Manzanita out…

…but this, my friends, is just what a BMS is designed to alert you to, and keep you from doing to your cells.  I set up a little drain test using my headlight and kept an eye on it for a while.  I then went in to make a cup of coffee, and came back to this display.  This shows a couple of things…  first, it underscores the fact that voltage in a lithium cell is a bad indicator of SOC (state of charge).  The cell was showing lower than the others when I went inside, it dropped of the cliff in about ten minutes.

Second, it demonstrates one key point you need to understand about a BMS, that I did not understand.  There is no BMS out there that will shut off a cell if it gets dangerously low.  It’s simply too hard to do, considering the current the cell is handling, but used properly, you can set the BMS up to cut out the throttle or controller if the alarms are triggered.  I thought, mistakenly, that the thing would shut out that cell by itself.

It is, however, a great example of how the display works to show both the relative cell levels as well as their session history.  (I only pray that Gene doesn’t look too close at the low voltage on that #1 cell… yes, my friends, you read that right.  .739V. I may have bought my first Headway cell…  )

Other stuff I learned?  Basically, if you want a BMS, there are a lot of smaller, cheaper products out there that will simply balance cells.  If you want an integrated BMS system, this is the only one, and a damn good one.

Conclusions?

Besides everything else, I want to underscore the support and accessibility that Manzanita has demonstrated.  If you’re a race team using their products, you have about a 90% chance of seeing Gene Seymour show up at the pits to check in on you before the race.  It’s a small company, and the literature doesn’t have the polish and glitz of a product from Apple or Sony, but you get the information you need in a good, concise package.  If that’s not good enough for you, you get the phone number of the guy who runs the company.  Game over.

In a landscape where you need a good, reliable and affordable BMS to protect your (huge) investment in lithium, it’s been a situation where there has simply been no complete, turnkey system available, until this.  This system clearly sets the bar.

There’s talk of some increased functionality coming down the road- SmartPhone interfaces, enhanced programability, like that…  but at this point I haven’t heard any rumblings about any lower-priced systems, and I don’t expect to.  When the manufacturing scale ramps up, we may be seeing some price drops simply from production scale, but that’s just conjecture.  …but my final word?  A+, and worth every dime.

Read more:
Review: Manzanita MK3 BMS, Part 1
Manzanita MK3 BMS, Part 2- Intro and Documentation
Manzanita MK3 BMS, Part 3- The Display
Manzanita MK3 BMS, Part 4- The Board
Manzanita MK3 BMS, Part 5- the SOC Head
Manzanita MK3 BMS, Part 6- Component Matrix
Manzanita MK3 BMS- Conclusions

Manzanita Micro site here.

Review: Manzanita MK3 BMS, Part 6- Component Matrix

Here you go, a quick matrix of the pieces and parts:

Manzanita MK3 BMS and System
Component	Enabling Features	Components Required/Enabled	Benefits	Price
BMS Board	Real-time voltage monitoring	Standalone, or with any or all: SOC Head, RDB, DTB, Software	Full function BMS core	$220/8 cell
	Real-time cell temperature monitoring
	Alarm displays
	Real-time heatsink monitoring
	Connectivity to readout/programming interfaces
	Real-time cell balancing
SOC Head	Battery pack SOC data	Standalone, or with BMS, RDB, Software	Pack data, full PC interface allowing data logging	$450
	Connectivity to PC
	Data logging with PC
Rudman Display Bus (RDB)	Cell-level SOC display	BMS required for basic function, or add-on to SOC	On-dash readout, ehnanced warnings, programming capabilities	$300
	SOC readout for pack (w/SOC Head)
	Session history
	One-glance, one-screen of up to 99 cells
	Total cell readout- 254 cells
	BMS programming
Dongle Terminator Box	Allows PC (USB) interface	BMS, SOC Head required	PC connectivity	$120
MK3 RegScanner Software	Complete programming/monitoring of cell/pack performance and condition.	WIN PC and SOC Head or RDB	Enables cell/pack logging history, enhanced programming and reporting	Free D/L

So OK, here’s how that goes together.  Say you want to run a pack of Headways, oh, at around 72V with around 30aH.  That would go together with a basic array of 24 of the 16aH cells in parallel (gets you to what, 76.8V nominal?) and two of those in series, to get to 32aH.

We’d start by building an 8-cell BMS.  I want everything…  I want the RDB for my dash, I want the full board, I want to program the thing with my PC, so I need one of each.  I plug it all together, and I get a full-feature BMS for my 8 cells.  Now, I want to add more cells.  From there, I just add more boards.  All the other components can handle up to what was it?  254 cells?  So…  I pick up 5 more boards, tie them down, connect them to the cells, and daisy-chain the RJ connections.  I can see the bar graphs for each of the 48 cells on one screen of the display on my graph. One board, one SOC Head, one display, one dongle, and 6 boards and I’m in business.

Let’s say I’m on a bit of a budget and don’t want to go whole hog on it.  I want my cells balanced, so I get the BMS, and I want a dash display, so I get the RDB.  Again, one display, 6 BMS boards, and I’m good.  At any time later on, if I decide I want to add features, (and my wife decides I’ve been a Good Boy), I go pick up additional components and plug them in.

Read more:
Review: Manzanita MK3 BMS, Part 1
Manzanita MK3 BMS, Part 2- Intro and Documentation
Manzanita MK3 BMS, Part 3- The Display
Manzanita MK3 BMS, Part 4- The Board
Manzanita MK3 BMS, Part 5- the SOC Head
Manzanita MK3 BMS, Part 6- Component Matrix
Manzanita MK3 BMS- Conclusions

Manzanita Micro site here.

Review: Manzanita MK3 BMS, Part 5- the SOC Head

The last piece of the puzzle for the Manzanita system is the State of Charge Head (SOC Head).  Here’s what the older model looks like, the unit I played with was still in a kit box, but fully functional. This is a unit, designed in conjunction with Bruce Sherry Designs, to give you all the SOC information on the pack as a whole, rather than the individual cells.

It’s able to be run as a complete stand-alone without the BMS, connected directly to the battery pack.  You can use the Rudman Display Bus as the monitor, or you can use a PC to run the battery readouts as well as the data logging.

The SOC Head can give you battery pack SOC reading as a percentage, total battery pack current, total battery pack voltage, total Ampere-hours, Watt-hours, power reading in Kilowatts, and pack temperature.  I have to go down the lists, but it pretty much brings in the full capabilities of a device like the Cycle Analyst display.

Here are the rest of the features:

-Can be connected independently or in conjunction with other Manzanita Micro Mk3 Digital products using readily available six conductor RJ cable
-Easily connects to a PC or Rudman Bus Display using the DT box USB adapter
-Works with Manzanita’s free Windows based scanner and command software
-All commands are easily entered and read in simple ASCII text
-Easy user adjustable min and max voltage parameters allow flexibility for just about any pack voltage signaling requirements
-Dual RJ reg bus ports for easy connection to the charger and/or other Manzanita Micro BMS units and accessories
-Seamless integration with Manzanita Micro Perl Scanner program which has extra graphics already programmed in for displaying the SOC Head information

This is actually where you get introduced to the software, since the first step is to download the USB driver and the control software at the Manzanita “Mk3 Digital Regulators” page.  You get the install instructions as well as the connections, shown here.  The 8-pin connector shown on top pins out like this:

Pin 1 : Red Wire – 12 Volt Positive (usually from vehicle’s 12V system)
Pin 2 : Other Color – Vehicle “Key-On” (usually from vehicle ignition switch)
Pin 3 : White Wire – Shunt LOAD side (small terminal on side of shunt – load end)
Pin 4 : Non-Insulated – Cable shield (This can go to the main large terminal of the shunt on the LOAD side)
Pin 5 : Black Wire – 12 Volt Negative (usually from vehicle’s chassis 12V ground)
Pin 6 : ~~~NOT USED~~~
Pin 7 : Green Wire – Shunt BATTERY side (small terminal on side of shunt – batt end)
Pin 8 : Red Wire – Main Battery Pack Positive (from the most positive point in the pack)

To connect the SOC Head to a PC you need the Dongle Terminator Box – just an adapter/interface to give you USB connectivity.

The manual is found here, on the documentation page: SOC Manual link, and has the usual setup and explanations, but also has a lengthy and detailed explanation on how to configure the device.  The SOC Head is probably one of the more powerful parts of the entire system, allowing you to activate relays to shut off, or turn on various devices at certain events at the pack…  for example, if you want the pack to shut down partially or fully when the voltage drops below a certain level by locking out the throttle, here’s where you’d program that. The SOC Head sells for $450, and the USB interface is another $120.

If you’ve got this far in the reviews, it’s getting pretty obvious how this system is put together- we have basically an a la carte architecture, where everything can pretty much function on it’s own, but when added to the complete system, each component adds a huge amount of functionality.

Next up, I want to plot out each part, and what it does, on a spreadsheet.  Stay tuned.

Read more:
Review: Manzanita MK3 BMS, Part 1
Manzanita MK3 BMS, Part 2- Intro and Documentation
Manzanita MK3 BMS, Part 3- The Display
Manzanita MK3 BMS, Part 4- The Board
Manzanita MK3 BMS, Part 5- the SOC Head
Manzanita MK3 BMS, Part 6- Component Matrix
Manzanita MK3 BMS- Conclusions

Manzanita Micro site here.

Review: Manzanita MK3 BMS, Part 4- The Board

The heart of the BMS is the board, and, although I’m sure various boards range from “Things of Beauty” to nightmares for people who actually know what they’re looking at, I’m not one of those people.  The important things to me are size, ease of mounting, ease of making necessary connections, stuff like that.

(All that said, my Headway BMS has a strip on the board that’s obviously built up with solder, either as a preemptive strike against a really weak circuit, or a fix of one that has already failed.  Lame, and bush-league…)

The Manzanita board is rock-solid.  It’s thin, compact, (The 8-cell MK3x8 unit is 2.37″ x 7″ x 0.938″) and has a layout that includes standard pin connections that are easily accessible.  The documentation gives you part names as well as suppliers and their part numbers for the connectors.  The main heat sink mounting bar is that L-shaped aluminum bracket you see in the photo above, foreground, and it’s set up to be easily accessible and pretty much universally adaptable to your choice of a heatsink arrangement.

The connections are pretty straightforward.  The sensor-side of the board needs connections to both sides of each cell to monitor voltage, and that’s accomplished with a Molex 10-pin connector (part number 43025-1600) and simply connects to the positive and negative terminals of each cell.  You have a temperature sensor set, shown here, that connects with a 16-pin Molex connection, and you connect a fan with a 2-pin molex plug.  You then have the Regbus I/O RJ Connections- the connectors that allow the data to be accessed by the Rodman Bus Display, the SOC head and your PC.

All the documentation, by the way, has the same detailed section on how to construct the RJ cable and connections, this being a crucial part of the assembly.

On the board itself you have 12 LED indicators (for the MK3x8):

8 Green LEDs – “Regulation Indicators”- The eight green LEDs indicate that the BMS unit is regulating. Each of the eight LEDs in the middle of the board correspond to their own independent dissipation channels. They come on when the cell they are attached to is above the regulation set point and the reg load is activated.

Yellow LED – “Undervoltage Real-time”- The yellow LED indicates that one or more of the cells in the string is/are currently below the undervoltage set point.

Red LED – “Undervoltage Latch” -The red LED indicates that one or more of the cells attached to that reg has/have gone below the undervoltage set point at some point since it was last brought to a full charge.

Blue LED– “Communication Indicator”- The blue LED indicates when the regulator is communicating on the Rudman Bus.

Here are the features:

• Real time voltage monitoring of 4 to 8 lithium cells
• Real time temperature sensing of up to 8 external temp sensors
• Additional temperature sensor included on BMS module’s heat sink
• Small size is less than 1 inch thick and 7 inches long by 2.4 inches wide
• Quick automatic cell equalization and balancing with high and low voltage on
board indicators and outputs to the charger
• Two high speed real-time warning lines which can be relay buffered for external
use
• All BMS modules connect together using readily available RJ cable
• BMS easily connects to a PC using the included USB adapter
• Includes free Windows based scanner and command software
• All commands are easily entered and read in simple ASCII text
• Easy user adjustable min and max voltage parameters allow flexibility for various
types of lithium cells from 1.75 to 5.5 volts per cell
• Each BMS board can bypass up to 2.5 amps per cell channel (20A total)
equating to fast charging and equalization of unbalanced cells
• Dual RJ reg bus ports for easy connection to the charger or other BMS units in a
simple daisy chain fashion
• Self regulating thermal protection and feedback to Manzanita Micro Chargers
• Built-in active variable speed 12V DC fan control output on each BMS unit. The
fan settings can be viewed and changed using the included software
• Large heat spreader is totally isolated from the cells and is already threaded for
easy mounting to a larger heat sink.
• Each unit can dissipate up to 110 watts

The full documentation can be found on the Manzanita site, in the Battery Management Downloads page.

Read more:
Review: Manzanita MK3 BMS, Part 1
Manzanita MK3 BMS, Part 2- Intro and Documentation
Manzanita MK3 BMS, Part 3- The Display
Manzanita MK3 BMS, Part 4- The Board
Manzanita MK3 BMS, Part 5- the SOC Head
Manzanita MK3 BMS, Part 6- Component Matrix
Manzanita MK3 BMS- Conclusions

Manzanita Micro site here.

Review: Manzanita MK3 BMS, Part 3- The Display

The display on the MK3 is by far the coolest feature, and something I haven’t seen on any other BMS.  This is the Rudman Bus Display, and it allows you to see at glance all the important information you need.

This, from where I sit, is not simply a matter of convenience…  it’s a huge issue and a serious matter of safety.  Throwing every button, widget and gimmick into a display that sits on a dash of a motorcycle, in my opinion, is downright dangerous.  It’s an irresistible distraction.  Even the Brammo Enertia I tested had a display that had several panels you could scroll through to get various types of information about the operational condition of the bike, but to tempt a rider with poking around on a digital display while riding is simply unsafe.  There is nothing…  nothing that can justify this kind of distraction built into the controls of a motorcycle by a manufacturer.

…So I fell immediately in love with the Manzanita RBD panel.  It’s simple.  It’s clean.  There are no buttons that you need to play with to get all the readout you need.  It’s no wonder, by the way, the race teams that are using it prefer it over other devices.  They need to know state-of-charge (SOC) in an instant.  They can’t afford even the slightest distraction.  OK.  Rant over.

You can see the panel above, with the main scanning readout.  The bar graphs are the most important feature, showing green if everything is within range, red if you’re below the minimum and blue if you’re above the maximum.  The lines you see at the upper and lower levels of each bar indicate what the BMS is programmed for, as high and low warnings.

Tapping a cell bar will give you information on that cell.  You get the current voltage, the session minimum and maximum, and the cell temperature.

With the SOC Head in place, (which we did not have plugged in) the upper area of the display would show you data on current draw, an E-to-F indicator of charge left, and the “Stop” button which will return you to the main menu screen.

On the bars for each cell you get a “min-max” type line to show you where your cells have been for the session.

Here are a few of the control menus:

This is the main control screen.  To get to the readouts we first saw, you just hit “Scan”.  The rest are pretty self-explanitory.

Here, for example, is the “Configure” submenu.  Pretty straightforward stuff.

The display runs off a 12-15V source, so it either needs to be on a separate battery source or running on a DC-DC convertor.  I’m not sure how much of a battery you’d need to power it as a standalone…  if I can find that out, I’ll update it here.  The unit is pretty compact- it’s in a 4 1/2″ x 2 1/2″ box, and the display itself is about 2 1/2″ x 2 1/2″.  It looks like it would be pretty easy to mount in some other enclosure, such as a dash display, if you felt the need.  It connects to the BMS module with a simple 6 pin RJ data connection.

Here, for the record, is the list of features from the manual:

-The ability to monitor a very wide variety of battery packs from a single cell to extremely high voltage packs of up to 254 cells
-Auto-detect function makes setup a breeze as the unit will find all valid Mk3 products that are connected to it in a matter of seconds
-The ability to display continuously updating individual voltages from any battery or cell when reading from any Manzanita Micro Mk3 series BMS
-Able to display a clear battery pack State of Charge gauge when reading from a Manzanita Micro SOC Head
-Compact and durable enclosure is about H 1.25” x W 2.5” x L 4.5” not including the I/O connections. (H 32mm x W 64mm x L 114mm)
-Bar Graph columns change color to indicate high and low battery conditions
-Can be connected independently or in conjunction with other Manzanita Micro Mk3 Digital products using readily available six conductor RJ cable
-Allows easy viewing of battery information and parameter adjustment without the need for a laptop or full-size computer or even a dongle terminator box
-Simple touch-button graphic user interface for changing settings with or without typing commands
-The RBD makes it easy to adjust min and max voltage parameters for use with just about any battery pack and for fine tuning
-Dual RJ reg bus ports for easy connection between the charger and/or other Manzanita Micro BMS units and accessories
-Unit retains a memory of the last devices and display configurations making it able to be turned on and off or lose power without losing the last settings

The interesting thing is how this system builds out.  You can run just the BMS, or you can run it with the display.  You can run the display with the SOC head, and get even more readout, but no logging beyond the session logging.  When you add a computer, you get full time-stamp logging.  And yes.  There are plans to make this work with your Android phone.  In a lot of ways, this simple component within the bigger system replaces a host of cell-logging and data logging devices.

Complete information can be found on the Downloads page of the Manzanita site, under the “Battery Monitoring” link.  The RBD unit sells for $300 – a little spendy, but when you consider it as a part of the overall system, a definite must-have.

Read more:
Review: Manzanita MK3 BMS, Part 1
Manzanita MK3 BMS, Part 2- Intro and Documentation
Manzanita MK3 BMS, Part 3- The Display
Manzanita MK3 BMS, Part 4- The Board
Manzanita MK3 BMS, Part 5- the SOC Head
Manzanita MK3 BMS, Part 6- Component Matrix
Manzanita MK3 BMS- Conclusions

Manzanita Micro site here.

Review: Manzanita MK3 BMS, Part 2- Intro and Documentation

A BMS is one of the more expensive parts of the drive system, and it protects the most expensive components- the batteries.  Considering the complexity and chance for failure and damage if the device isn’t used properly, the documentation for the system is really important, and for the vast majority of BMS systems out there, really sadly lacking.  (Clearly, if you’re looking for a work/travel opportunity, tech manual translation in China seems like it’s a wide-open market.)

The Manzanita documentation is refreshingly complete and detailed.  Available from the download page of their site, the manuals are well illustrated, dated, and not only do you get the contact information for support on the last page, you get the name, address and phone number of the Manzanita owner- Rich Rudman – in many cases the lead designer for many of the products.  In all the year I’ve worked with technology, I’ve never, ever seen that kind of personal access and accountability for a product.

The three manuals I worked with were the main product- the MK3 series (shown above is the MK3x8, probably the more popular unit for someone building a big pack, but the unit I was playing with was the MK3x4, the smaller kit), the Rudman Bus Display manual (the small display shown below), and the software manual.

Here’s a look at the Table of Contents for the basic MK3 module:

CONTENTS
GENERAL OVERVIEW
DIMENSIONS AND SPECIFICATIONS
KEY FEATURES LIST
OPERATION
- Photo of BMS Board Face With Callouts
- LED Indicator Guide
- Dissipation Heat Sink
- Built in Fuse
- Connections
THE REGBUS INTERFACE
-Pinout Description
BMS INSTALLATION
WIRING THE MANZANITA MICRO MK3X8 BMS
- Voltage Sense Wiring
- Temperature Sense Wiring
- Reg Bus wiring
- Reg Bus Cable Construction
CONNECTING WITH THE DIGITAL INTERFACE
- Connecting with a Laptop or Windows Based Computer
- Dongle / Terminator (DT) Box
REGULATOR ADJUSTMENT AND COMMANDS
- Command Usage and Document Conventions
- Commands List
- Detailed Description of Each Command
MANZANITA MICRO CONTACT INFO
APPENDIX
-Voltage Sense Wiring With Bottom Mount Connection

We’re looking at a short, succinct 28 pages of detailed, pertinent information on the configuration of the unit, some additional information about wiring setup, because of the importance of making a good, solid harness, and some very detailed programming information (which, for the most part, is going right over my head…  However, I have no doubt if I had a need for working on the programming side, I could make a call to the boys and get some good help.)

The one thing I feel is pointedly missing is a “Troubleshooting” chapter- what to look for if stuff isn’t working right.  A short few paragraphs of an overview of how the system works would be kind of helpful too, just from a perspective of understanding, in one sound bite, how it all fits together and works.  That said, reading through all the separate manuals and messing with the parts and pieces gets you a good overview pretty quickly.  You still may be missing a few key concepts, though.

The display manual was also fairly complete and informative, but with a couple of small omissions.  Although the language describing the screen was clear and concise, it would be really nice to have a simple screen shot of the actual display with some callouts.

That said, the screen’s not that complicated.  There were a few minor details, like how to move back in the menu tree in a couple spots, and again, a troubleshooting page (at one point I got a strange lavender bar on one of the cells, which turned out to be a com issue that went away after a restart…  but there’s no mention of it in the manual), but, again, compared to anything else I’ve seen (or not seen, because it simply doesn’t exist), the documentation is very workable.

Manzanita has been putting this stuff together for quite some time now…  I’m pretty sure this product has been in production for at least five years, and it is, without apology, a premium priced product.  Looking at the documentation and support, it pretty clearly shows a commitment to making the thing work, and helping the buyer to understand it, install it, and get the most out of it.  It keeps the Engineer-ese to a minimum, does not presume a too-high foundation knowledge of the new user, and ranks high in the “good, warm feeling” department…  something pointedly missing in this market.

The whole system is basically comprised of the BMS module, the Rudman display and the SOC Head- the unit that is the brains of the data-processing and control features.  The BMS module can operate as a stand-alone, but the shunting capabilities of it by itself are limited to some fairly modest voltage and current limits.  That is, they will protect the cells to a point, but after that, they depend on the SOC Head to take the protection to the next level.

Using the SOC Head and the display, you get the bar graph and readouts, as well as some under/over – voltage alarms.  You also get, when you’re using the Manzanita charging systems, the ability to tell the charger what’s going on at the cell level and moderate the charge.  If the cells are getting overcharged, for example, the basic BMS module, without any of the add-ons, can tell the charger to lay off, or shut off.  If it needs charge, it can ask for it.

Although this charger communication feature is designed for the Manzanita chargers, it’s open to any charger system that is designed to communicate this way.  It’s in no way proprietary, and Manzanita has kept it, essentially, an open architecture.

One more little bit is the Dongle Terminator…  a simple USB interface for connecting the system to your Windows computer and running the MK3 RegScanner software.  (By the way…  I tried running the software on my Mac with Parallels running WinXP- no dice – some key component was AWOL..  I’ll get screenshots from the Manzanita guys from a Windows machine rather than wasting time trying to troubleshoot it.)

Next up- the parts and pieces.

Read more:
Review: Manzanita MK3 BMS, Part 1
Manzanita MK3 BMS, Part 2- Intro and Documentation
Manzanita MK3 BMS, Part 3- The Display
Manzanita MK3 BMS, Part 4- The Board
Manzanita MK3 BMS, Part 5- the SOC Head
Manzanita MK3 BMS, Part 6- Component Matrix
Manzanita MK3 BMS- Conclusions

Manzanita Micro site here.