CHINS confirmed not to have cell balancing/equalization on any current model (mine cell overvolted)

[zorrobyte]

I bought a Chins SMART with heater, the SoC was 6% out of the box. Charging, I kept hitting Cell Overvoltage and my 100Ah battery was only getting 91Ah out of the box. Chins did offer to swap it out free for their new version with balancing, but I opted to return and get a Battleborn instead.

I didn't see this mentioned in @Will Prowse 's CHINS review and it's a pretty big oversight. Without any sort of equalization/balancing, and no easy way to open to manually balance, these batteries will see less lifespan as the cells naturally drift over time.

My cell deltas were around 0.368v


I couldn't recommend CHINS with this missing feature. Will, could you somehow verify cell balancing in your future reviews?

CHINS does have good customer service and it's nice they offered to swap out the battery with a new model. Another member also received a swap, they are just out of US stock right now.

 

[Browneye]

Another candidate for Battleborn. Chins is a super budget econo option. You get what you pay for.

 

[zorrobyte]

Another candidate for Battleborn. Chins is a super budget econo option. You get what you pay for.

You'd just think that using a BMS with passive equalization was a no-brainer.

Anyway, yes, waiting for the Battleborn to get here and raw cells to come in stock at Docan so I can put my spare Overkill BMS to use

 

[Will Prowse]

That's not true at all, chins doesn't know their own product. That model has a BMS made by vip and you can see the passive dissipative balancer resitors on the board. I think the sales or support person is thinking of lead acid equalization or something else. Intra cell balancing is featured on all of their batteries. Just look at the board and you can see the resistors. You can feel them get warm at 100% soc. Cycle that battery hard for a few weeks and it should balance just fine.

 

[RCinFLA]

I highly doubt a BMS does not have some amount of balancing. It may be a low bleed of around 50mA. I think you are communicating with someone that has little knowledge of the product.

Common problem for self-contained 12v LFP batteries when received is they are out of balance because they have been sitting in stock for several months with varying levels of self discharge current between cells. With low bleed current they can take a very long time to get back in balance, sometimes a week or two, and you will likely have a few BMS overvoltage cell shutdowns along the way.

Keeping charging current low helps keep the charge current to bleed current ratio down.

A 1% or greater misbalance in SOC can cause BMS overvoltage cell shutdown when attempting a full charge. 1% for 100AH battery is 1 AH. With 50 mA bleed that takes 20 hours with cell held above 3.4v to bleed it off. You might receive a battery with 3 to 5% misbalance in SOC between cells if they have been sitting around long enough or not fully charged when assembled by vendor.

 

[zorrobyte]

That's not true at all, chins doesn't know their own product. That model has a BMS made by vip and you can see the passive dissipatative balancer ressitors on the board. I think the sales or support person is thinking of lead acid equalization or something else. Intra cell balancing is featured on all of their batteries. Just look at the board and you can see the resistors. You can feel them get warm at 100% soc. Cycle that battery hard for a few weeks and it should balance just fine.

Good to know. Yeah, does seem to be a knowledge issue. Well, I guess their lack of knowledge translates into free swaps for the newer model, then ? Unless they are right and they went the extra mile to disable it. I couldn't find any mention of cell balancing in EE-BMS or any setting for it.. even with the passcodes 666666, 888888. Other options were editable, though, so I don't think it was a missing setting. Thank you for confirming, Will.

Their first message that made me ask twice.

Common problem for self-contained 12v LFP batteries when received is they are out of balance because they have been sitting in stock for several months with varying levels of self discharge current between cells.

Makes sense! Yeah, these had a mfgr date of 2021.



@CHINS Agent from CHINA - could you confirm and update your support agents?

 

[WorldwideDave]

out of curiousity, how did you find out your manufacturer date on the chins battery above @zorrobyte (or others)?