BP500 Questions
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Hi group,
As soon as I learned that HRO had this item listed I went ahead and ordered it. ?They are obviously filing back orders so I will receive mine when they catch up. ?In the mean time I have some questions: The 18650 batteries come in different capacities such as 2000mAh, 4000mAh, 6000mAh. ?This might seem like a dumb question but here goes...I realize 6 of the 6000mAh will have more capacity than 6 of the 2000mAh, but is that ok to use 6 of the 6000mAh or even higher capacity if they exist without overloading the charge circuit? ?I have several of these batteries already from other projects with various capacities from 2000 - 6000mAh. ?Is it OK use various capacities 18650 batteries in the BP500 realizing I will have the sum total of the individual battery capacities? I think some of these batteries have a battery management system built into each cell. ?I could be wrong but if they do offer that option should I purchase those type of batteries? This one is going to involve some math. ?Currently with my TX-500 I use an external Bioenno 9 Ah battery and it last all day running 10 watts of SSB. ?When I receive the BP500 and install and fully charge 6 of the 6000mAh batteries will that more or less capacity than my Bioenno 9 Ah battery? ?I'll take a stab it since I'm an extra...6 x 6000 is 36000mAh or 3.6 Ah? So it's less than my 9AH Bioenno? ?I like that fact that you can connect a solar panel directly to the BP500 with its wide voltage range that it supports up to 50V. ?I have an Anker 625 solar panel that I've measured the unloaded voltage with my DVM to be 28 volts at full sunlight brightness. ?It's also a panel capable of producing a 100 watts of power. ?Will this be safe to use with the BP500? What purpose is the 3A fuse for on the BP500? Finally can I operate the radio while connected to my solar panels? ?Since it doesn't involve a solar controller and connects directly to the BP500 the radio hopefully will not pick up the noise commonly generated by solar controllers. I know a lot of questions but I would appreciate any input on the questions you know the answers to. As always, Best 73 K9AT |
¿ªÔÆÌåÓýfor what its worth:
I THINK the max cell size (2000 or 4000 or 6000mah) should depend on the BMS in the
bp500, my guess would be 6000 is fine but would email support and ask. I would expect them to have that in the manual but im not seeing it.
When charging LI-ion bats you dont want to charge them too fast, Most of the time they
are rated for 1C charge rate EG 2000mah cell shouldnt charge faster than 2000mah, at any rate you have to check what your cells are specifically rated for. IF you are charging the cells with something that is less or equal to 1C / allows you to set the rate,
you dont need the BMS on the cell. If your not sure it is an extra level of safety. Again, i would email support and ask what the bp500 charge rate is, im not seeing it in the manual. Each battery having its own BMS is more overhead though at the end of the
day you MIGHT be talking minutes of runtime which isnt likely worth worrying about.
1000mah is 1ah BUT in this case thats 1ah at 3.7v nominal (~4.2v full charge). The bp500
pack is setup as 3s2p which means 3 cells (batteries) grouped in Series together to output ~12v (depending on the charge of the cell?at a given moment).? 2 of these groups are in
Parallel together. SO with your 6000 cells if you put 3 in the pack (3s1p) you have 6ah at 12v and if you put all 6 in (3s2p) you get 12ah at 12v. Hope that makes sense. Per the manual you can put 3 or 6 cells in the pack.
The recommended input to the pack is 3a so im going to assume thats the top end, again
email support, i would like them to use clearer wording. Anyway, Amps is watts divided by volts so
theoretically your panel would output 100w / 28v = 3.57amps BUT I have always heard panels output at most ~70% of what there rated for which is 70w / 28v = 2.5a. So most likely you can use that without issue but its your $400 battery
?.
I dont see in the manual if the fuse is on input or output of the battery but im going
to assume the input is fused which means if your solar panel output 3.5amp the fuse should blow before the battery pack burns up. I have no idea what the quality of the fuse is, it might be great but be warned not all fuses are created equal. Someone has a
youtube video where they test fuses and show that cheap ones take a long time to blow while 'good ones' are much quicker. One will save your device; one may let too much power pass first and both the fuse and the device will blow. Good luck!
I dont really know anything about your panel but a quick look makes me think there is
a controller built in to it but i have 0 idea if its noisy or not. Since you already have it i would say plug it in and find out. If it is noisy, you might be able to put a choak on the cable and be good.
hope that helps and good luck
73
tim w3qp
From:[email protected] <[email protected]> on behalf of David Holmgren K9AT "Ruffers" via groups.io <david@...>
Sent:?Wednesday, November 29, 2023 12:26 PM To:[email protected] <[email protected]> Subject:?[Lab599] BP500 Questions ?
Hi group,
As soon as I learned that HRO had this item listed I went ahead and ordered it. ?They are obviously filing back orders so I will receive mine when they catch up. ?In the mean time I have some questions: The 18650 batteries come in different capacities such as 2000mAh, 4000mAh, 6000mAh. ?This might seem like a dumb question but here goes...I realize 6 of the 6000mAh will have more capacity than 6 of the 2000mAh, but is that ok to use 6 of the 6000mAh or even higher capacity if they exist without overloading the charge circuit? ?I have several of these batteries already from other projects with various capacities from 2000 - 6000mAh. ?Is it OK use various capacities 18650 batteries in the BP500 realizing I will have the sum total of the individual battery capacities? I think some of these batteries have a battery management system built into each cell. ?I could be wrong but if they do offer that option should I purchase those type of batteries? This one is going to involve some math. ?Currently with my TX-500 I use an external Bioenno 9 Ah battery and it last all day running 10 watts of SSB. ?When I receive the BP500 and install and fully charge 6 of the 6000mAh batteries will that more or less capacity than my Bioenno 9 Ah battery? ?I'll take a stab it since I'm an extra...6 x 6000 is 36000mAh or 3.6 Ah? So it's less than my 9AH Bioenno? ?I like that fact that you can connect a solar panel directly to the BP500 with its wide voltage range that it supports up to 50V. ?I have an Anker 625 solar panel that I've measured the unloaded voltage with my DVM to be 28 volts at full sunlight brightness. ?It's also a panel capable of producing a 100 watts of power. ?Will this be safe to use with the BP500? What purpose is the 3A fuse for on the BP500? Finally can I operate the radio while connected to my solar panels? ?Since it doesn't involve a solar controller and connects directly to the BP500 the radio hopefully will not pick up the noise commonly generated by solar controllers. I know a lot of questions but I would appreciate any input on the questions you know the answers to. As always, Best 73 K9AT |
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Thanks Ron for the reply. ?And since you personally own the BP500 I forgot to ask this question. ?Assuming the BP500 batteries are dead how would you hook up an external power source like my back up Bioenno 9 Ah? ?Would I attach it to the DC barrel connector on the BP500 or the DC input on the body of the TX-500? ?Don't tell me the BP500 would have to be unscrewed from the TX-500 in order to use the DC input connector on the TX-500.
Thanks in advance for the answer. David K9AT |
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Believe me I always read the directions before beginning a project, to a fault. ?If you don't believe me, ask my wife. ?I downloaded the BP500 manual which I encourage everyone to do if they contemplate a purchase. ?In the manual on Page 9 they make a reference to my question but they don't explain it clearly.
The BP-500 will not charge if an external power source is connected to the TX-500. ? Does this mean it's OK to hook up a power source with the BP500 attached to the TX-500? If the battery pack is active, it will provide backup power if the transceiver's external power supply is undervoltage (below battery pack voltage) or if external power is lost. Solar panel cells can be used as a charging source, providing an output voltage in the range of 13 to 50 V. ? |
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To be fair they do have a picture below the text:
I get that you cannot have both the TX-500 and the BP500 receiving power at the same time. ?But looking at the top blue square with the blue check mark to the left it shows the BP500 separate from the TX-500 and that's the source of my confusion. ?Also the solar charging show the BP500 not connected to the TX-500. ?Is that the only way it can be charged being detached from the TX-500? I know I'm getting into the weeds but the devil is in the details and I don't want to break the equipment. |
¿ªÔÆÌåÓýThat¡¯s not the question David asked. The question which is still not answered even in the document you just sent.? This is the question: Don't tell me the BP500 would have to be unscrewed from the TX-500 in order to use the DC input connector on the TX-500. If someone knows the answer please tell him if not, kindness is always the best answer! Just be cool about it.? Ammed Ismail? KN6STX On Nov 30, 2023, at 6:09?AM, §¡§ß§Õ§â§Ö§Û §¥§Ö§ß§Ú§ã§ð§Ü <lilo.chita@...> wrote:
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David Holmgren K9AT "Ruffers"
tim W3QP
Randy K7RAN
Ammed Ismail