Even the v3 boards are not terribly complicated from a circuit
standpoint. And I feel confident that the firmware they run could be
replicated. I could easily see creating an open source PCB and firmware
again. The difficulty is with manufacture/distribution in my mind.
There are a few assembly houses that will do short runs, but it's very
hard to do that economically. So somebody could build/sell replacement
units, but I fear that the market is relatively small. (mostly limited
to replacements for existing installations)
Other BMS's with cell level monitoring/reporting offer a better option
and their price points are coming down.
I've been strongly considering a BMS upgrade for my truck as the next
major upgrade (due to the fact that the miniBMS modules are not easily
available for replacement, and do a poor job of keeping the pack balanced.)
Jay
On 4/27/20 7:26 PM, Mr. Sharkey via EV wrote:
The MiniBMS system was originally started as an open source project by
users of the DIY Electric Car forum. It was mostly spearheaded by
Dimitri, with input from several interested users. The first version
as intended to be able to used with all the cell modules on one PCB,
with voltage sense wiring going to each cell. It could also be cut
into individual PCBs and cell-mounted. There are vestigial PCB traces
for the opto interconnection even on the v.2 cell modules from this
design (I cut those traces off individual boards, as they add to the
creepage problem). A 4x4/16 cell PCB was standard, but other
configurations were possible.
After the basic system was designed by the group, and Dimitri had a
few runs of v.1 and then v.2 boards printed and stuffed, he decided
that the project was no longer open source, and took it private, much
to the dissatisfaction of the other participants. It wasn't a lot
after that the he sold the intellectual property rights and name to
EVPower, who further refined the design and packaging.
I agree that we have a chance to reintroduce a good portion of these
available cell modules to the EV community for those who are
interested. How shall we procede?
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