What is a battery management system (BMS)

A critical component of any high-quality Lithium battery is the Battery Management System (BMS). The BMS is a sophisticated instrument that sits inside the battery and ensures each battery cell is charged and discharged equally.

When a single Lithium cell is fully charged, the voltage rises suddenly and can reach dangerous levels very quickly. If this happens in only one cell, that cell can reach dangerous voltages before the total pack voltage is high enough to register as fully charged. To prevent this from occurring, the BMS balances the cells to ensure they all charge and discharge equally as well as preventing them from over-discharging.

A cheap or inferior BMS may provide reduced levels of protection for a battery resulting in adverse charge conditions that may severely reduce its operating life. Additionally, if you over-charge or over-discharge a Lithium battery without an adequate BMS, you will potentially damage the cells beyond repair

A high-quality Lithium battery with a sophisticated BMS will automatically disconnect loads if the voltage does too low, and disconnect chargers if the voltage goes too high.

What are the benefits of using Lithium Monbloc Batteries?
Lithium monobloc batteries have a greater cycle life than VRLA batteries and can be discharged to a deeper depth without affecting the battery. A Valen ENLiFEN LiFePO4 battery has a useable DOD of 80% against a VRLA battery where the recommended DOD is only 50%, resulting in the Valen ENLiFEN having 30% more capacity when comparing the same battery capacity in the two technologies.

Lithium technology can efficiently provide power in high energy demanding applications and will maintain their voltage throughout almost the entire discharge curve.

Additionally, Lithium Phosphate monobloc batteries are on average three times lighter in weight than VRLA batteries and have been proven to cope with ambient temperatures of up to 60°C. Along with this, Lithium Phosphate batteries have a greater energy density, meaning you can get a larger capacity battery into the same dimensions of a VRLA battery.

Finally, Lithium batteries can be designed and manufactured to any footprint. They can be reshaped to fit into any existing cavity or around specific fittings. The battery cells can be packed to fit a long battery shape or a short and fat battery shape.