Discover Battery, a Solv4Ex company headquartered in Richmond, British Columbia, recently introduced two battery management systems (BMS) to facilitate closed-loop integration with their Discover LiFePO4 lithium batteries. The Lynk Lite and Lynk II Communication Gateway BMS devices can be installed by OEMs, integrators, or dealerships.
“Our Lynk devices represent years of research and customer feedback,” said Brendon Sauer, director of product and engineering, Discover Battery. “These all-new devices unlock the full potential of our lithium batteries and provide new features for installers, system integrators and service personnel to manage, upgrade and monitor the performance of Discover Lithium batteries.”
The Lynk devices make closed-loop communication, a term often used in the solar industry, possible between a lithium RV battery or batteries, a BMS and the charging source.
“In closed loop vs. open loop it gives you a whole bunch of advantages, with everything talking to each other, and with your battery through the closed-loop communication… that means batteries can charge even faster in a that they would in an open-loop situation where you didn’t have a Lynk and you were just charging directly to the battery,” Discover Battery Director of Marketing Matthew Campbell said.
The Lynk Lite Communications Gateway collects and transmits real-time battery information for Discover lithium professional batteries. The Lynk Lite integrates batteries with mobile inverter-chargers, on and off-board industrial chargers, load centers, motor controls, and telematics using several languages including CANopen, Serial CAN and RV-C communication.
The Lynk II has three built-in programmable relays or switches that can use real-time battery information, such as state of charge, to trigger turning systems such as generators or air conditioners on or off.
“What makes the Lynk II special? There are other auto-gen-start devices out there,” said Derek Pettingale, Discover Battery director product and program management-Lithium. “Our device, because it is integrated within Lynk and in a closed loop with the batteries, it can use the state of charge of the battery to be one of the trigger items. One of the things the batteries are communicating is a real-time extremely accurate state-of-charge. You can use that to drive the relays to turn components off and on.”
When used in solar applications, collecting and displaying real-time state-of-charge enables optimization of off-grid inverter chargers such as Victron, Outback and Schneider Electric. The result is improved recharge times.
“The closed-loop software is also great for technicians,” Pettingale said. “A technician can see if an issue is truly a battery issue or if it lies outside the system. Closed-loop communication affects warranty, diagnosis and technical support. It impacts all of those things.”
Both devices come with, a 64-bit Windows-based software package called Lynk Access to help installers or service personnel configure Lynk Gateway devices.
Lynk Access also enables development engineers to simulate Discover lithium batteries, reducing the time and effort required to integrate and test with other systems, Discover Battery said. Lynk Access is a free download from the Discover website.
The Lynk systems help OEMs by providing longer battery life, reducing overall support and warranty concerns, Pettingale said.
“Consumers do not have to worry about their batteries,” Pettingale said. “Lithium batteries are going to last you a whole lot longer than lead-acid. Plus, you are avoiding the whole trip to the dealer for a swap out and wondering whether or not the batteries are in great shape this year, or did they go flat this season, which are not issues with lithium.”
The Lynk Lite and Lynk II only work with Discover lithium batteries. The Discover Professional battery is intended for RV use.
Many batteries imported from Asia, while lithium, do not have the ability to communicate in a closed-loop system and may not be completely safe, Pettingale said. Some lithium batteries do not have smart battery capabilities such as the ability to internally balance charge levels or communicate with one another, he said. A balanced system equates to longer battery life, higher capacity and predictability.
When used with a Lynk system, Discover lithium batteries improve the onboard RV generators and solar panels’ efficiency.
“The closed-loop communication with a generator, with lithium, means the generator will have to run for a lesser period of time to charge the batteries, saves you fuel and reduces emissions by using closed-loop charging with a generator,” Campbell said. “Same thing with solar panels. You would need less time to charge your solar panels back to full vs open loop with lithium. There are a whole bunch of benefits to closed-loop charging that are realized by the RV owner.”
