computer programmable charger ?!

Sparfuchs

1 kW
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Nov 22, 2020
Messages
305
Hello EV friend,
i've built a 14S4P battery pack and would like to charge it with a bit less than 58.8V for better cycle life. As i've heard that most common chargers have potentiometers inside that allow you to lower the voltage i've bought a 58.8V/10A charger and as the company offers the same charger in many different specs i was hoping that there are potentiometers inside that can be adjusted. But as i opened it up all i found was a weird chip board with something that looks like a connection for a wire or something. So i'm pretty sure the company adjusts their chargers with this chip (NUVOTON MS51FB9AE, 136HBHA) and i was hoping anyone here knows something that gets me closer to a solution. I thought maybe its something like a arduino that can "easily" be programmed with the right program ? Has anyone seen something like that before ?

Thanks for your help

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If it's programmable, then like anything else you'd need the software from that specific device (charger, in this case) manufacturer to do it.

If the software's not available, but you know for sure it's programmable, then you could possibly reverse-engineer the information to do so like has been done with some Hauwei and other CANBUS-programmable power supplies (not chargers) in various threads here on ES over the years. This is the Hauwei thread
https://www.endless-sphere.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=14&t=86038

This is the page for that chip.
https://www.nuvoton.com/products/microcontrollers/8bit-8051-mcus/industrial-8051-series/ms51fb9ae/
I don't see a notation of whether they make a one-time-programmable version (OTP) or if it's always possible to reflash it, or whether it has a command to disallow reflashing later that can be embedded into the firmware, so it may or may not be reprogrammable once it leaves the factory.

You could get the development software / hardware from Nuvoton and check it out.

Keep in mind that if the charger you have isn't already programmable via software available from the factory, and doesn't use a re-programmable MCU, you'd have to change the hardware itself to change it's "settings" (which means reverse-engineering at least some of the circuitry to figure out where to put adjustment pots).

If it isn't already programmable via software available from the factory, but it *does* use a re-programmable MCU, then to make it programmable it's going to be a fairly complex task. You'd need to download the code (firmware) off the MCU, figure out what the code does, how it does it, how the electronics power hardware is controlled by it, and then how to rewrite the code to allow changing the settings from a computer-based program (which you would then have to write). Alternately if you can't downlaod the code from the MCU (a pretty likely scenario as it's probably write-only) you could figure out how the system works hardware-wise, then write your own MCU firmware to completely replace what's on there to do the controlling, and include programming ability while you're doing it. And then write the computer-based programming software.


As an much simpler alternative, this is a good computer-programmable charger that does have the software available, and support people to ask questions of (though they make take a while to answer sometimes).
https://ebikes.ca/product-info/grin-products/cycle-satiator.html
 
amberwolf said:
If it's programmable, then like anything else you'd need the software from that specific device (charger, in this case) manufacturer to do it.

If the software's not available, but you know for sure it's programmable, then you could possibly reverse-engineer the information to do so like has been done with some Hauwei and other CANBUS-programmable power supplies (not chargers) in various threads here on ES over the years. This is the Hauwei thread
https://www.endless-sphere.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=14&t=86038

This is the page for that chip.
https://www.nuvoton.com/products/microcontrollers/8bit-8051-mcus/industrial-8051-series/ms51fb9ae/
I don't see a notation of whether they make a one-time-programmable version (OTP) or if it's always possible to reflash it, or whether it has a command to disallow reflashing later that can be embedded into the firmware, so it may or may not be reprogrammable once it leaves the factory.

You could get the development software / hardware from Nuvoton and check it out.

Keep in mind that if the charger you have isn't already programmable via software available from the factory, and doesn't use a re-programmable MCU, you'd have to change the hardware itself to change it's "settings" (which means reverse-engineering at least some of the circuitry to figure out where to put adjustment pots).

If it isn't already programmable via software available from the factory, but it *does* use a re-programmable MCU, then to make it programmable it's going to be a fairly complex task. You'd need to download the code (firmware) off the MCU, figure out what the code does, how it does it, how the electronics power hardware is controlled by it, and then how to rewrite the code to allow changing the settings from a computer-based program (which you would then have to write). Alternately if you can't downlaod the code from the MCU (a pretty likely scenario as it's probably write-only) you could figure out how the system works hardware-wise, then write your own MCU firmware to completely replace what's on there to do the controlling, and include programming ability while you're doing it. And then write the computer-based programming software.


As an much simpler alternative, this is a good computer-programmable charger that does have the software available, and support people to ask questions of (though they make take a while to answer sometimes).
https://ebikes.ca/product-info/grin-products/cycle-satiator.html
thanks a lot for your detailed research and reply,
unfortunately that wasn't the answer i was hoping to hear.. but sometimes truth hurts ;)
I'll try to get the software from the seller. If i've found a solution i'll report it here. If anyone else has a idea please let me know.
 
To help others reading this in future

Make sure the charger is adjustable before you buy it.

Or, distant second, that it is set precisely to the voltage you want.

Another approach, use a charge source that goes higher, and use an adjustable HVC to terminate charging.
 
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