Question 1

SOK Battery Upacking and Initial Charging

Accepted Answer

Introduction Thank you for choosing SOK batteries for your power needs. We appreciate your trust in our products, and we are committed to ensuring that you get the most out of your batteries. In this knowledge base article, we will provide you with essential information on how to properly charge and maintain your SOK batteries to maximize their lifespan and performance. Bluetooth All SOK batteries are equipped with BlueTooth connectivity (excluding the SK48V100 rack batteries) Please search for ABC-BMS application and install it on your smartphone. When your battery arrives, the Bluetooth module will be asleep. The Bluetooth module switches on when the battery is being either charged or discharged. An explanatory video can be found here. Unpacking and InitialBattery State of Charge (SoC) When you receive your SOK batteries, it’s important to note that they typically come with a low state of charge, often around 30%. Before proceeding with charging, it’s crucial to ensure that your battery charger is configured to the correct parameters for charging. The recommended settings are as follows: Absorption Voltage: 14.6 volts Float Voltage: 13.8 volts For more detailed information on charger settings, please refer to our comprehensive guide, which covers these settings in greater detail. Initial Charging and Cell Balancing When charging your SOK battery for the first time, the individual cells within the battery pack will most likey need to balance. Cell balancing is essential for the long-term health and performance of your battery. Typically, cell balancing occurs when each cell’s voltage reaches 3.5 volts or higher. This is a fully automatic process. It’s important to be aware that during the cell balancing process, you may observe the battery going in and out of protection mode and not reaching full voltage and charging current fluctuating. This behavior occurs because of imbalances in one or more cells, with certain cells reaching their maximum voltage before the battery is fully charged. When the cells are balancing, the battery will not get to it’s fully charged voltage of 14.4 volts (for a 12 volt battery and 28.8 for a 24 volt battery) until all of the cells reach the same state of charge. During an initial charge of the battey, users may experience the charger going into float mode if the absorption duration is set to the 15-60 minutes. In float mode, the voltage from the charger is not high enought to start cell balancing. For this reason it may pay to temprarily increase your absorption time limit to 10 hours. Cell balancing is a slow process and could take several days to complete. If you make these changes to your absorption time limit, please remember to return it to the recommeded settings once your battery has reached the full battery voltage of 14.4 volts. How a BMS Balances the Cells When a cell reaches its maximum voltage first, it triggers an overprotection fault, which, in turn, temporarily halts the charging process. During this time, the Battery Management System (BMS) applies a very small load to the over-voltage cell, causing its voltage to gradually decrease until it falls below the over-voltage protection threshold. Once the voltage of the over voltage cell falls below the over-voltage protection threshold, the charging process resumes. This cycle will likely repeat for several days until all cells are in balance and the battery is fully charged. Conclusion Properly charging and maintaining your SOK batteries is essential for their longevity and performance. By ensuring your charger is configured to the recommended settings and understanding the cell balancing process, you can optimize the lifespan of your battery and ensure reliable power when you need it. For more detailed information on charger settings and troubleshooting, please refer to our knowledge base, which covers these topics in greater depth. If you have any further questions or require assistance, please do not hesitate to contact our customer support team. For first-time users of Lithium batteries, the following knowledge base articles may be of interest: DC-DC Chargers and Why we need them SOK Battery Calibration Using SOK 12 Volt batteries in Series

Question 2

SOK Bluetooth Install & Calibration

Accepted Answer

Connecting Your Battery to Bluetooth and & How To Calibrate SOC% and Actual Capacity Readings To connect to the SOK bluetooth battery, search for ABC-BMS on google or apple store and install on your phone. When you open the app, it will automatically connect to whichever battery it finds first. If you have multiple batteries, you can choose which one to connect to by clicking on the top menu and then selecting the battery that has a serial number correlating to the sticker on the top of the battery. You will notice the SOC and capacity reading, but they are initially incorrect. In order to make them correct, you have to do 2 discharge/charge cycles. Are the calibration cycles required? Not necessarily. They are only important if you plan to use the Bluetooth app for SOC% monitoring. If you have a separate monitor such as a SmartShunt, then you can skip this process and just use the shunt. Steps to Calibrate the BMS: 1. Check the voltage on the terminal, it should be 10V 14V. 2. Before connecting anything to the BMS, access the Bluetooth app. Click on the menu in the top right, select “search device” and click on the appropriate battery by serial number. 3. Click on the menu again and access the “Basic Settings” menu. Then, click “Idle Calibration” and press OK. 4. Discharge the battery using a 12v DC load connected to the terminals directly. Let it run until it stops on its own. After the battery is fully discharged, the BMS should be cut off, the Voltage on the terminals should be 0V. 5. Wake up the battery: connect a lifepo4 battery charger on the terminals and turn it on. It should be wake up and the charger should start pushing current into the battery, BUT not all lifepo4 battery chargers can wake up the battery. If you need further help waking up the battery, please check this article: How to Wake Up A Sleeping Battery 6. After you wake up the battery, keep the lifepo4 battery charger running until “C MOS” indicator on the home page of the app turns off. 7. Repeat the step 2, still using a DC 12v load discharge until the battery turns off. 8. Repeat the step 3, wake up the battery. 9. Charge the Battery , check the app, the SOC and capacity should be correct. If the capacity is more than 5% different than what the battery is rated for (for example over 105ah on a 100ah battery) then repeat this process again. Using an inverter: If you are using an inverter to drain the battery, it is very likely that the inverter has a low-voltage shutdown that is at a higher voltage than the battery. If you are using an inverter for most of the discharge, then you must switch to a DC load at the end to finish draining the battery until the BMS shuts off. It is essential that the BMS shut off for this process to work. What causes the SOC% to become inaccurate over time? The app does not determine SOC based on voltage like a lead-acid battery monitor. The BMS uses shunt resistors and it counts the coulombs to determine SOC, just like an external shunt. The reason why the SOC in the app becomes inaccurate is it doesn’t use a set point of reference for the capacity. Instead, it updates the capacity every single time the battery is recharged. Small inaccuracies over time build up and this affects the calculated capacity, which in turn affects the SOC. The greater majority of external shunts use a constant value for capacity and reset SOC% to 100% when they detect full charge. When should the calibration cycle be repeated? If the app reports a capacity outside of the following range, repeat this calibration process, starting with step 4: 100ah Battery: 95 110ah 206ah Battery: 200 220ah

Question 3

SOK and AS/NZS3004.2 Certifcation

Accepted Answer

Overview: This article provides information about specific battery systems compliant with the 3004.2 standard and the upcoming offerings from SOK. 2\. Recognized Brands Under 3004.2: There are several battery systems recognized under the 3004.2 standard. The brands known to fall under this category include: Mastervolt Juice Victron 3\. Limitations of Some Batteries: It’s important to note that SOK batteries, among many others, currently lack an integrated mechanism to indicate when the battery is nearing depletion. 4\. Upcoming Offerings from SOK: SOK is in the process of introducing compliant batteries that are produced locally. These batteries are: Expected to be available starting December. Anticipated to be priced very competitively in the market. 5\. Interim Solutions: While waiting for the new SOK batteries, customers have the option to purchase Victron batteries and BMS hardware through SOK. 6\. Express Your Interest: If you are keen on acquiring the soon-to-be-released batteries from SOK: Please reach out to us using our contact form to register your interest.

Question 4

How to Correctly Balance & Setup Your Batteries in Series

Accepted Answer

See How to Correctly Balance & Setup Your Batteries in Series on the Sogen Energy help centre.

Question 5

How to Wake Up A Sleeping LIFePO4 Battery

Accepted Answer

See How to Wake Up A Sleeping LIFePO4 Battery on the Sogen Energy help centre.