Great News! In keeping with our promise for FREE updates of new functions and features to our Xtrema product line, we have a new beta release for the Xtrema Balancer and a companion release for the Xtrema Charger to support one of the changes to the balancer. If you do not have an Xtrema Balancer for your Xtrema Charger then you DO NOT need to update the charger.
NEW BALANCER FEATURES
There are several improvements and changes to the Balancer. Due to the changes in discharge currents in the Xtrema Balancer a change was necessary to the Xtrema Charger firmware therefore BOTH PRODUCT MUST BE UPGRADED. The changes to the balancer are as follows:
- We added a new resistance measurement function to measure individual cell resistance. This new feature is for comparative readings only and not to be taken as exact cell measurements. This is because the resistance from the balancer connector contacts and the small balancer wires are unavoidably measured in the process of loading the cells throught the balancer connector.
There are DC and AC methods of measuring battery impedance. We use a DC method. We measure the loaded voltage then the unloaded voltage across each cell and use that delta to calculate the internal series resistance. Unfortunately when the balancer puts a load on each cell the current is going through the balancing connector and it will add to the resistance of the cell.
Another factor that will make your measurements look high is that the impedance of a lipo cell is higher at low loads and at cold temperatures. Even though you will not get accurate cell resistance measurements with this new feature, you will be able to see changes to the resistance of each cell over time. This can help you spot a cell that is going bad. Please experiment with this new feature and tell us how it is working for you. We have started a new thread on our forum for beta testers to comment on the new beta release. Please join our forum and leave your comments at http://tmenet.com/forums/index.php?topic=318.0
- We added current limiting firmware that reduces discharge current as the number of cells to be discharged increases. This will help keep the overall temperature of the balancer lower.
- We added an automatic "re-check for balance" feature that starts a new balance 2 minutes (default) after the balancer has completed the balance cycle. This feature will permit our balancer to continue checking for balance when used with NON Xtrema chargers.
- As a result of the new "re-check for balance" feature, we changed the "Power down command" to the "Pause After Balance command" to allow you to change the 2 minute default pause after balance (sleep time before checking again for balance) The time (represented in seconds default=120) can be changed with the XTRBalancer program.
The new firmware update can be downloaded here http://tmenet.com/updates/special/XtremaLog%20Setup.exe
Note that the install will not delete any saved Xtrema plots but only add the updated files. You will need to update the balancer with the file balancer-v2-0-2b.enc and your Xtrema with the file Xtrema-v-1-3-11b.xac into the Xtrema. (note some computers will not show the .enc or .xac part of the file name) Instruction on how to update your balancer can be found in our
forum.
The new XTRBalancer program can be downloaded here You can now save the graphs to an image for printing or inserting into other documents
http://www.tmenet.com/updates/special/XTRBalancer_Setup.exeEnjoy the new features and don't forget to leave comments or askquestion at our forum <
http://tmenet.com/forums/index.php?topic=318.msg722#msg722>
