Enhancing Battery System Performance with Battle Born Smart Batteries

As demand for advanced energy storage systems grows, managing battery health and performance effectively is increasingly critical. Dragonfly Energy, the maker of Battle Born, has spent years developing Dragonfly IntelLigence®, a proprietary technology that delivers groundbreaking lithium battery communication, to address these challenges and provide a comprehensive solution to battery monitoring.

Traditionally, when evaluating battery performance, most attention is placed on the health of individual batteries. However, the focus should shift to the entire system’s performance in systems with multiple batteries. This is because the interaction between batteries can affect the overall system health, where imbalances may arise due to factors like temperature fluctuations, charge cycles, and internal resistance.

Dragonfly IntelLigence was designed to seamlessly integrate into smart lithium power systems, instilling user confidence by enhancing performance monitoring. The technology aggregates data from all batteries in the system into a centralized hub (using a device called the Battle Born HUB), providing a comprehensive view of system health, performance, and status for optimal power management.

This centralized HUB, designed for both wired and wireless connectivity, gathers and processes individual battery data into meaningful insights, offering a holistic view of the entire system’s performance. The technology enables efficient wireless communication through a Zigbee mesh network, eliminating the need for constant Bluetooth connections between batteries while ensuring continuous monitoring.

Commissioning and Setup: A Simple Yet Robust Process

Setting up a Battle Born Smart Battery system is simple and straightforward – yet comprehensive. The process begins with “commissioning,” where each battery’s position within the series-parallel configuration is specified. This ensures the system correctly recognizes each battery’s role, whether part of a series or parallel configuration  – or both. Once commissioning is complete, the system begins to monitor and aggregate performance data, providing real-time insights into the entire battery bank.

Let’s walk through an example. In a 24V system with four batteries configured in series-parallel, the commissioning process involves identifying each battery’s position and naming it for easy identification. After inputting this information into the system, the Zigbee mesh network connects all batteries wirelessly to the HUB, creating a fully operational and interconnected system.

Real-Time Monitoring and Early Detection

Battle Born Smart Batteries offer advanced monitoring capabilities by continuously tracking individual battery performance. This data is aggregated to comprehensively view the overall system’s health, including voltage, current, and state of charge (SOC). By monitoring the SOC at a granular level, the system can quickly identify imbalances between batteries, which could indicate issues such as poor charging or degradation.

One of the key advantages of this system is its ability to detect potential problems before they escalate. For example, if the batteries in a series configuration are not balanced – meaning their voltages or currents differ beyond acceptable limits – the system will flag the issue. In such cases, immediate corrective action can be taken to prevent damage or performance loss.

Moreover, when an error or anomaly is detected, such as a high current event or low voltage disconnect, the system instantly transmits this information, ensuring that operators are immediately alerted. An immediate response is crucial and helps prevent prolonged issues, reducing the risk of system damage and downtime.

Practical Scenarios: Insights from Real-World Testing

In practical tests, the Dragonfly IntelLigence technology and its level of communication have shown the ability to identify and resolve common issues in battery systems. For example, when applying a load to a 24V series-parallel system, the Battle Born Mobile App displays how each battery contributes to the overall current draw. In scenarios where the current is imbalanced between different battery strings, the system highlights these discrepancies, indicating potential problems such as high resistance points or loose connections.

During testing, intentionally loosened battery connections simulated a high-resistance point, causing an imbalance in the current distribution. The system quickly flagged this issue, allowing for the correction before it caused significant damage. Once the terminals were tightened, the system showed a more balanced current distribution, demonstrating the effectiveness of real-time monitoring in identifying and mitigating issues.

The Future of Smart Battery Systems: Empowering Users with Meaningful Data

Battle Born Smart LiFePO4 Deep Cycle Batteries are designed to make battery management more straightforward and highly efficient, offering users detailed insights into their battery systems’ performance. Continuously monitoring and aggregating data from every battery in the system provides a clearer understanding of potential issues, ensuring that users can make informed decisions and take proactive actions to maintain optimal performance.

As the technology continues to evolve, Dragonfly IntelLigence will play an increasingly critical role in the development of more reliable and efficient battery systems, particularly in industries reliant on long-term energy storage solutions. By offering real-time data, early detection of faults, and a user-friendly interface, Battle Born Smart Batteries not only improve how power systems are managed but also pave the way for smarter, more efficient energy storage solutions.

Learn more about how Battle Born Smart Batteries can optimize your energy storage system. Contact us for a power system consultation today: 855.292.2831 or [email protected]