Check Cell Balance – Procedure

Overview

While long-term battery degradation requires testing at Faraday’s HQ, we have included a utility to check general battery health. The Faraday battery is a 12S2P pack. When operating correctly the individual cells should be within 50mV of each other. Using the Faraday Utility and Battery Utility it is easy to check cell health.

 

Tools Needed :

• Windows (7 or later) Computer
• Faraday M5 USB Serial cable
• Faraday Utility
• Battery Utility

 

Procedure :

Step One: Disconnect the mode selector

Step Two: Connect the diagnostic cable to top tube cable and mode selector. Take care not bend any pins by lining up the arrows on the connectors.

Step Three: Connect the USB to your computer

Step Four: Open the Faraday Utility. Check that the COM device highlighted in green. If you don’t see this, click ‘Refresh. If the COM device shows “COM 3” skip to Step Seven.

Step Five: Type ‘Device Manager’ into the windows search bar and open it. Scroll down to ‘Ports’. Right click on the USB Serial Port option and select properties.

Step Six: Navigate to ‘Advanced Settings’. Under the ‘COM Port Number’ select COM3. It is okay if it’s already in use. Proceed through any warnings.

Step Seven: Return the Faraday Utility and select ‘Refresh’. It should now display ‘COM 3’. Select ‘BAC Update’ in order to put the bike into passthrough mode. This can take a couple tries. Two LEDs should be illuminated on the back of the controller.

Step Eight: Close out of the Faraday utility and open the Battery Utility. Select ‘Connect’ and compare the individual cell voltages. A healthy battery will have cells within 50mV of each other.