Fogstar Drift App (1 Viewer)

[headlight]

Anybody having problems with the app ?
I received 2 x 105AH Fogstar Drifts today.
I down loaded the app on to my phone but no matter what I do my phone just searches and searches and doesn't connect.
I have also down loaded the app on to my tablet but that won't connect either.
I have Bluetooth and location turned on on both devices and have uninstalled and re-installed the app several times on both devices but still no joy.
I can connect to other devices via Bluetooth no problem.

 

[Outdoors Dad]

Have you downloaded a sperate app for each battery. Maybe this could help.

 

[headlight]

Have you downloaded a sperate app for each battery. Maybe this could help.

You can't do that.
It's one app but it shows each battery separately.

 

[Raul]

You can't do that.
It's one app but it shows each battery separately.

Yes one battery at a time, you can't connect to both at the same time, its impossible.
I have 3 bms es working with the same app, it scans, detects all batteries, then i click on each battery individually to connect to each bms one at a time.

 

[Raul]

Both batteries were showing 99% SOC, 13.3v and 104.4 AH and 104.5 AH respectively and about 6c.
The BMS is repeatedly turning charge/discharge on/off on both batteries.
I watched the app for a good hour and it did this every few seconds on both batteries.

Thats not good, if there is no triggers to protect for over discharge, the bms should not switch off discharge.
Send them back, the bms is not right.

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[headlight]

Thats not good, if there is no triggers to protect for over discharge, the bms should not switch off discharge.
Send them back, the bms is not right.

I'm waiting for Fogstar to get back to me about how I proceed as the batteries have been unusable since I got them.

 

[Pausim]

I'm waiting for Fogstar to get back to me about how I proceed as the batteries have been unusable since I got them.

Do the batteries themselves malfunction or is it just the bluetooth app that gives erroneous information?

 

[Outdoors Dad]

What about giving the van a good run out to let your B2B help balance the batteries. This will enable your batteries to get to a normal temperature etc. Make sure you set your batteries to enable charging and discharging. I noticed my cells weren't synced perfectly when I first got my fogstar battery. I went away for weekend, obviously used the battery then on way home I noticed cells synced etc. You could also use a multimeter when using batteries to check power usage of both batteries.

 

[headlight]

Do the batteries themselves malfunction or is it just the bluetooth app that gives erroneous information?

It appears to be the BMS.

 

[headlight]

What about giving the van a good run out to let your B2B help balance the batteries. This will enable your batteries to get to a normal temperature etc. Make sure you set your batteries to enable charging and discharging. I noticed my cells weren't synced perfectly when I first got my fogstar battery. I went away for weekend, obviously used the battery then on way home I noticed cells synced etc. You could also use a multimeter when using batteries to check power usage of both batteries.

Cells are balanced within 0.001v of each other according to the app.
I can't charge them at the moment as the BMS/app keeps turning them off and on and will only allow one battery to be on charge/discharge at a time even though they are connected in parallel.

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[Steve N Tracy]

AT 99% and 104.4 AH and 104.5 they are just about charged the BMS is going into protection mode and turning charge and discharge off and on turn of the charger, leave the bms to balance the cells and see if the bms is still in protection mode after a while.

 

[headlight]

AT 99% and 104.4 AH and 104.5 they are just about charged the BMS is going into protection mode and turning charge and discharge off and on turn of the charger, leave the bms to balance the cells and see if the bms is still in protection mode after a while.

They are in my van in storage, no hook up so no mains charging, engines not running so the B2B is doing nothing. Solar is connected but not doing much this time of year and MPPT is set to lithium and 14.2v charging and 13.5v float so well under Fogstar's protection voltage settings.

 

[Just smiffy]

If I remember rightly Fogstar have commented on this thread and I would assume they are still reading it… if they are and the only comments made was that your phone is at fault but they also know you are having continuing problems that they haven’t sorted for you is quite frankly not acceptable… on a forum with a potential 60,000 + people reading your troubles with the batteries will undoubtedly be put off from dealing with them…

I know for a fact they’ve lost one customer over this and I would not recommend them to anyone….

 

[headlight]

If I remember rightly Fogstar have commented on this thread and I would assume they are still reading it… if they are and the only comments made was that your phone is at fault but they also know you are having continuing problems that they haven’t sorted for you is quite frankly not acceptable… on a forum with a potential 60,000 + people reading your troubles with the batteries will undoubtedly be put off from dealing with them…

I know for a fact they’ve lost one customer over this and I would not recommend them to anyone….

I've rung them twice this week, was told someone would ring me but they haven't.
I've messaged them on their owners forum and they want me to send them screen shots of the app which means another trip to the van.
I think their batteries are probably fine, the problem is the BMS and app.

 

[headlight]

This morning I have had a reply from Fogstar on their owners forum.
They say that the batteries are unbalanced and that the higher voltage battery is "flooding" in to the lower voltage one causing issues.
They recommend that I disconnect the batteries from each other, charge them to 100% individually then reconnect them, which is what I did when I first got them.
I think that this is a waste of time as both batteries are showing the same SOC, same AH, same voltage and all 8 cells in the 2 batteries are within 0.001v of each other so I would say they are balanced.
However I will go to the van next week, remove the batteries and do what they suggest as at the moment the batteries are unusable.
On their owners group I am far from being alone in having BMS/app problems.

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[Lenny HB]

However I will go to the van next week, remove the batteries and do what they suggest as at the moment the batteries are unusable.

I don't see how they are unusable it's just the BMS reporting wrongly, it's not just Fogstar that have this problem it happens with a lot of brands.

 

[headlight]

I don't see how they are unusable it's just the BMS reporting wrongly, it's not just Fogstar that have this problem it happens with a lot of brands.

They are unusable as I can only have one battery on discharge or charge at a time so in effect I only have one battery working at a time.
Also they have randomly gone into protection mode, turning charge/discharge off and not allowing me to turn them back on for several days meaning no power for several days like on my only trip with them.
Hence me saying that they are unusable.

 

[Pausim]

I think these bluetooth apps are giving too much information and just causing unnecessary worry. If you had 2 normal Li batteries, without bluetooth BMS information they might well be doing similar things but you would never know or care. Randomly going into protection mode for no reason is a different matter and I can see you would need to get that sorted out.

 

[AdrianChen]

I don't see how they are unusable it's just the BMS reporting wrongly, it's not just Fogstar that have this problem it happens with a lot of brands.

Yes it would be interesting to see how they each behave when not paralleled and only one is connected to the van and bluetooth app, maybe just one with an issue? Probably more to do with the reporting than the bms or cells themselves as you say....

 

[Lenny HB]

They are unusable as I can only have one battery on discharge or charge at a time so in effect I only have one battery working at a time.
Also they have randomly gone into protection mode, turning charge/discharge off and not allowing me to turn them back on for several days meaning no power for several days like on my only trip with them.
Hence me saying that they are unusable.

I didn't realise they were still doing that.
Fogstar appears to have reasonable customer service so I'm sure they will change them for you but it does seem odd they are both doing it. It may just be one playing up affecting the other one.

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[headlight]

I didn't realise they were still doing that.
Fogstar appears to have reasonable customer service so I'm sure they will change them for you but it does seem odd they are both doing it. It may just be one playing up affecting the other one.

Yes it could be only one battery with an issue.
From what I have read on the owners group I am far from alone in having issues.
It seems that really these batteries should be cycled at least 6-8 times at home before installation which is something Fogster should make people aware of, and if they had I wouldn't have had a problem doing that.
Now I have to go to the van, disconnect them, take them home, cycle them then take them back and refit them.
I could have done that when I first got them, if I had known.
If cycling them doesn't sort the BMS out they will be going back.

 

[MichaelT]

I don't see how they are unusable it's just the BMS reporting wrongly, it's not just Fogstar that have this problem it happens with a lot of brands.

Not seen many issues on here with other brands, Fogstar seem to have more issues than most.

 

[Speve]

I’ve now had mine in The van for three plus months it has cycled four times without any problems as far as I can see the app works fine.
I agree with Pausim just let it get on with it and don’t keep looking every time I check my battery it is charged and performs well. I don’t feel the need to keep looking at the app.

 

[headlight]

I’ve now had mine in The van for three plus months it has cycled four times without any problems as far as I can see the app works fine.
I agree with Pausim just let it get on with it and don’t keep looking every time I check my battery it is charged and performs well. I don’t feel the need to keep looking at the app.

Im glad you're happy with yours but i am not happy with mine.
Mine are not performing well, in fact they're not performing at all.
They have not worked properly since I've had them.

 

[Pausim]

The mystery shut downs really baffle me. In respect of charging the BMS only needs to intervene if there is over voltage or over current charging. The lithium chemistry is such that the cells themselves simply will not accept too much charge. It makes me wonder whether one of the charging devices is occasionally pulsing at a voltage that triggers the lock out. When both batteries are full it wouldn’t worry me if one or the other carried all the discharge load for a while but both locking out altogether does need explaining.

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[RogerIvy]

Have you tried installing the JBD app and see what that reports?
We use it from time to time, I like the FogStar app but it has quite a long refresh interval.

 

[headlight]

The mystery shut downs really baffle me. In respect of charging the BMS only needs to intervene if there is over voltage or over current charging. The lithium chemistry is such that the cells themselves simply will not accept too much charge. It makes me wonder whether one of the charging devices is occasionally pulsing at a voltage that triggers the lock out. When both batteries are full it wouldn’t worry me if one or the other carried all the discharge load for a while but both locking out altogether does need explaining.

My Sterling B2B and Victron solar MPPT are both set to lithium and 14.2v charge and 13.5v float.
My onboard mains charger is a Sargent PX 300 and only has a lead acid profile of 14.4v charge and 13.6v float.
Fogstar have said that that is fine as their recommended charge rates are 14.4v and 13.6v.
As far as I am aware the only charge the batteries have definitely received since I got them is the initial charge at home from a Fogstar 20 amp lithium charger.
When I went away upon arrival at site I found that both batteries had turned charge/discharge off and wouldn't let me turn them back on.
I don't know if they received any charge from the B2B on the drive to site but they were both at 100% when I left (according to the Victron smart shunt), so should only have received a float charge.
At site, as the batteries had turned themselves off, I plugged into EHU but as the batteries had turned themselves off they didn't take any charge, again confirmed by the shunt.
Back at storage for the past 2 weeks the only charge they could have received is from the solar but I don't know if they have received any due to them randomly turning themselves off.
I do not think that any of my charging methods should put in enough volts for the batteries to turn themselves off.

 

[headlight]

Have you tried installing the JBD app and see what that reports?
We use it from time to time, I like the FogStar app but it has quite a long refresh interval.

Fogstar told me to install the Xiaoxiang app which I did and could connect to and monitor the batteries with.
I'm not installing a 3rd app as I feel that the supplied Fogstar app should work and I've already installed a 2nd app.
I believe that the issues are the BMS.
If cycling the batteries at home doesn't sort things out then the batteries will be going back as I feel I have been patient enough and tried enough things already especially bearing in mind that these batteries are advertised as direct replacement drop ins.

 

[Raul]

My Sterling B2B and Victron solar MPPT are both set to lithium and 14.2v charge and 13.5v float.
My onboard mains charger is a Sargent PX 300 and only has a lead acid profile of 14.4v charge and 13.6v float.
Fogstar have said that that is fine as their recommended charge rates are 14.4v and 13.6v.
As far as I am aware the only charge the batteries have definitely received since I got them is the initial charge at home from a Fogstar 20 amp lithium charger.
When I went away upon arrival at site I found that both batteries had turned charge/discharge off and wouldn't let me turn them back on.
I don't know if they received any charge from the B2B on the drive to site but they were both at 100% when I left (according to the Victron smart shunt), so should only have received a float charge.
At site, as the batteries had turned themselves off, I plugged into EHU but as the batteries had turned themselves off they didn't take any charge, again confirmed by the shunt.
Back at storage for the past 2 weeks the only charge they could have received is from the solar but I don't know if they have received any due to them randomly turning themselves off.
I do not think that any of my charging methods should put in enough volts for the batteries to turn themselves off.

The only thing that can turn CHARGE off, is cell over voltage protection, or low temperature protection; but discharge should remain on at this stage.

 

[headlight]

The only thing that can turn CHARGE off, is cell over voltage protection, or low temperature protection; but discharge should remain on at this stage.

I know but that is not what is happening.
I believe my charging source profiles are fine and are not the problem.
Any ideas as to the easiest and cheapest way for me to discharge the batteries at home so that I can cycle them.
I do not have anything I can use so will have to buy something.
As all it will be used for is cycling the batteries then the cheaper the better.

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[AdrianChen]

I know but that is not what is happening.
I believe my charging source profiles are fine and are not the problem.
Any ideas as to the easiest and cheapest way for me to discharge the batteries at home so that I can cycle them.
I do not have anything I can use so will have to buy something.
As all it will be used for is cycling the batteries then the cheaper the better.

I guess a 12v heater of some sort from a camp shop?