iSDT, the company that makes my favorite LiPo charger, the SC-620, recently released a very fancy battery checker, the BG-8S. I decided to get one and see what’s special about it.
Purchase: https://goo.gl/VGWqRL
Take a look at the list of tools that are useful for building quadcopters.
Features
Apart from LiPo battery voltage checking, the BG-8S also has a few other handy features:
- 5V USB Charger for cameras, phones & tablets etc
- LiPo Battery Cell Balancing
- Radio Receiver Signal Analyser: PWM, PPM, SBUS, gives you the value of each channel
- Supports BattGo Technology
You can use it to charge your GoPro or iPhone at the field using one of your LiPo batteries with the BG-8S. And I would be able to troubleshoot my receivers if I am having trouble getting it to talk to the FC.
The voltage checker is called “BG-8S”, not because of Banggood :D, but the support for a new technology in LiPo battery – “BattGo” (check out our article for more info).
LiPo batteries with BattGo technology have data and settings stored inside the battery pack. By connecting the battery pack to the BG-8S you would be able to read this data, and change settings on the battery.
Spec and Unbox
- Voltage checking supports 1S to 8S batteries (0.8V to 4.8V per cell)
- Voltage measurement accuracy +/- 5mV (0.005V) @4.2V
- For the 5V USB charger to work, input voltage must be within 5V to 36V
- USB charging support maximum of 12V @ 5A.
It comes with a manual, a screen protector, and a wrist rope.
The Screen, Buttons and Connectors
It has a really bright LCD screen with adjustable brightness, it’s not a problem at all using it under the sun.
There are 3 buttons for operating the menu, up, enter/confirm, and down.
On the left side you have the XT60 connector and a balance port that supports 1S to 8S LiPo batteries.
The XT60 connector has a 3rd pin on top for communicating data with “BattGo” batteries. But it’s also backward compatible with normal LiPo batteries.
On the left side, there is a Micro USB port for connecting to a computer for firmware updates, and a USB port for charging external devices.
I have to say, the build quality is excellent just like any of iSDT’s chargers.
The Menu and Modes
The Menu is super easy to understand and operate, let’s walk through some of the features and settings.
Table of Contents
Voltage Checker
The voltage checker turns on almost immediately after you plugin the balance lead, you get a nice voltage read out of each cell.
The voltage measurement has very high resolution as it shows you the voltage down to mV (0.001V). I confirmed the accuracy to my multimeter and it’s within 5mV (0.005V), exactly what the spec states.
But it doesn’t give you a percentage of how much capacity is left in the pack like many other cheaper battery checkers can do.
One thing I noticed was the different voltage measurements between the XT60 connector and balance port when plugged in individually. The XT60 connector reading seems to be 20mV higher than the balance port, but the balance port always overrides the voltage reading when it’s plugged in probably because of its higher accuracy.
Cells Balance
Cell balancing is a pretty cool feature on a small voltage checker like this. But I am not entirely sure why you would need to do that since you can always “balance charge” your batteries and the cells are balanced during charging anyway.
Anyway it’s interesting that the BG-8S is capable of doing that.
I tested this feature using a 4S 1000mAh pack that has a cell voltage difference of 130mV, and it took about 10 mins to reduce the difference to about 15mV and stopped.
USB Charge
It has a USB port that outputs 5V, you can use it to charge your GoPro or Smart Phones at the field, and it can deliver a solid 2A of current maximum.
Receiver Tester
It can be used to test receivers of different RX protocol including PWM, PPM and SBUS. It basically can show you the value of each channel up to 16 channels. Sounds like a great tool for troubleshooting RX, for example if you connect an RX to an FC and it’s not picking up signal, you can test it with it.
Is the BG-8S Worth it?
It’s an expensive tool. But for $30 you are not just getting a battery checker, it’s a lot more. You could be paying $10-$15 just to get a XT60 to USB charger.
If you use BattGo batteries, the BG-8S voltage checker would be an extremely useful tool. You can modify battery settings and monitor battery status wherever you go. But if you don’t, this is probably an overkill.
One thing I don’t like about the BG-8S is the location of the balance port which is on the left. I am a right handed person and I usually hold the battery with my right hand, so it would be more convenient if the balance port is on the right hand side of the checker.
14 comments
Does anybody know how to update the firmware on this thing?
I’ve installed the ISD Go app (v1.0.0.7) on a Windows machine – I assume that is the application you’re meant to use to update the firmware, right?
I plugged in a MicroUSB cable from the BG-8S to the computer – and it wasn’t detected automatically – however, the screen didn’t light up either, so I don’t know if this is working as intended?
Anyhow, I then plugged in a battery to the unit – it did power up – however, ISD Go still doesn’t detect it.
Is there something special you need to do, to get the BG-8S to be detected by the computer?
What is the small opening next to the micro usb for ? If it’s a socket,. what kind of plug fits into it? Thanks.
Les
nothing important, it’s for the hand strap.
Doesn’t check 1s batteries. A 1s connector cannot be plugged into it. It doesn’t fit. Very disappointing.
How to you use it to test 1S? It does not read through the balance lead input or XT-60 input? The specs indicate it will do 1S. Any ideas?
Power it with a 2S-8S LiPo through the XT60 connector.
Plug in the 1S battery in the balance port to check voltage.
I have one but measurement is off quite a bit:
Measured with Aeng80009 vs BG8S
4,178 4,170
4,188 4,178
4,187 4,181
4,180 4,172
Is there a way to calibrate that thing ??
Current firmware is already installed
Love to read this article, thank you so much for sharing this post with us. It’s very informative for me :)
Hello, could you please confirm that it measures PPM signal?
It says in the product description that it does, but in every video I can find it says only S.BUS and PWM on the screen.
if you update the firmware you can see the total capacity of the lipo ;)
I have the same battery checker and the last firmware update added the missing percentage display to the left part of the display
Does this checker display IR readings?
no it doesn’t
If only they built in a discharger, then I would be sold.