Charger components

A charger component lets Profinity control a charger or programmable power supply, so that a Prohelion Battery Management Unit (BMU) in the same Profile can charge the pack. The components sit in the Chargers & Power Supplies group. How the BMU balances the cells while it charges is described in the hardware documentation, such as D1000 Gen1 Charger Control. On a D1000 Gen2 the BMU hardware manages charging, as described in the D1000 Gen2 documentation.

flowchart LR
    subgraph Profile["Profile"]
        BMS["Prohelion BMU"] --> Component["Charger component"]
    end
    subgraph Hardware["Charger"]
        Charger["TDK, Siglent or Elcon"]
    end
    Component --> Charger

A Prohelion BMU in the Profile supplies the pack data, and the charger component controls the charger, over TCP for a TDK or Siglent supply and over CAN for an Elcon charger

Supported chargers

Component	Controls	Connection
Elcon Charger	Elcon chargers	Controller Area Network (CAN), through a CAN adapter that is already in the Profile
Siglent Power Supply	Siglent programmable power supplies that accept Standard Commands for Programmable Instruments (SCPI) commands, such as the SPD3303X-E, which suits desktop testing	Transmission Control Protocol (TCP) over the network
TDK Power Supply	TDK programmable power supplies, such as the Genesys family, using SCPI commands	TCP over the network. A supply with only a serial port needs a TCP to serial converter between it and the network.

Close-up of a two-channel power supply display: CH1 set to 32.00 V with 31.99 V and 0.00 A output, and CH2 set to 12.00 V with 12.00 V and 0.42 A output, both switched on. — A Siglent SPD3303X-E power supply

Quick start

This quick start adds a TDK or Siglent supply. To add an Elcon charger, add a CAN adapter to the Profile first, then select Elcon Charger in the Chargers & Power Supplies group and set its values as listed in Charger settings.

You need:

A Prohelion BMU in the Profile with Control pack on, because Profinity can engage and disengage the pack for a charge only when it is on. Control pack is off by default, and it is described in Prohelion BMU.
The IP address and TCP port of the supply, and for a TDK supply the charger ID that the supply is set to.
The Control charging permission to use the charging controls, as described in Roles and permissions.
Select ADD COMPONENT, then select TDK Power Supply or Siglent Power Supply in the Chargers & Power Supplies group.
Set Charger IP address to the IP address of the supply.
Set Charger port to the port the supply listens on. The default is 5025.
For a TDK supply, set Charger ID to the ID the supply is set to.
Set Charger voltage limit, Charger current limit, and Charger power limit to the maximum output of your supply. The defaults are listed in Charger settings.
Select ADD COMPONENT.
Select Connect / Disconnect from the charger's menu. Auto connect is off by default.
In TAG EXPLORER, check that the charger's IsConnected tag is true.

The Available Components screen filtered to Chargers & Power Supplies, listing Elcon Charger, Siglent Power Supply and TDK Power Supply. — The three charger components in the Chargers & Power Supplies group

The charger then appears under Chargers & Power Supplies in the main menu, with its own dashboard. To run a charge, refer to Start a charge.

Settings

Every charger asks for its output limits and the limits of the supply that feeds it, and the TDK and Siglent supplies also ask for their network address. Charger settings lists every setting, with its type, default for each charger, and effect.

Example

This example adds a TDK supply at a network address you supply. Add it under components: in the profile.yaml file of the profile.

- component:
    type: TDKPowerSupply
    id: TDKPowerSupply1
    name: TDK Power Supply
    tagTreeParentPath: /
    chargerIpAddress: SUPPLY_IP_ADDRESS
    chargerPort: 5025
    chargerId: CHARGER_ID
    chargerVoltageLimit: 300
    chargerCurrentLimit: 10
    chargerPowerLimit: 3000
    supplyVoltageLimit: 240
    supplyCurrentLimit: 10
    autoConnect: false

Replace SUPPLY_IP_ADDRESS with the IP address of the supply and CHARGER_ID with the ID it is set to, and set the limits to match your supply.

Troubleshooting

What you see	Cause	What to do
"You must provide a charger Id for your charger" when you add a TDK supply	Charger ID is empty.	Set Charger ID to the ID the supply is set to.
The `IsConnected` tag stays false after Connect / Disconnect	Profinity cannot reach the supply at Charger IP address and Charger port.	Check the address and port against the supply's network settings, and check that the supply is on the same network as the computer running Profinity.
A charge does not start	Control pack is off on the BMU, so Profinity cannot engage the pack.	Turn on Control pack on the BMU, as described in Prohelion BMU, then start the charge again. For the other causes, refer to Start a charge.

Related components: Prohelion BMU and the CAN bus adapters that an Elcon charger uses.

Tag	Contents
`ActualCurrent`	The current the charger is delivering
`HardwareStatusColourText`, `TempStatusColourText`, `CommsStatusColourText`, `ACStatusColourText`, `DCStatusColourText`	The status colour of the hardware, temperature, communications, AC input, and DC output indicators on the dashboard