Why have we used PACE BMS in our 48V Batteries?

If you’ve already read our blog ‘To boldly go where no Rack has gone before’, you’ll know we went through a pretty meticulous process when it came to developing our 48v Rack Battery (the same can be said for our 15.5kWh battery).

The core system functionality, ease of integration and seamless synthesis with established marketing leading inverters was vital to the success of our design.

So, you may be wondering why we chose a PACE BMS over more established brands such as JBD and JK. Let us explain.

Who is PACE?

Believe it or not, PACE has been around a lot longer than other more established BMS brands. In fact they have 10 years of experience on JBD and JK, having opened their doors in 2004. Throughout these 19 years, they’ve spent a lot of time perfecting the product, patenting the technology and more importantly for us, creating an unrivalled communication protocol. 

You see, PACE is one of the only BMS on the market that seamlessly communicates with multiple inverters without the need for any complex programmatic software. It’s because of this technology we’ve been able to include so many inverter protocols across our Fogstar Rack and 15.5kWh batteries - making it simple for users to ‘plug and go’.

Anyway we digress, back to PACE. They haven't just focused their technological research and development efforts on BMS. They also build lithium battery packs and specialist lithium applications for power stations, trams, energy storage solutions and even robots (yes - actual robots). 

Their SOC monitoring system is used all over the world in some of the most critical and technically complex applications - they just don’t shout about it.

Through their award of some 24 technology patents, it’s clear that robust and reliable products are core to the systems they design. That’s what we like about PACE - when placing a warranty on a product with a shelf-life of up to 15 years, we want to know the components inside are built to last. 

Finally, you won’t find PACE BMS online - they’re notoriously difficult to purchase unless it’s direct from the manufacturer. They’re also very expensive - and rightly so. Their products represent 19 years of ongoing research and development; perfecting the ultimate battery management system.

In the world of BMS, comparatively against other brands such as JBD and JK - they are the Gold Standard.

Why have we used PACE in our 48V Batteries?

When we were in the design stages of our rack system and looking at BMS solutions, our initial instinct (like many system designers on the market) was to ‘just go with’ JBD or JK. There’s something quite reassuring and rather copacetic about using a BMS so well recognised and established in the Global market. 

Although, when you start digging a little deeper into the specifications of these BMS, it was unlikely the most popular BMS could handle all of the requirements we were looking for.

The core element for us was the multi-inverter protocol. The ease of integration was key to the functionality of our batteries, this is where many battery manufacturers on the market had gone wrong. Nobody wants to be spending hours re-programming the BMS to ‘play nice’ with their Inverter. PACE gave us the opportunity to implement a multi-inverter protocol that was unsupported by many BMS manufacturers.

Our mind was made up when we received a frustrated email from a customer saying they were having ‘major issues’ getting their BMS to integrate succinctly with their Victron Inverter. Yes - we know those challenges and we understand the frustrations. That customer was not the first, and they certainly wouldn't be the last.

Not only have we found a superb supplier of quality BMS overflowing with protective features, they also solve the issue of effortless inverter communication - allowing users to simply ‘plug and go’ for the top inverter brands on the market. For those of you not using one of these inverters (Victron, Sofar, Pylontech, Growatt, Solis, Goodwe), you still have the option to pull out the Pbms Tools software and input your BMS settings as required. 

So there we have it. An introduction to PACE, and our journey to choosing the ultimate BMS for our 48V Rack System and 15.5kWh batteries. Hopefully now you’ll understand why we selected PACE and not just a run of the mill, widely available, off-the-shelf BMS brand. The second you power-up your Fogstar battery - you’ll thank us for it.