Overkill Solar vs. XiaoXiang app. Is the Overkill really that much better?

We are having a closer look at the #Overkill Solar BMS app and going through all the settings and functions. The team from Overkill Solar provides this app for free for Android and iOS and the app also connects to all other BMSes which usually work with the #XiaoXiang #BMS app.
I like the Overkill app quite a lot as it gives a better overview, structure and experience. It also introduces some new features and functions for troubleshooting and testing.
So, which app is actually better and do we still need both?

Thanks a lot, Overkill Solar Team for making this app publicly available. Great work!
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[markbrettnell]

HOLY Someone finally made a simple and straight forward program that works. Very impressed with Overkill Solar!!👍👍👍👏👏

[remix]

Outstanding as always!!! Thank you sir for listening to your viewers and giving us exceptional step by step instructions. I my opinion you are the best channel on YouTube when it comes to DIY solar. Thank you sir

[alanblyde]

Andy you explain things in a standup comedy way that appeals to us all great work 🤙🇦🇺

[KevIsOffGrid]

Yes! Great that you can critique your own testing in specific conditions compared to real life. I had also found better balance on "charge balance" but you had made a convincing tests before. Appreciate the honesty :)

[mikecreamer]

Im glad you cleared up and corrected the charge balance function question! Nice work as always.

[dirk_p]

Thank you, i have installed IT immediately. Works fine and the navigation between my 4x 12v batteries ist much more easy than with the xiaoxiang App and as always, a lot of Essential knowledge to remember👍

[Brad]

Awesome Andy, I’ve been waiting for you to do this vid.

[laurenhoward]

“SW switch circuit enable” tells the BMS if you have a hardwired on/off switch installed. If no switch is connected, turn this setting off. (Because if there is no continuity between the two pins of the switch circuit, the BMS will think it should be OFF.)

[MiniCmaX]

Hi Andi, best hint about Overkill BMS app. Best app ever seen, provides detailed data of my 200 Ah LiFePo4 Liontron!

[imag]

thanks Andy "you're killing it" as always

[bbrown_sc]

11:45 The behavior I've noticed for the "Cell 10% - 100% Capacity Voltage" are just a SOC starting point used for initialization or when writing parameters back to the BMS. Once the voltage gets to "Cell full Voltage" the SOC resets to 100% then measures the current in and out for the SOC values until it gets back to "Cell full Voltage" then resets back to 100% (similar to the Smart Shunt behavior). 12:36 "Bal. only when charging" - I've left this off. I find with with my setup (I have 2 of these) the cell deviation is greatest when charging especially when you get to the knee of the curve. 150mA passive balancer isn't enough to do much good because the time when the deviation is largest is not very long (~10-15 min.). Conversely, the time the battery is idle (once the charge current drops off during absorption or during float) there's a lot more time (sometimes hours) to do the balancing even when my loads are high (e.g. charging an EV). The charge controller(s) are directly supplying the loads of the inverters. The battery is fully charged and doing nothing until the sun goes down here in sunny California, so there's a lot more time to do balancing. 14:36 You say the Overkill balancer didn't balance the battery from the Heltec deviation of 180-200mV, yet earlier in the video at 3:39 shows the deviation ~4 mV. How did it get there if not for the balancer in the Overkill BMS? By having "Balance only when charging" turned on? What's you conclusion of the OverKill vs. Heltec BMSs ability to deal with the 180-200mV deviation of the bottom battery? The "SW switch circuit enable" is to enable or disable the external switch. The external switch is only used to disable battery discharging. It doesn't turn off the BMS. The Overkill manual is very good IMO, maybe you can review that : )

[NedKLee]

The Overkill Solar App combined with the SFK
I'm a huge fan of the SFK kits, not so much the SFK app.
Started using the Overkill app 3 weeks ago, my batteries have never been better.

[celorenzo]

I most certainly agree, your channel is Very informative and entertaining too. Thank you sir from a yank in California.

[offgridwithpojectham]

Looks like the Overkill solved your balancing issue with the bottom shelf. Nice! Good to know it’s the BMS not the battery!

[Labeeman]

I have switched to the Overkill app too, it is easier to use than the XiaoXiang app due to the connection issues as I have 12 BMS to check.

[MartinTheLaserGuy]

What would be really great is a BMS app with a widget or at least ability to display important info in notifications pulldown

[uncleric]

Hi Andy, thank you for great videos. Do you know if there is any way to improve bluetooth range of JK BMS? its non existent comparing to JBD bms. Maybe soldering some antenas would help? 😂

[josee.torres]

Andy....Good Evening from the Hot island of Puerto Rico. I have a question for you. Is there any way that a parameter on the Overkill BMS, get change from yesterday to today without any "apparent" cause?

I'm pretty sure that the answer is NO... But I looking at any "celestial intervene" that cound be making the changes.

Otherwise I will be on my way to physically disconnect the Bluetooth from the BMS.

I'm under the impression that someone is connecting to the BMS, and make changes during the day, while I'm working all day outside.

Any comments are more than welcome 😁.

From the 🔥🥵 (110 heat index) Puerto Rico,

Sincerely,

José 23:51 7/1/2023

[john_in_phoenix]

Switch circuit enable = they have a plug on the BMS that can be used to turn the BMS on and off.
The way the balancing works is not intuitive. With only balance on charge turned off, as you have noticed, it burns off (very slowly) any cell above the set voltage. Only balance on charge will try to burn off any cell 5 millivolts higher than the others, between 3.4v and the end of charge (again, very slowly). It works well with the default setting if you have top balanced, since really it only needs to keep up with the difference of the self discharge rate of your cells.

FYI, forgot to tell you, really good job with the video on the Seplos BMS. Their programmers have obviously never used the BMS.

[Stoicloner]

I love this Guy he is the best. Thanks for everything Andy ....