MG ZS EV LR Battery Balancing

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MellyW

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How do you balance the battery on the new long range ZS EV. I assume that you set the charge to 100% and then leave it to fully charge and then balance. Is this correct? Although the manual says to balance the battery it isn't specific on how to do it. What voltage will the battery show when balanced, is it 449 as is the short range please?
 

Voltage & Battery balance

Morning, So I've been ready through these threads to educate myself, still new to this game. I'm reading a lot about balancing the battery and not too clear on how/when/why you do this the more I read the more confused I am. Also interested to know what the voltage should read when fully...
www.mgevs.com www.mgevs.com
 
With the short range ZS EV to balance the battery just fully charge it on either a granny or home charger and leave it charging until the pulsating light goes to a steady light and leave on charge. Whilst balancing the light is continuous. Balancing ensures that all the cells in the battery are equally charged. If you have the latest Battery Managent upgrade the voltage should be 449v. I've upgraded to the long range model and want to know if balancing is achieved in a similar manner
 
In the manual for this I can't see that the equalisation charge process is any any different because the battery is larger... just that it will likely take longer than the SR version due to the higher capacity, and once it's done the light by the port should go out.

Hopefully someone who also has the LR can confirm what's right or wrong...always learn something new :)
 
Don't see why it should be different, just more space to fill and sort. Don't think there would be very different technology....
 
MellyW said:
What voltage will the battery show when balanced, is it 449 as is the short range please?
Click to expand...
My understanding is that no, the long range battery has a completely different arrangement of cells, and will stop charging at a much lower voltage, possibly under 400 V. We'll just have to wait and see, or read whatever MG forum(s) the Europeans post in.
 
Coulomb said:
My understanding is that no, the long range battery has a completely different arrangement of cells, and will stop charging at a much lower voltage, possibly under 400 V. We'll just have to wait and see, or read whatever MG forum(s) the Europeans post in.
Click to expand...
I think the MG5 is just over 400 volts, so there maybe a link ?.
 
I plan to only charge to 80% normally. I know I will have to occasionally do a full balance charge. Would once a month be OK? Low mileage user here about 4k a year.
 
MellyW said:
How do you balance the battery on the new long range ZS EV. I assume that you set the charge to 100% and then leave it to fully charge and then balance. Is this correct? Although the manual says to balance the battery it isn't specific on how to do it. What voltage will the battery show when balanced, is it 449 as is the short range please?
Click to expand...
Usually you balanse your battery once a month, just let it plugged over night on low charger 7,5 max. On the new MG the cels are bigger, it will take the same time as the previous version.😉
 
I’m curious about this too (considering upgrading from my Mk1 to a LR facelift0.

Battery tech is different: the mk2 short range is LFP, the long range is NMC.
 
Having had my LR for a month, I tend to do 1 X 100% charge each week then top up to 80% as required.

From what I see in the app, around 99% power draw drops to 3kw and it spends a lot of time at 99% then stops when it gets to 100%. I'm assuming that the last 1% of charging is the balancing taking place.
 
bryer said:
Having had my LR for a month, I tend to do 1 X 100% charge each week then top up to 80% as required.

From what I see in the app, around 99% power draw drops to 3kw and it spends a lot of time at 99% then stops when it gets to 100%. I'm assuming that the last 1% of charging is the balancing taking place.
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This suggests it is mimicking the same behaviour as the Gen1.
Hits around 97% SOC then throttles back to around 3.5 kW, then ramps down again to 500 watts at 99% SOC.
Finally at 100% SOC the balance cycle commences.
Just before the balance cycle completes, it finally throttles right back to 175 watts, before returning the wall box back to its standby state.
Are you charging to 100% once a week because you need the range, or because you want to balance the battery ?.
MG recommend charging to 80% for short journey trips and then 100% for the longer trips.
Charging to 100% should be reserved for longer trips and to balance I believe.
Standard range models with the LFP battery are need charging to 100% every time you plug in.
You don’t have a choice to restrict the charging level.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Lovemyev said:
This suggests it is mimicking the same behaviour as the Gen1.
Hits around 97% SOC then throttles back to around 3.5 Kw’s, then ramps down again to 500 Watts at 99% SOC.
Finally at 100% SOC the balance cycle commences.
Just before the balance cycle completes, it finally throttles right back to 175 Watts, before returning the wall box back to its standby state.
Are you charging to 100% once a week because you need the range, or because you want to balance the battery ?.
MG recommend charging to 80% for short journey trips and then 100% for the longer trips.
Charging to 100% should be reserved for longer trips and to balance I believe.
Standard range models with the LFP battery are need charging to 100% every time you plug in.
You don’t have a choice to restrict the charging level.
Click to expand...
I do it for the range. I drive 140 miles a day. So happy with 80% but I do the 100% for the first day of my working week for best practice as I won't charge after my last day at work, and will potter about on what I've got left!
 
Would make sense that behaviour on the LR facelift is the same as the Gen1 becuase i believe that they are both NMC chemistry, whereas the SR facelift is newer LFP chemistry. I'm also guessing that the front MG logo behaviour would be the same as the Gen1 as well [?], ie, the light stops pulsing and goes solid once balancing; then goes out once the balancing is done.

Much larger battery though, I wonder how long to do a full charge & balance? And, given the longer range, I also wonder if owners let the thing run down to 20% - that's usually how I run my MK1, from 20% to 80% as a rule, then balance every couple of months; seems to work well & the range is still exactly the same atwo years later as when I bought it.

In the case of the long range however, the charge time & balancing would likely be very long from 20% & so I imagine with (say) 10 hrs off-peak overnight I may need to charge & balance that from a much higher charge, say 50% or so?
 
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