Successful Valence U1-12XP battery communications with Valence software.

[sunchaser]

With the help of the Enertia wiring diagram and a spare wiring harness, I've figured out the connector pinout for the Valence U1-12XP batteries in the original Enertia.  The batteries are black with two round five pin connectors on top.  I'm expecting to receive a usb to RS-485 adapter I ordered sometime next week.  There's also some Valence software that's needed to communicate with the batteries.

The Valence software provides useful information on the cell stack voltages, total number of cycles, ability to change battery ID number if replacing a battery, etc.

I'll post links to the adapter and software once I've confirmed that everything is working properly.  Until then, here's a link for a video from someone who was able to connect with a newer Valence battery with the same method.



Hopefully this will help those of us who want to replace or swap a battery with a rebuild or from another bike.

[sunchaser]

I've successfully connected to the communications port on the Valence U1-12XP batteries with the Valence software.  For those of you who might be interested in doing this, you'll need the following:

USB to RS485 adapter - this is exactly the one that I used.  It's pretty inexpensive.  Others may work as well.

https://www.amazon.com/RS485-Converter-Adapter-Smart-Meter/dp/B077ZM1PSG/ref=as_li_ss_tl?keywords=USB%2Bto%2BRS485%2BConverter%2BAdapter%2BFTDI&qid=1566771697&s=electronics&sr=1-14&linkCode=sl1&tag=300mpg0f-20&linkId=3a691087ec97c655ce54dae51fef3a00&language=en_US&th=1


Valence battery diagnostic software

https://www.brewskynet.com/valence/

Be sure to watch the video in my first post on this thread.  There's a lot of helpful tips on how to use this software.  It's a little finnicky. 


Breadboard jumper wires - used to connect the USB RS485 adapter to the Valence battery communications port.  I'm sure that there are other/better ways to do this but the breadboard jumpers worked well for me.  Feel free to experiment.  Here's an example of the jumpers:

https://www.amazon.com/EDGELEC-Breadboard-Optional-Assorted-Multicolored/dp/B07GD2BWPY/ref=sr_1_3?dchild=1&keywords=breadboard+jumpers&qid=1624992206&s=electronics&sr=1-3


USB extension cable - this optional but I needed a way to get the USB RS485 adapter closer to the batteries.  Cheap and effective.  I guess you could also get longer breadboard jumpers but they would need to be pretty long.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/333987058518?_trkparms=ispr%3D1&hash=item4dc32e1356:g:DmgAAOSwgFNgkFhh&amdata=enc%3AAQAGAAACkPYe5NmHp%252B2JMhMi7yxGiTJkPrKr5t53CooMSQt2orsSprd4IgPv6LBzlteBBg9Pe%252B3aNsY9AAE1D9m7gbx3x9z7V2K1n%252Bw%252BKb76m0x1Lyr4DToCJ12DfyYtNf%252FxRjr611VuBI7GYjarBq4CvI8FZ96RAFzAWg8RuaMx7hv1HJ1MGFTwN9LRpEFqq%252Bxbkm2NlHBpEHPhQGJWhUOwghLYQQDRwBhlMCsHYYAklP8YX%252FmseojkLrp%252FtUGfZv0bzZeGmqPb%252FR1jyIAtYH%252Bi8AG1fxw7vqcYRY%252BCH2qp1CMnXwmdw1gDznizCwW3AiTTKRLQa7akzRZ%252BGYalrFwSa4ziIk8PPueF2Ax%252Boo3aTDUh%252FGQmiIdy%252BC0kuY1TJgfqUR9HLh%252Bp67bf8E5IyHctngMFKqUB1TdDHBrFpm9ivjUHVOyeYfxR2Gt7IQxMn9o6J02ga20k1e3xYXYfav4s557CU5yQy022jvIj8K3CdO1g70GcmC%252FA9qfYdwfG5cCr1z4j7s96sEnmeODVOYofIpVwjEhwCUJbscEjcWHnfsGgZR4KkaT2PDjRYRVSNPtDfQWeXnOabKOnNW%252FoT6ISsw5KnBQy9mXZV2E95hIpV2gFA%252FjbCXI%252FVACmc6cp9g%252BRtN5UrCZnkh2hVREt%252BU%252Buofx6SN8nz9%252FAewUXvqCfAjnlVjK%252FzWUMyIYFXVqMd6ZgUAxNDwA1l3ZUou%252BCjaUw%252FWCV3sKw6siDQY3J9R7Qnv8w7RZNaeoEXQ%252B%252FEa2809unLFai4c38qmJpg09o%252BWYPNlOoWQuzLWIHYcWe5XjpuaZqjXC7%252B9kGq55fcYc%252Fw4CoYnr%252FChwGMMSorDa4iXgngFhH7QMBCW3xS%252F5cmDAE4M%252BvsIL3%7Campid%3APL_CLK%7Cclp%3A2334524



Stay tuned for the battery connector pinout in my next post.

[zshelby]

Hi,

I did the same thing and used an M12 5 pin connector with the same RS485 that you used.  If you change over to that, you don't have to use individual jumpers.  I ordered mine off of ebay a while back, but the link expired, but I just checked on Amazon and they have a bunch for about $15-20.  Again, just search for M12 5 pin on Amazon and use the pinout below.  Hope this helps.  Good luck.

[sunchaser]

Thanks for the pinout and M12 connector info.  Very useful.

Where did you find this document?

Here's the pinout that I originally created.  The photo was taken from battery #4, which has a communications port that is easy to access.

[zshelby]

It's in the Valence U1-12XP User Guide.  This is literally a screen shot of page 13.  Lots of other tidbits about the battery in there as well.  Hope this helps.

[sunchaser]

Thanks for sharing the Valence document.  I looked online and couldn't find anything on the battery pinout for the older Valence U1-12XP. 

[sunchaser]

Here's some additional information to help those who want to connect to the Enertia batteries with the Valence software. 

The original (basic 2009-2010?) Enertia uses 6 Valence U1-12XP batteries wired in series.  Each battery has an I.D. number 1 through 6.  According to the Enertia service manual, the factory installed batteries have a label next to the serial number on the top of the battery that indicates the I.D. number of that particular battery.  You can also determine the I.D. number from the position of the battery in the bike.  I've attached a section of the service manual that describes this in more detail.  I've also included a drawing with the individual battery I.D. numbers shown.  The Valence software refers to each individual battery in the string of six by their unique battery I.D. 

[sunchaser]

Here are a couple of diagrams showing the pinout of the USB to RS485 adapter.  The adapter that I used also had the +5V and GND stenciled on the circuit board where the board meets the green terminal strip. 

Please note that only the +5V, Data +, Data - and GND are connected to the battery and adapter.  The shield pin is not used.

The adapter also has a blue LED inside of it that flashes when communicating with the batteries.  That's a helpful indication that your computer is communicating with the batteries.

[sunchaser]

Here are some screenshots of the software running on my parts bike batteries.  Unfortunately all but two of the batteries were over discharged. 

[sunchaser]

One of the things that I learned while using the Valence software with the batteries is that you cannot charge the bike and use the software at the same time.  When attempting to do this the bike displayed a B6 (BMS not communicating) error code.  The bike/batteries seem to allow only one data connection. 

I was hoping to be able to see all of the cell stack voltages instead of just the high and low values that the bike displays during charging after holding the tank button for a few seconds.  From what I've observed, excessive cell imbalance seems to be more exaggerated at higher SoC.

[sunchaser]

As I mentioned before, the best place to access the battery communications port is on battery #4 (see drawing above) due to the fact that it has an unused port with a rubber cap.  If you take a look at the battery section of the wiring diagram that I included here, the battery data cabling goes from the VCU and starts with battery #3, then goes to #2, then #1, then #6, then 5, and ends at #4.