Getting Started with the RDDRONE-BMS772 Reference Design

This page will help guide you through the process of learning about your RDDRONE-BMS772 reference design.

2. Get to know the hardware

2.1 Board description

The RDDRONE-BMS772 is a standalone BMS reference design suitable for mobile robotics such as drones and rovers, supporting 3 to 6 cells batteries. Other portable electronics and equipment, such as scooters, power tools, portable medical devices could also benefit from referencing this design. If higher cell counts are required, this could be redesigned to daisy chain multiple BCC chips or switch to a larger cell count BCC such as MC33771B.

The device performs ADC conversion on the differential cell voltages and currents. It is capable of accurate battery charge coulomb counting and battery temperature measurements. Additionally, it communicates with a Flight Management Unit (FMU) through UAVCAN and/or an SMBus.

2.2 RDDRONE-BMS772 features

The RDDRONE-BMS772 integrates the following functions and features:

  • Supports battery from 3s to 6s, with stack voltage ranging from 6.0 V to 26 V
  • Supports ambient temperature range from −20 °C to 60 °C
  • Measures battery stack and cell voltages with an accuracy of ± 5.0 mV, battery charge or discharge current up to 200 A peak and 90 A DC
  • Active cell balancing during charging
  • Offers a deep sleep mode (for transportation and storage) with low leakage current, as well as an automatic sleep mode with low current consumption on the battery
  • Allows authentication of the battery
  • Allows diagnostics to verify the safe operation of the battery
  • Allows CAN, I2C and NFC communication
  • Implements SWD and JTAG debugging interfaces, works with standard J-Link and other debuggers
  • Implements DCD-LZ combined debug console interface for use with PX4 DroneCode and HoverGames platforms

2.3 Board components

Overview of the RDDRONE-BMS772 board

GS-RDDRONE-BMS772-IMG1
GS-RDDRONE-BMS772-IMG2

The main featured devices are listed in the following table:

Table 1. Featured devices

Label Description Reference
U1 Battery Cell Controller (BCC) MC33772BSP1AE
U2 Micro-Controller Unit (MCU) FS32K144HAT0MLFT
U3 System Basis Chip (SBC) UJA1169TK/F/3
U4 Authentication A1007
U5 Near-Field Communication (NFC) NTA53321G10FHK

3. Configure the hardware

GS-RDDRONE-BMS772-IMG3

Before first start-up, make sure that the board is configured properly:

  1. Solder your power in and power out connectors or wires on the J4 and J5 footprints.
  2. Solder the correct cell terminal connector at the JP1 location. Ensure it is correctly positioned and aligned.
  3. Configure the board for your application by soldering the corresponding SJxx connectors.
  4. Configure the board with additional and/or optional components to fit the application requirements.
  5. Once the board is configured properly, connect the board. To power On the RDDRONE-BMS772 board, connect the battery to the power input connector (J4) first, and then the cell terminal connector (JP1). This protects the boards form internal damage due to hot plugging.

3.1 Ready to use

Start embedded application development.