Battery Vehicle Society

Nope, nothing that clever on a Berlingo. And no real need for NiCads - they are quite tolerant to abuse compared with lithium. Within limits, of course.

timpootle wrote:Nope, nothing that clever on a Berlingo. And no real need for NiCads - they are quite tolerant to abuse compared with lithium. Within limits, of course.

C'mon Tim, I've seen the temperature probe you stuffed under a bus bar in the front pack.

True with ni-cads on voltage. They don't destroy the weakest like Li will so self bottom balanced. Then your van will limit the charge based on temperature.


Clever?

The Paktrakr may be what you are looking for. I was quite happy with the one I had in my Volvo with pb gel cells. I don't recommend it for lithium cells because the display is powered from the first battery in the pack causing an imbalance. It was never an issue with the gel cells as the occasional balancing charge sorted this out and iirc you also do balancing charges on the berlingos. They sell a data logging cable as well which is what you are looking for.

Well, considering its Ni-Cad cells. Isn't temperature the big giveaway?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nickel-cadmium_battery

If you had a cell or two drop to 0v then the others will attempt to force them into reverse under load. like Li cells, it wrecks them. This should be easily found on a low pack.