The intelligent battery sensor (IBS), generation II, from HELLA is the key element for vehicle energy management in the vehicle. The IBS generation II reliably and accurately measures the battery parameters: voltage, current and temperature. Information about the battery’s state of charge (SOC), state of health (SOH) and state of function (SOF) is calculated algorithmically from the measurements. The IBS generation II is designed for use in starter, gel and AGM batteries to monitor in-vehicle starter or consumer batteries. The IBS generation II can be directly integrated into the vehicle's electrical system (e.g CI BUS) with the standardised LIN protocol.
The IBS generation II is attached directly to the negative terminal of the battery via the pole terminal. In addition to the terminal, the mechanical portion of the battery sensor consists of shunt and ground bolt components. The shunt is attached to the vehicle’s load path and is used as a measuring resistor to measure the current indirectly. The existing ground cable can be comfortably fixed to the grounding bolt with a cable lug.
The electronics are located in a molded casing with a plug connector, functioning as the interface to the energy management system. The communication interface to the higher-level control unit is the LIN protocol. The supply voltage, used simultaneously as the reference voltage for voltage measurement, is provided by the connection to the positive pole of the battery.
Compared to previous generations, the IBS generation II offers the following benefits:
This sensor can now also monitor more powerful batteries. Thanks to the higher nominal capacity that can be set, this battery sensor can also be used to monitor several batteries connected in series. Instead of 250 ampere hours they can be configured for up to 500 ampere hours (Ah). This is particularly important in view of the growing energy requirements of motorhomes and caravans. These new IBS generation II units are also particularly robust and can reliably detect short-term, high current consumption – for example when bow thrusters are used.
