VBMS32 (VESC × Fungineers BMS)
A charge-only battery management system that Fungineers sells as the VFBMS32, developed with the VESC team. It talks to your motor controller over CAN, so the controller can warn you and apply pushback based on battery data.
Specs
From the Fungineers product and setup pages.
- Cell count: 12S to 32S from one board. The setup guide has wiring diagrams for 18S, 20S, 26S, 30S and 32S, and asks you to contact Fungineers for anything else.
- Charge-only: it can't cut power while you ride. It can only warn and trigger pushback through the controller, if you configure that.
- Balancing: 100 mA.
- Charge current: the product page says 12 A maximum. The setup guide recommends 10 A and lists a 15 A charge fuse.
- Size: 130 × 32 mm. It fits XR boxes and Fungineers enclosures.
- Connections: CAN to the controller, plus Bluetooth and WiFi as secondary connections.
Under the hood
The open-source VESC Express firmware has a hardware target named VBMS32. It is an ESP32-C3 with two cell-monitor ICs of 16 cells each (32S total). Its defaults are:
- Bluetooth on, named "VESC BMS"
- WiFi off
- CAN ID 3
- TCP Hub settings present but off
We believe the Fungineers VFBMS32 is this VBMS32 target, because the name, the 32S capacity and "official VESC firmware" all match. Fungineers doesn't say so directly. To check yours, connect with VESC Tool and look at the hardware name it shows.
Setup (from the Fungineers guide)
- Wire the balance leads using the diagram for your cell count. A BMS bought inside a complete pack is already set up.
- Use a recent VESC Tool. Fungineers recommends the current beta.
- In the controller's Motor Config → BMS, set the BMS type to VESC BMS, then write the config.
- Turn off Block sleep on the BMS and write the settings. If you leave it on, the BMS stays awake and slowly drains the pack.
Using its WiFi for Remote Connect
The VBMS32 runs VESC Express firmware, so it has the same WiFi and TCP Hub settings as an Express. A board with one should be able to share itself without a separate Express or a phone. Set it up as described on the VESC Express page:
- WiFi Mode: Station
- your WiFi or hotspot name and password
- Enable TCP Hub: on
- hub URL
vesc.toolsand port65101 - the ID and password from Share my board
The helper reaches the motor controller through the BMS over CAN.
This follows from the firmware source. If you try it, we'd like to hear whether it works.
Sources: Fungineers VFBMS32 product page, Fungineers setup guide, vesc_express hwconf/vesc/vbms32.