Quick question about parallel balancing board

[James75]

Hello all,

you've helped me understand parallel vs series charging in my previous thread. My parallel charging board arrived today although I am not sure which balancing plug port relates to which deans plug on it. Does it even matter ? The board can handle up to 6 batteries, but currently I only have 4, does it matter which 4 I use ?

many thanks in advance for any answers I get.

cheers James.

[BenScoobert]

No it doesn't matter which you use, they are all linked within the board.
If it is a fused board it may matter, I'm not sure how they are plumbed.

[scallybert]

This is a Revolectrix MPA Board ?

All the balance (JST XH) and discharge lead (Deans) ports are in parallell, with fuses between them.

Any balance port and any discharge lead port for any pack.

[scallybert]

It's like there are busbars, with the connectors hung off them via fuses. It's very symmetrical.

[James75]

Thank you, I started to charge them earlier, they were all at 11.4v as I had used the charger to set them all to the storage charge. I had to go out so I stopped the the charging cycle when they were at about 12.1v but I did then check all the voltages of the individual cells using my Smart Guard and within each 3 cell 11v 2200mah battery there was differences of 0.05v between the cells. Prior to parallel charging I only ever saw differences of 0.015 on average. Is this normal and would it be ok to plug them all back in ? Will the balancing part of the cycle sort this out and finish them all on 4.2v as normal. All the batteries are very new and I don't want to break them !!

thank you again !!

james.

[DaveJones]

Quick question about parallel balancing board

Finish off the charge and let it balance then check again, your cells charge at slightly different rates hence the need for the balancing stage.

[James75]

Finish off the charge and let it balance then check again, your cells charge at slightly different rates hence the need for the balancing stage.

Thanks Dave, I'll give it a go. It's just when I normally balance charge with 1 battery I don't see a variance of more than 0.01v between the cells on the charger display during the charging cycle and when I connected the 4 up in parallel it was showing a difference of 0.05v and then when I checked each individual battery they were also showing 0.05v difference between the highest and lowest cells. I'll try it with 2 batteries in parallel and I'll update in here when I can see the final cell voltages.

cheers James.

[cjcj1949]

It's the value of the current that makes a difference. You'll only get things equal when you let the current drop as it does after the cells reach 4.20V. It would vary due to differences between the cells and the lead length from the charger to each cell and the individual sockets. It's not important.

[James75]

Thank you both, charging cycle finished now and all cells across the 2 batteries are with in 0.012v of each other. I'll try all 4 together when I next go out. Thanks for putting my mind at rest, needless to say I will monitor them all closely.

cheers James.