Quote:
Originally Posted by mattr
And on the flip side, i balance every time, as the less out of balance they are, the less time it takes to balance...... i reckon it adds a couple of minutes to charge times (from what poor checking i've done)
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It will take longer to balance charge than not. If you charge your cells unbalanced and then check the balance. If they are not balanced then something is wrong with one of the cells. At this point it's probably to late to correct and no amount of continual balancing will help. On top of a fault with the cells you can easily get drops of a few mV across the length of a wire or a connection or even a balance board. This could result in descrepencies of several 100mv and the charger would then try to correct the cells to this.
The cells I have I do not balance charge. I only plug the balancer and check occasionally to confirm that none of the cells are faulty. So not balancing and allow the cells to settle at there natural point is my preferred method as its only usually a few mV anyway.
Ever since it was mentioned by a top driver in our region it has made sense. There are also top drivers on here who have mentioned it. ( you will have to search for quotes though).
If you believe forcing your cells so they are only a few mv apart helps prolong there life then balance charge. The real test on the cells however is on discharge and the current pulled whilst driving. That will all be down to motor, gearing, temperature, wiring, connections etc.
I've seen cells puff up but the more reason versions seem to be a lot better.