My apologies, malow.
I don't see any short circuits?
No, there aren't.
malow had posted the diagrams while I was composing my post. I didn't realize he was referring to a series/parallel pack. Between my multi tasking (which I've never been especially good at) and having to leave for a meeting, 10 minutes before I actually did, I could not properly respond to his question. From my perspective at the time, his diagrams did appear to be "massive series/parallel short circuits", as that wasn't what I was thinking of! Poor choice of words.:sigh:
My only experience similar to your idea, malow, is using 2AA to "D" adapters for use in various 4 "D" devices, as in 4s2p. In this configuration, I have always felt that the risk of running down and reverse charging 2 cells (2p), is less than a single cell. Technically speaking though, the risk is just the same, since the 2p adapters are treated the same as a single cell, regardless how many cells are in parallel. As I said in my previous post, if you run paralleled cells in series, you still run the risk of reverse charging, it will just reverse charge all the cells in that group, as one.
I will edit my previous post. :candle:
Dave