Balance charging?...Basic questions?

[kramer5150]

-What is it?
-What are the advantages / disadvantages over just plain charging a cell without it?

FWIW I am using Lithium Ion Sanyo 18650 and battery space 26650 cells

thanks!!:thinking:

 

[LuxLuthor]

-What is it?
-What are the advantages / disadvantages over just plain charging a cell without it?

FWIW I am using Lithium Ion Sanyo 18650 and battery space 26650 cells

thanks!!:thinking:

In a nutshell, it uses a pack with wire connections to each battery, and samples individual cell voltage, comparing to others, and either bleeds off cells with high voltage, or stops charging those until others catch up.

You end up with all the cells having the same voltage charge, or "balanced" with each other. Otherwise you could have a 4 cell ("4s") in series pack that gives a total pack voltage of 16.0V, but cells could be 4.4V, 4.3V, 3.7V, & 3.6V still totally 16V, but the 4.3+V cells are at risk of exploding. This explosion risk is minimized if you use "safe chemistry" Lithium Ion cells (like Lithium Manganese), but you still can damage the cells by not being charged to proper levels.

 

[TranceAddict]

if there are just 2 battery you can charge them in parallel without the balancing lead.

if there are a lot of cells then you need to charge them in series due to insufficient current output from charger, in this case remember to connect balancing lead or you risk in overcharging the lower capacity cells

 

[45/70]

-What are the advantages / disadvantages over just plain charging a cell without it?

When charging an individual cell, there is no advantage or disadvantage, as balance charging would not be needed. Balance charging is only used for charging a "pack" of cells that are arranged in series, as in Lux's excellent explanation.

Dave