Charging/Analyzing Multiple 18650 Cells Simultaneously

[saltshaker]

Is there a way to charge/analyze around 20 18650 cells simultaneously with only one piece of equipment? Does a charger/analyzer exist that can handle this many cells at once? Most of the chargers/analyzers I've seen (SkyRC MC3000, Opus BT-C3400, etc) are capable of handling only 4 cells at once. The reason I ask is I'm trying to analyze, and sort by capacity, about 500 cells for use in some custom battery packs. And charging and analyzing 4 cells at a time is a pain. I realize I could just buy five 4-cell chargers, but I was hoping to charge/analyze using only one high-quality charger....largely for efficiency and consistency of capacity readings.

Any thoughts would be much appreciated.

EJ

 

[lion504]

I have the VC8. High quality analyzing charger, it replaced my VC4. Or consider the Gyrfalcon All-88. Neither have 20 (that would take a lot of counter space), but 8 is 100% more than a 4-bay unit. The main issue with the VC8 is that it's underpowered at only 18 watts input. Even with a massive power supply, a 20 bay charger would be hard (or slow) to feed off most 15A outlets. Like a max of 500mA to each bay?

 

[Lynx_Arc]

I would disagree with Lion504 in that there is plenty of power to charge 20 18650s out of a 120V power source as you could charge them at 2A each at 5V (approx) input for 10W per cell. That would make 200W for 20 cells easily done even if you take into account losses of 100% in power conversion and charging that would equate to 400W still way way below what a microwave oven or hair dryer takes.
IMO I wouldn't want a 20 cell charger would be better to have several chargers that do less and that you can separate from each other some to allow better air flow. Also you could have a charger fail over time and only lose a fraction of your charging/analyzing capacity.
Pretty much what happens with a large amount of cells is they tend to wire them together in a pack and make for a charger that if for that pack. There are older laptop batteries that I've seen having 10-16 18650 batteries wired in parallel/series and you find 19v chargers for the laptops (or other voltages).

 

[azzido]

Where are these 500 batteries coming from ? Laptop batteries ?