I saw the video linked below for the first time today .... and I have changed my opinion somewhat and think it is probably the reason we have so many threads about top balance taking so long ... and damaged cells during top balance.
Even though
@Will Prowse did mention several times that these cells were at a high state of charge .... that if they were at a low state of charge that they should be placed in groups of 4 to get them to a high state of charge first .... that not getting to a high state of charge first, it could take a long time. ......
I think the
NEWBY take-away from this video would be ..... just take my commodity 280 ah cells out of the box, connect them in parallel, and they should be top balanced in a couple of hours .... Oh, and if it isn't going fast enough just crank up the voltage a little bit.
At around 4:40 in the video, Will committed the cardinal sin of adjusting the power supply voltage while the power supply connected. He didn't mention that the crappy leads that come with these cheap power supplies will limit the current you will get. If you make leads with 10 or 12 gauge wire and connect with ring terminals on both ends, the current will come up with no boosting of the voltage. We have to tell people over and over again ..... ADJUST THE VOLTAGE WITH THE LEADS DISCONNECTED AND DON'T TOUCH IT AGAIN. If using good leads, the voltage of these power supplies will normally drop when connecting the leads.
These are the top 2 things that there are so many top balance threads and screw-ups.
Sorry for a somewhat harsh post, but I think Will needs to take this video down and re-do it with some of the ideas on this thread.