Plan for re-top balancing a 4p4s pack

[ericfx1984]

So I'm thinking it's about time to re-top balance my 4P4S pack... I mean it's been more than a year since I initially assembled this setup

I'm thinking what I could do to handle the rebalance without having to completely disassemble the pack would be to first bring it up to a high state of charge... Then disconnect it but leave the active balancer connected... Allow the act of balance her to bring everything into balance as best it can shouldn't really take more than an hour

Then disconnect the bussbars that go from one cell block to the next cell block to create a series connection

I could then go from positive of one cell block to positive of another cell block and do the same for the negative connecting all the cell blocks essentially creating a 16P battery

From there since it's already at a high state of charge it should not take two terribly long to balance it with my adjustable bench power supply

The problem is I'm going to be at a very diminished capacity and I live off this system...

So I really need to achieve this top balance in a fairly quick fashion

Let me know if this plan of attack makes sense

 

[sunshine_eggo]

So I'm thinking it's about time to re-top balance my 4P4S pack... I mean it's been more than a year since I initially assembled this setup

Hello again.

I'm thinking what I could do to handle the rebalance without having to completely disassemble the pack would be to first bring it up to a high state of charge... Then disconnect it but leave the active balancer connected...

No. The resting voltage and any active balancing will drop below 3.40V.

Allow the act of balance her to bring everything into balance as best it can shouldn't really take more than an hour

Then disconnect the bussbars that go from one cell block to the next cell block to create a series connection

I could then go from positive of one cell block to positive of another cell block and do the same for the negative connecting all the cell blocks essentially creating a 16P battery

From there since it's already at a high state of charge it should not take two terribly long to balance it with my adjustable bench power supply

The problem is I'm going to be at a very diminished capacity and I live off this system...

So I really need to achieve this top balance in a fairly quick fashion

Let me know if this plan of attack makes sense

You have an active balancer. Disassembling for parallel is just madness I tell you, MADNESS!

You still have the power supply. Simply just charge the whole battery to a high state of charge, hold it there with the 48V charger and then individually hit each cell from lowest to highest with 3.65V on the power supply. Will probably only take 5-10 minutes per cell.

Better yet, incrementally set your charged voltage higher and let the active balancer do the work for you over the course of a few days.

My position is that the extra effort will buy you nothing that the active balancer can't get you on its own with almost no touch time at all.

 

[ericfx1984]

Hello again.



No. The resting voltage and any active balancing will drop below 3.40V.



You have an active balancer. Disassembling for parallel is just madness I tell you, MADNESS!

You still have the power supply. Simply just charge the whole battery to a high state of charge, hold it there with the 48V charger and then individually hit each cell from lowest to highest with 3.65V on the power supply. Will probably only take 5-10 minutes per cell.

Better yet, incrementally set your charged voltage higher and let the active balancer do the work for you over the course of a few days.

My position is that the extra effort will buy you nothing that the active balancer can't get you on its own with almost no touch time at all.

I like your plan... I'm not sure why I didn't think about that that's a really good idea

 

[TacomaJoe]

If you don't break it down, you are still dealing with the 4P sets. You may not see a cell issue in the mix.

 

[Ampster]

You may not see a cell issue in the mix.

If he doesn't see an anomaly with 4 in parallel, the chances are every cell is fine. If he breaks it down and parallel top balances he is dealing with 16P.. I agree with letting the active balancer do its job. I have a 3P16S pack and that works for me.