With Lipo’s parallel charging seems to be the most practical IMO. NO sense in charging multiple packs separately it doesn’t make a difference in the long run it seems.
Been charging in parallel for a few a few years now. Packs seem to last longer.
The difference in cells seem to be by running the packs really low. Lower than 3.4v. My cut off is about 3.6v. Max charge I charge to 4.15v. I enjoy swapping packs personally. I just charge once the beginning of the week and use multiple packs.
Also don’t keep the “low alarm voltage” units on the balance wires for long periods of time. They will specifically use power from only one cell and that will lower that “one cell”. Do it too long and it’s unrecoverable unless you charge that 1 cell specifically.
Its basically the same one that Enertion was selling with its original 6S power pack a couple years ago. Except mine are red LEDs instead of blue. They’re dead easy to use, but definitely no frills.
unfortunately they only go up to 30 volts, so 7S is the limit. I’m eventually going to find some much better ones when things calm down. I’ve had to stop scattering myself all over the place and just focus on my decks and boxes. Boxes for my decks are happening soon.
Good point @torqueboards I never thought about whether the lipo alarms were draining a single cell or the whole pack. Do you think that is it enough power drain to worry about if I just connect them during riding time (my longest rides are about an hour)? I figure that the balance charging I do would correct any small imbalance caused by the alarms.
This makes a coulometer seem much more attractive.
@treenutter - You’ll be fine just as long as you keep them on while riding. As you said, they will balance out. But once you turn off your setup and put it aside. You’ll need to remove those lipo alarms.