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Polyquest advertises only serial batteries (no parallel) to obtain higher capacities. So, they simply use higher capacity cells. The advantage they claim is that since you have no parallel cells you do not have to worry about balancing the voltage on cells, etc. I can see this is an advantage, but how big of a deal is it? I've only used 1P Thunderpower batteries to date but now need a 6000mah battery and am wondering if I should switch to Polyquest.
One advantage I can see is that with only two cells I could still use my Triton charger rather than switiching to something such as the Astroflight 109 that can handle more cells (the Thunderpower 6000mah is a 3S4P 12 cell battery).
Any cons to the Polyquest solution?
Someone is blowing in your ear. It is series cells where the unbalance comes in. Remember, lithium polymer batteries are charged in the constant potential mode. When you have multiple cells in series one cell could see a higher voltage if another cell is lower in voltage when charging. This is why Polyquest puts the charge jack on the pack so each individual cell can be monitored. We found when we tested these with the PQ PCM Guard that the charge is terminated when ANY cell reaches 4.2 volts thus preventing that cell from seeing too much voltage as the others try to catch up. This device does NOT balance the packs. This must be done by charging each cell individually with the adapter that fits the charge connector. With a 2 cell pack there will actually be 2 JST connectors, 3 JSTs with a 3s pack.
Using parallel packs affords the electric modeler the ability to configure his batteries as required for a particular plane/motor combination. He may use a 3S pack for his 3D foamy, then parallel 2 or 3 3S packs to make a 3S3P for glider endurance or something of that order. Paralleling packs may also give you a better form factor to fit the packs into a tighter space.