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Old 05-02-2009, 07:50 AM
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Default RE: Lipo parallel? possible?

With A123 packs you don't have to worry too much about overcurrent charge since they can accept a much higher charge rate.

This generally isn't a problem with LiPos, but with parallel combinations you have to be careful of cross-charge situations happening during rest periods, in reality the numbers are pretty low and they might not actually damage your packs, just don't run a pack with a higher internal resistance (a 16C pack, or an older pack that is nearing the end of its useful life) with one with lower internal resitance (a 40C pack, or a newer one).

I honestly don't understand the fascination people have with using parallel combinations to 'double runtime', unless you are stressing your batteries, running 1 battery and then one more consecutively will get you nearly as much runtime as running them both at the same time (in parallel). Your cost-to-runtime ratio which is the real concern for most people, basically stays the same. With aircraft it can be a real difference since you have to do the whole land, takeoff thing but with a truck it takes maybe 30 seconds to take off the body, change the batteries, put the body back on, unless it's some kind of endurance race or you have a bunch of small-capacity batteries, it just adds weight.