Just a simple question

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noodles
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Just a simple question

Would it be possible to reduce charge time by treating each cell of a battery as its own individual battery to be charged on it's own? Would it even matter if each cell is charged separately/individually? If it matters, I'm talking about Lithium Iron(II) Phosphate (LiFePO4) batteries/cells. To put it simply, I would think charging twelve identical batteries would take the same amount of time to charge a single one meaning you would have about twelve times the stored energy in the same amount of time.

Does this make sense? I hope it does. If not I can clarify even further.

Thanks to anyone who took the time to read this and especially consider my question and/or reply with thoughts or comments or more questions! :)

Don Harmon
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Re: Just a simple question

The answer is NO. There would be no difference if you charged each cell individually or the whole Pack st the same time. If you have a proper BMS it will balance charge the whole Pack making life a lot easier than single charging each cell. The only time it would make sense to single charge the cells would be if you have an un-balanced Pack that cannot be restored to balance simply by use of the BMS and a Charger that is set for LiFePO4 charging Algorithm.

mf70
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Re: Just a simple question

Um, my understanding of what you were asking is different from Don's, but the answer is the same...

No, the charge time won't be reduced because

  1. LiFe cells are always charged as separate cells. A BMS system then monitors each cell and controls the amount of current needed to charge it.
  2. "Charging" means chemically changing the state of the battery by application of an electrical voltage. The same number of chemical reactions must take place to store the same amount of energy, no matter what delivery system you set up.

Yes, if you came up with (in your example) 12 different chargers each attached to one cell. This is "bank charging," and is sometimes done at the battery level with SLA batteries. Cost is the biggest problem with this solution.

Mark

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