Balancing

[starscream]

I have Apogee packs and have never balanced them even after 25 runs.

I posted this quote, from Apogee's site, before but I'll share it again:

"For years we have sat quietly aside watching the proponents of "pack balancing" spew forth misinformation. The truth is that a properly matched pack will not require balancing. Yes, we're sure this is a shock to many of you who have fallen for the balancing gimmick. Yes, Apogee was the first to put commercial grade plugs on all packs due to customer demand. We've had and seen enough.

Pack balancing is a gimmick perpetuated by companies who make balancers, and by other companies who do not match battery cells within the pack. A properly matched pack will not require balancing, and in fact will mask a failing cell. Balancing is a band aid for companies who lack the proper equipment to do cell matching. All Apogee packs have been cell matched since the day we started.

Due to misinformation, more packs have been damaged during balancing than have been helped. If you insist on balancing a pack (If it makes you feel warm and fuzzy inside, and you sleep better at night, have at it), please, please, only balance fully charged packs.


Why only balance fully charged packs? All properly matched cells are mated together so that the high and low voltages will coincide. There may be mid-point voltage variances. Balancing a partially charged pack can cause the high and low voltages to become unbalanced. Again, please, if you insist on the balancing gimmick, please only balance fully charged packs."

[tc3_racer_001]

i still dont agree. id rather slowly damage my pack than have no house.

[bruce750i]

I can see where apogee is coming from. I don't balance every time. I think it depends on how many cells that are in the pack. I did see a new esc somewhere that plugged into the balancing plug to use all the cells voltage appropriately or something.

How can Apogee say you never have to balance , doesn't make sense .

I know myself when checking the batteries sometimes they are slightly out of balance and on the rare occasion when not run for a while are more out of balance .

Isn't what they are saying dangerous ?

[starscream]

start rant

Come on guys, did you read this quote or just skim it cuz it doesn't seem like you're getting the point here.

No where in the quote does Apogee state that you don't have to balance un-matched cells sold by other manufacturers as they don't speak for other manufacturers but what they do say is that you don't have to balance Apogee cells. I can attest to this as I have never balanced my Apogee cells and after 25 runs they are still balanced. However, I have Kokam and maxamps packs and I do have to balance them as I too don't want to burn down my house. The point Apogee is making is that other manufacturers either don't know how or won't spend the money to make quality matched packs that won't become unbalanced thus the entire balancing market is basically a big rip off to the end users because the end user must buy extra devices to correct the crappy un-matched packes sold by (enter manufacturer name here).

Another thing to note is that Apogee packs are made of Lithium Manganese which does not cause thermal run away so if you did puff an Apogee pack... oh well.

Apogee packs don't cost much more than other brands and they don't require balancing and they have never caught fire due to thermal run away.

If I had to start over, I would have only bought Apogee packs as I'd rather pay a little more than pay less and constantly worry about my lipo packs bursting into flames from a cell getting over charged/discharged.

/end rant