Published On Jan 8, 2023
This was a bit of a weird and messy video to make. Turns out it is challenging to make a video demonstrating what might happen with a battery pack that has sat for a long time without potentially degrading or damaging a perfectly good pack. So, I demonstrated it as best I could.
A few notes, however:
1. Perhaps this goes without saying but this can work for either half of the pack's cells in parallel. In that situation, one would connect battery positive (B+) and battery protection (BP) as the common reference and follow the same steps in the video.
2. If both parallel sets of cells are at a low voltage, then it is recommended to slowly bring each “half” of the parallel set to around ~2.8 Vdc, and then attempt to charge the pack. It might be best to alternate between the two sets multiple times so that the voltage difference isn’t that large, depending on the initial parallel cell voltage measurements.
3. A Li-Ion / Li-Po battery charger/analyzer may be used so long the current can be set very low to start (100mA), and the configuration is set to 1S1P such that the termination charging voltage is set to no higher than 4.2 Vdc.
4. It is known that batteries at 0 Vdc in any configuration can be revived as well, but it is out of the scope of this video. Note that it is not possible to tell if a cell(s) grouped in parallel may have failed partially short, and may draw more current than other cells in the set, which may result in a catastrophic fault. For single cells in a 1S1P configuration, it is a different situation. Perhaps a topic for a future video.
⚠️ Disclaimer:
This video is for educational purposes only. Any and all work to repair a device is performed at your own risk. The The Curious Engineer (TCE) is not responsible for any possible harm, damages or injuries caused by the use or misuse of the provided information. Taking action from this video, is accepting that you proceed solely at your own risk.
#repair #battery #engineering