[DrKnow65]

Dropped this post in the maxamps factory thread but I'd like some second opinions from the brushless crowd.

OK, long winded message so put on the ole' reading glasses and grab a cup-o-joe.

Just recieved my 8000HV pack last week for my brushless XXXT project and decided to charge them up this moorning (I am posting the some 12 hours later). Soldered on the deans connectors, shuffled the wires in the balance connector to fir my B6 balance charger and proceeded to spend 4 hours balance charging the new pack at 4amps (1/2C).

Charger goes beep and the pack is done right? So I let the cells settle down half an hour and get out my trusty fluke meter to verify the cells are balanced and within voltage range... This is where it gets off track . The cells show a .03v difference... I thought .03-.05v difference is when you decide to re-balance the pack?!?! Checked on the RCM and other forums and this seems to be concensses.

So I call MA support and ask the kid if this is ok for a brand new pack -I understand balancing is important because the paperwork sais to do it. His responce is that it is borderline if it's ok or not. I ask him what I should do, if I should discharge them on the charger and try again or what? He sais not to discharge them on the charger but it's ok to run them for a bit in the car?!?!?! What??? so then he backs up and starts to explane he's the only one there untill monday and I propable shouldn't do anything until someone who might know what to do comes in... I can't use my new pack till monday?!?!

So back to the forums I go. I find some info about discharging the cells to balanced level and then charging them agan as the 300ma shunt in the charger might not be enough to overcome the difference in cells at a higher charge rate. Makes sense. So I discharge the cells to 3.8volts at 1amp individually via the balance connector and then let them sit the 15min to stabalize (another 4 hour ordeal) test the cells and we are at 3.84vots each (perfect). The charger did take almost 300mah more out of one than the other but I figured they were not the same to begin with.

Back to the balance charger at 4amps and another 3 hours. BEEP, check the voltage again .04volts different. Kind of saw this coming as the charge voltage came up a little quicker on one than the other. Now it's night and I'm a little upset. I rigged up a car headlight to load the battery (4.5amps) and checked the voltage at the balance plug to see if mabey it's more balanced under a bit of a load, started at .04v difference and now it's up to .05v difference after 15 minutes.

So MaxAmps people, and anyone else who wants to drop an opinion (gonna copy this post for another thread in brushless).

1.Are these cells acceptable at the voltage difference they display?
2.Would they be considered "matched" at this difference?
3.Would a difference like this affect life span/failure potential?
4.Would quick charging these cells (non-balanced) exagurate the difference?