Charging problem

[BrianG]

The disadvantage to balancing at any point after the charge is that any high cells will be discharged until they are at the same level as the others. This could reduce runtime, albeit very little. As long as the pack is fully balanced by the end of the charge cycle, there should be no imbalance.

Jhautz, the reason for charging and balancing a pack somewhat discharged is to provide enough time for the balancer to work. Balancers usually discharge the high cells at around 100mA tops. But if you are charging at say 5A, that discharge will have little effect. In essense, any high cells would be charged at 4.9A (net charge of 5A with a 100mA drain), so those cells are charged slightly slower and then the lower cells have more of a chance to catch up. I hope that made sense.