How To: Make a Y Balancer Harness

[BrianG]

@Arct1k: Thanks! No, there is no harm in retaining the red wire that is removed in the second pack IF the balancer leads and main leads are hooked correctly. If that wire was present and the user accidentally swapped the balancer leads and not the main leads, something WILL fry because you are shorting out the entire pack. Removing the red wire is a safety precaution for the masses. My personal adaptors leave the wire in there but I make sure that things are hooked right. Yes, the large bridge wire connects the two packs.

Yeah, you should try to make sure the wires were the same length/type, but the balancer discharge current is so small that there is little chance for voltage drop to occur. Even the main charge current isn't high enough to cause problems on 12-14Ga wire. It's another story if you were trying to charge at 50A+ though.


@83gt: Yes, it would work, but since you are charging through the balancer leads only, you would need the following wiring diagram instead:


Just remember that the balancer leads/connectors are not designed for high charge currents, so keep the charge rate at 2A or less. Currents higher than that will cause voltage drop on those smaller connections and the charger/balancer will get erroneous readings.

Originally Posted by BrianG

I understand why if charging through the balancer tabs you would need a y harness like this, but is their any benifit to having that second red wire spliced in for just balancing? I see that it isn't needed, but will the cells balance any quicker or safer or anything if I was to include this extra wire over just following your original diagram?