Interesting series - parallel battery connection.question. Any ideas?

[GeorgePal]

Hello! This is my forst post. Sorry, I can't submit a picture, I have to describe this in words. I have a battery pack. It is constructed of commercial AA cells, in series and parallel. There are 3 banks in parallel of 4 cells in series, giving a total output voltage of the pack of 6 vdc. The pack was supposed to be made per the line drawing below, where the | connections and the : connections are made. The pack was actually built with just the | connections, and NOT the : connections. So the leftmost stack of cells is connected all in parallel, but the 3 stacks going right do not have the interconnections, they are in series from left to right. So my question is, does this have any effect on the overall performance of the pack? The application is very high drain, I don't care if they dont last long. Going back and adding he missing connections is not an option. Does not having the : connects affect the pack performance in any concievable way?


|---()--+()--+()---+()---+
|&nbsp&nbsp&nbsp&nbsp&nbsp&nbsp&nbsp&nbsp&nbsp|&nbsp&nbsp&nbsp&nbsp&nbsp&nbsp:&nbsp&nbsp&nbsp&nbsp&nbsp&nbsp:&nbsp&nbsp&nbsp&nbsp&nbsp&nbsp&nbsp&nbsp|
|---()--+()--+()---+()----|
|&nbsp&nbsp&nbsp&nbsp&nbsp&nbsp&nbsp&nbsp&nbsp|&nbsp&nbsp&nbsp&nbsp&nbsp&nbsp:&nbsp&nbsp&nbsp&nbsp&nbsp&nbsp:&nbsp&nbsp&nbsp&nbsp&nbsp&nbsp&nbsp&nbsp|
|---()--+()--+()---+()---+
|&nbsp&nbsp&nbsp&nbsp&nbsp&nbsp&nbsp&nbsp&nbsp&nbsp&nbsp&nbsp&nbsp&nbsp&nbsp&nbsp&nbsp&nbsp&nbsp&nbsp&nbsp&nbsp&nbsp&nbsp&nbsp&nbsp&nbsp&nbsp&nbsp&nbsp&nbsp&nbsp&nbsp|
com&nbsp&nbsp&nbsp&nbsp&nbsp&nbsp&nbsp&nbsp&nbsp&nbsp&nbsp&nbsp&nbsp&nbsp&nbsp&nbsp&nbsp&nbsp&nbsp&nbsp&nbsp&nbsp&nbsp&nbsp&nbsp+ 6VDC

 

[Skogsgurra]

If there's just one bad cell in the pack, you will lose more capacity without than with the ":" connection.

If all cells behave identically, the ":" connection doesn't make any difference. But the connections help getting the most out of a pack where the cells are a bit different - which they almost always are.

Gunnar Englund

http://www.gke.org

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