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Im trying to charge these 1S3P LiIon 18650 Battery Packs with this battery charger using this parallel connect plate. Can I just multiply single pack charge current by however many battery paks I connect in parallel to determine the charge current? (example: single pack 8A, so 3 packs 24A?)

Also, if the charge current is fixed, would the charge time proportionally divide by the number of batteries I have? (example: 1 battery pack at 6A takes 9 hours, so 3 packs at 6A will take 27 hours?)

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  • \$\begingroup\$ Welcome to EE.SE.. It is not quite that simple.. My advise to you would be that; If you need to ask questions like these simple ones on SE, then Do-Not use lithium batteries. Lithium batteries can be dangerous as f"#%k even when handled by professionals, you shouldn't fiddle with them if you don't know what you're doing, you could easily get yourself or other people seriously injured. \$\endgroup\$
    – user173292
    Commented May 20, 2020 at 16:50
  • \$\begingroup\$ I recommend to not charge with currents higher than 1C (1C=Capacity of the battery in Ah). That way your pack will live longer. \$\endgroup\$
    – S_G
    Commented Oct 31, 2023 at 6:45

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I would be very cautious when buying stuff related to battery charging on Amazon. In my opinion, Amazon is great for buying regular consumer products (Food, Games, Clothes, etc), but I would be skeptical when buying low level electronic equipment. To put it simply, Amazon doesn't have the best quality control in this department, so you may end up buying something that doesn't work. To add, the parallel plate you linked to seems to be prone to failure in some cases based on the reviews. That alone would be a turn off for me since you don't want a Lithium Ion/Polymer related product to fail.

That said, parallel charging is possible. You just need to make sure you do the following: 1) Make sure you are using good battery cells and not cheap knockoff cells. 2) Make sure the batteries you're combining in parallel have the same voltage level (probably no more than a 100mV difference). 3) Understand what the charging current is per individual cell. 4) Use the exact same cells when charging in parallel. Whatever the recommended/max charging current is, multiply it by x number of cells in parallel. As long as your power supply has enough power to charge your batteries, you should be fine.

Also, if the charge current is fixed, would the charge time proportionally divide by the number of batteries I have?

The charging time will be about the same if you scale the current up, but will take significaltly longer if you have multiple batteries in parallel. But yes, you're understanding of charging time is correct.

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  • \$\begingroup\$ The ad for the battery charger says 2S to 8S but your battery packs are only 1S. Then the charger will not work unless you connect 2 or more packs in series. \$\endgroup\$
    – Audioguru
    Commented May 20, 2020 at 3:16
  • \$\begingroup\$ I think they can be charged in parallel if the XT connectors (yellow connectors) are used. Even though that's what's advertised, I think parallel charging is mentioned on the page. \$\endgroup\$
    – Jay
    Commented May 20, 2020 at 11:42
  • \$\begingroup\$ A 2S pack has two cells in Series. Yes, you can parallel a number of 2S to 8S packs. But you do not have 2S packs, Yours are 1S. \$\endgroup\$
    – Audioguru
    Commented May 21, 2020 at 14:58

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