Balancing lithium ion batteries is crucial for ensuring the safe, efficient and long lasting operation of the battery pack. In a lithium ion battery pack, individual cells are connected in series to increase the voltage and overall energy storage capacity. However, due to manufacturing variations and the inherent characteristics of lithium ion cells, the cells in a pack can become imbalanced in terms of their state of charge.

This can lead to a number of problems, such as reduced overall performance and capacity, increased risk of thermal runaway and reduced the overall life of the battery life. Balancing the battery pack ensures that each cell in a battery pack is at the same state of charge, which helps to mitigate these problems and ensure safe and efficient operation.

Bely Energy's battery management system(BMS) integrated with both 50-100mA passive balancer and 1-5A active balancer, which can be helpful for equalizing the voltage and state of charge when the cells are completed charged.

ACTIVE VS PASSIVE CELL BALANCING

Passive cell balancing is where the current entering the battery is beld off through resistors. In this scenario, the current enters the battery and fills the cells. If one cell is "full", the resistors take that energy and burns it off (turning it to heat) so that way the current flowing into the full cell is lessened until all cells are balanced.

Active cell balancing directs the current towards the least full cells first and discharge the "full" cells to charge the "low" cells. In this case, the current enters the battery and instead of filling all cells at the same rate, concentrates on filling the emptier cells until they reach the level of the other cells. Once all cells are equal, the current  is directed equally into all cells until full charged.

Both methods have the advantage of maintaining the cells in a battery pack at an equal state of charge, but active balancing does that much more effectively. This extends to the overall life of the battery pack. It also allows for a higher state of charge and discharge rate, which can be beneficial in applications where high power is required.

Balancing involves evenly distributing power among each cell within the pack so that all of them reach their full capacity when charged and discharged. If one cell starts receiving too much current it can cause overcharging, leading to adverse effects like shortening its lifespan or even damaging it completely. On the other hand, if one cell isn't getting enough power then it won't be able to reach its full potential during discharge and will lead to an inefficient cycle overall. Balancing helps prevent this by ensuring equal power distribution between all cells within the pack, allowing you to get maximum performance from your lifepo4 battery packs with minimal effort.