Every ARK Battery is equipped with a special balancing system to ensure that all cells are charged and discharged equally. This serves the same purpose as ‘equalizing’ does for a lead-acid battery. While LiFePO4 batteries may not be equalized externally, it is critical that all cells within maintain the same voltage. An ‘imbalanced’ battery will result in nuisance BMS shut-offs, lower capacity and a drastically reduced cycle life.
Most batteries in today’s market come with a small balancing system known as passive balancing. In passive balancing, a set of resistors begin to dissipate (burn off) power from any cell that has an individual voltage higher than 3.6V. This dissipation typically occurs at 50-100 ma (5% to 10% of 1 amp). We have found this balancing method to be ineffective to meet the stringent requirements of cell balancing. In short, it is too slow as well as inefficient.
IMPACTIV balancing, used in all ARK Batteries channels extra power from high-volt cells to low-volt cells, and deploys additional dissipative consumption should a cell reach critically high voltage.