Quote:
Originally Posted by eq1
I read you can buy an adapter and be able to charge 2 packs of the same design - at the same time. Yet, it sounded like this feature was only for particular types or brands of batteries; there was a specification, but I didn't know what it meant. Do you know anything about that?
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There are two different things you might be referring to... let me know if you are thinking of either of these two things bellow.
#1> Multi-Cell monitoring one PL8
There are several different options for this.
Basically there are adapters you can connect to both the +/- testing port and the optional Balancing port. These allow the PL8 to use a level of BMS on the battery pack it is charging / discharging / or cycling ... without using the adapters and balancing port the PL8 only sees the whole battery pack the +/- are connected to as a whole.
#2> Multiple PL8 connected in a PL8 battery testing network
This feature allows one PL8 to act as a coordinating unit among several other PL8 units... they refer to this a expansion mode... one is set to 'master' the others to slave... the PL8 internal software limit is 16 slaves per master ... but you can run multiple masters each on their own USB port each running their own PC program window ... Too many of these running simultaneously on one PC might tax the resources of the PC... I don't know of anyone off hand that has truly pushed the Expansion / Network limits.
I've attached some pictures that might also help to explain these two functions a bit more... not shown ... you can also use the expansion mode to connect two PL8s to one battery thus increasing the maximum charge or discharging abilities.