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Why Discharge? — Fast vs. slow discharging


All of the Why Discharge? topics can be found together in our Why Discharge? white paper. (PDF, 35KB)


There's a lot of debate over the merits of discharging your packs at the same current level you use them. We feel it's a good idea for the following reasons:
  • You can easily measure the capacity of your packs during a discharge at the same current level you use them.
  • It's often a lot faster.
But, there's a downside to fast discharging. The internal resistance of the cell causes the voltage of the pack to drop more and more as higher and higher discharge currents are used. This makes the pack appear to be discharged, even though a significant amount of charge may still be left in the cells.

You can fully discharge a pack by slowly discharging it (typically at a 1C rate or lower), but that takes a very long time. Or, you can do a quick higher-current discharge down to a known cutoff value and then a second lower-current discharge to minimize the voltage drop due to the cell's internal resistance. This ensures a complete discharge and better helps to condition the pack, increase its voltage under load, and increase its life expectancy.

All of CamLight's Pack Dischargers use 2-Stage discharging to give you the shortest discharge time while still ensuring a complete discharge.


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