Originally Posted by YR4Dude
..... However, when charging and discharging each cell within a pack individually wouldn't it negate the need for matching?
The question isn't about do I need matched packs, it is more like "Do I need matched packs if I charge and discharge my cells individually?"
I don't know that it's possible to discharge cells individually except for on the bench. I'm not being sarcastic or difficult with my response in any way. How can you discharge cells individually in an RC vehicle? What about differences in IR, voltage and all of the other operating parameters among cells? What happens to those differences in operating parameters during discharge? They don't go away just because the cutoff voltage was set higher. They still exist and they still create more problems than they would within a matched pack under the same operating conditions. What about those cells that are truly bad? Yes they exist and they're more common than you think. No matter how you charge unmatched cells the potentially large difference in performance among them will always be present and that difference will always create problems during the discharge cycle. Those problems will only get worse with time, they will not improve.
When you purchase matched cells you not only get the obvious matching you also get cells that have been pre-tested, tested for duds, tested for failures and tested for weak cells. I don't know of any battery supplier selling unmatched packs who pre-tests
all of the cells they sale. Do you?
Originally Posted by YR4Dude
..... Also, if one were to use one of those speed controls that can adjust voltage cutoff and set it for a slightly higher voltage such that to prevent overdischarging of a weak cell in a pack, wouldn't that prolong the life of the pack as well?
Hypothetically, yes.