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by somerandomqaguy 639 days ago
Isn't there problems with replacing a single cell causing the battery management system to go whacky? I was under the impression that the cells need to be balanced with each other in some fashion.
2 comments

Replacing single cells is a problem for other cells in parallel with it, especially with the high current of e-bike batteries, but replacing all cells in parallel (appears to be 4 cells in this battery) should be fine. Either way, being able to replace all the cells at once (worst case) is a pretty big advantage too.
You'll just get less capacity if the cells aren't perfectly balanced, which is fine if you're aware of it- and much better than a useless pack.

That said, they don't specifically show/call out replacing an individual cell.

You'll just get less capacity if BMS was wired to monitor individual cells and reported capacity based on that. If you were just measuring voltages at the bus bar, you could over-drain or otherwise over-strain the outlier cell and set it on fire.

Which don't happen often enough to make Amazon do something about fake packs for drills and Dyson vacuums, but I think the chance increases as cell count increases and idiot-proofness decreases.

The replacement process would be almost the same.