I have an Alien 220 that I’ve had about 8 months. I’ve had zero problems with it and really like it, until yesterday. My “A” battery is draining WAY faster than “B”. I thought it was bad battery but it’s happening with any battery I use. It’s so fast, A will be dead and B will still be over 3/4 charged. Any suggestions?
Well, couple questions first
1) How old are the batteries? As old as the mod?
2) Are all the batteries paired (married) together properly and never been used with other battery sets or by themselves?
3) What wattage do you generally run? If very high, 100watts plus on 20amp batteries, this could contribute to excessive battery aging similarly as question 1.
4) Do you charge the batteries in the mod itself or on an external charger? External charger is always suggested as each battery bay on the charger is controlled and charged independently, and all batteries are recharged re-balanced (equal charge), if inside the mod itself, though the Alien 220W claims it has a balance battery charging circuit, it is still suggested an external charger, or to rotate the batteries in the mod bays each recharge cycle to manually re-balance the battery charge and load.
Now, some things I do know about dual battery mods
1) Generally speaking, most multi-battery mods, the battery closest to the control board in the voltage circuit will drain faster than the one furthest from the board, in your case Battery A is closest to the control board, battery B helps boost A, a bit but continuity and such it doesn't discharge as fast.
2) Older the battery, or the more abused a battery has been handled (high amp and/or high wattage draw constantly), their full life cycle decreases each charge and discharge just the nature of the beast, very high abuse, high amp/wattage pull, heats batteries up immensely, this changes their chemical make up, basically like simmering a stew on the stove in principle, that change accelerates their aging process (heat is one of the greatest enemies of Li-Ion batteries.
Steps to decrease this from happening most times
1) Use only married sets, not married to the mod, battery married to battery, thus dual battery set can go in any dual battery mod, triple battery set can go into any triple battery mod, etc. Married Battery Set = Bought together, charged together, used together, never breaking the monogamy between them to guarantee equal wear and balance.
2) Charge all battery sets in an external battery charger, this will balance the batteries back to equal each cycle, regardless of charge per battery.
3) If charging in your mod, each charge cycle, manually swap battery positions inside the mod, this breaks any potential of recharging a set of batteries and over recharge cycles, Battery A may be 3.6v but battery B reaches full 4.2v charge, thus causing an imbalance.
4) Using a multi-meter after a full recharge, check the voltage of each battery, the batteries should be at full charge no higher than 4.2v, a variance of 4.10 or 4.15v really is not much concern, some charger algorithms cut out in the 4.1 to 4.18v range, which is actually advised never reaching full 4.2v every recharge. Do a short discharge cycle down of use, down to 3/4 charge (1/4 below full charge), recheck the battery voltage of each battery, variance between them of +/- 0.1 to 0.3v or so batteries should be pretty much in balance and wear, if there is 0.5 to full 1.0v variance, discard the weak battery, use the remaining battery in a single battery mod, never pairing it with another battery, or if no single battery mod, properly discard that battery with its mate(s) (mates meaning if a triple battery set, weakest battery discarded, the remaining two batteries of the set can be used in a dual battery mod together if still equal in wear and tear, never adding a newer 3rd battery to the set, etc)