  Lithium ion batteries are promising for small off- grid energy storage
applications in developing countries because of their high energy density and
long life. However, costs are prohibitive. Instead, we consider 'used' Li-ion
batteries for this application, finding experimentally that many discarded
laptop cells, for example, still have good capacity and cycle life. In order to
make safe and optimal use of such cells, we present a modular power management
system using a separate power converter for every cell. This novel approach
allows individual batteries to be used to their full capacity. The power
converters operate in voltage droop control mode to provide easy charge
balancing and implement a battery management system to estimate the capacity of
each cell, as we demonstrate experimentally.
