The problem: the service life of an expensive battery bank can be substantially shortened due to state of charge unbalance
One battery with a slightly higher internal leakage current in a 24V or 48V bank of several series/parallel connected batteries will cause
undercharge of that battery and parallel connected batteries, and overcharge of the series connected batteries. Moreover, when new cells
or batteries are connected in series, they should all have the same initial state of charge. Small differences will be ironed out during
absorption or equalize charging, but large differences will result in damage due to excessive gassing (caused by overcharging) of the
batteries with the higher initial state of charge and sulphation (caused by undercharging) of the batteries with the lower initial state of
charge.