Cell balancing can be paused by one of three methods:

• If die temperature during balancing > T_{CB_TWARN}.
• If [OTCB_EN] = 1 when any thermistor detects a temperature greater than OTCB_THR.
• MCU sets BAL_CTRL2[CB_PAUSE] = 1.

The first two conditions are described in Section 9.3.3.1.3. The third pause condition is a MCU-controlled pause action usually used during a diagnostic check that involves the CB path. MCU can pause cell balancing through the [CB_PAUSE] bit at any given time once balancing starts.

When the cell balancing is paused due to any of the pause methods, the pause activity is the same:

• Turn off CBFETs on all channels.
• All balancing timers are in hold or “freeze” state.
• BAL_STAT[CB_INPAUSE] = 1.
• Any unmasked fault detected during the pause state does not terminate cell balancing. This is because the pause event can be used during diagnostic and fault insertion can be part of the diagnostic.

Once the device exits the cell balancing pause state, the cell balancing resumes. Cell balancing timers will continue the count down. CB channels with non-zero values in their timers will continue with the balancing.