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Connecting the upper device cells to their VC pins before the VSS pins are connected could cause damage to the part. With the proposed connection method, any of the other VSS and VC pins could be connected randomly. This is a stressful situation even though the BQ77915 is designed with random cell connect in mind (as long as VSS is connected first). Additionally, the BQ77915's recommended cell input resistors are relatively small, so this will not help to limit current into the VC pins.
Connecting cells from the bottom up helps minimize the voltage step applied to the board because the previous cell connected will charge the input filter capacitors, pushing up the cells above that are not connected. The body diodes of the BQ77915's internal balancing FETs will also push up the unused inputs.
