I have a TP1320 that has been recharged 15-20 times and has never seen a balancer. I check each cell with a multimeter after every charge and they have never been more than .1v off. Obviously a balancer is the way to go, but if you don't use one you can still ensure a little safety by checking with a meter at the balance plug. On a 3s battery there are 6 wires at the plug. the first 2 wires go to one battery, the second 2 to the next, and the last pair to the third. Check the two outside wires for total pack Voltage. I wouldn't recommend anyone trying this, but if you needed to balance a pack and didn't have a balancer you could discharge the high cells individually through a resistor until all of the voltages were even.