ORIGINAL: Swift427
.... Is some of this knit-picking? Maybe, but it does make one aware of the need to treat your LiPos with care to get the most performance cycles possible. Some mistreat/abuse their LiPos and then blame the vendor for selling them a crappy battery.
Hopefully, all this is starting to make some sense as you get a better picture of what seems reasonable to your own needs and budget.
I think it is partly knit-picking, but not without technical merit and can prevent problems from evolving. And I'm sure you can get away with not balancing as some claim.
Whatever the case may be I don't mind attending to some knit-picking if it doesn't cause unreasonable expense.
Thanks for all the info. I'm starting to get a much more detailed knowledge of this now.
As far as I understand that "dynamite" charger in the original post
might not be fully compatible with the balancer. Better to use it with one of the tested models... because that balancer balances in-line with the charger.
ORIGINAL: MrMulligan
How about a combination charger/balancer. .... These charge through the balancer connector and are extremely easy to use with readouts on just about everything that is happening. ....
The Equinox separate balancer that I linked to in this thread does actually charge the pack through the balancing connector. When used with a charger, it balances through selective charging, because it's connected in-line with the charger instead of in-parallel as some other separate balancers (which balance only by selective slight discharging). The Equinox also balances by discharging if used without a charger.
Unfortunately I can't order from that link at the moment, because to reduce shipping I need to order the charger in the same order with my other stuff.
Cheers