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I really have two questions:

1> I recently purchased a Lipo charger that does NOT have a balancer? Are balancers really necessary? Was it a mistake to buy a charger without a balancer?

2> Have you heard of the MYSTERY balance Chargers being sold my "cwtco" on E-Bay? If so, are they any good/worth buying?

Thanks,

My Orion Advantage charger does not have a built in balancer. So balancers without the charger are an acceptable option. Purchase an aftermarket balancer that is already designed/set up for your batteries and make life easy.

I have yet to purchase a balancer for my lipos, but I check them about every other charge (using a multimeter), and so far, so good. (I have Orion Lipos, 3200 & 3600s)

I dont know anything about the MYSTERY charger/balancer you are asking about. Remember, buy good once, or buy cheap twice...

An inexpensive (relatively!) alternative that works with 1-6 cell lipos that have a balancer plug:
http://www3.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin/wti0001p?&I=LXMRZ9&P=ML

The nice thing about this one is you can use it for your plane batteries as well!

thanks for the info/suggestions.

NOT balancing your Lipo's is a BIG mistake. Personally I balance my Lipo's everytime I charge using my Hyperion charger. I have a Max Amps in my B44 and an orion (which I use a checkpoint charge through balancer) in my B4. Good lipo's are expensive, don't skimp on a crappy charger

In my experience (and I've had at least 15 lipo packs now). Good quality 2S packs rarely go out of balance, cheaper ones can drift and old packs even more so. Anything above 2S I would never charge without balancing.

HTH

Tom