Function of balancer in charger
 

May i know what is the balancer used for? important to have?? what is it exactly? thanks so much!

It allows all cells in the battery pack to charge or disharge to the same level. It balances the cells. Very importanat IMO. Packs last longer and prevents cell discharging lower than the others causing damage.

Lipo batteries are made up of more than one cell.
2s=2 cells 3s=3 cells and so on.
When running and or charging they can get to different voltages.
So say you run your truck/car and it gets to low voltage cut off.
Well for a 2s lipo it should cut out at 3.2 volts per cell 2 cells=6.4 volts
OK now say one cell gets down to 3.0 and the other is at 3.4
Over time without ballancing if your cells get too far out of ballance, cell #1 couls still be at 4.0 volts and cell #2 is at 2.4 volts.
Now cell #2 is below the voltage it needs to stay working and LVC is still kicking in.
Your pack will now puff and be junk because the #2 cell got below the voltage needed to be a working cell and pack will be junk.

OK now the other end of the page Charging.
Now say cell #1 is at 4.0 volts and cell #2 is at 2.4 volts.
Now your charging without ballancer and you are pumping in the juice the same to both cells, the charger is looking for peak which is around 8.40 volts, ballanced that would be 4.2 volts per cell.
But where your doing just a regular charge cell #1 is at 5.0 and cell #2 would be at 3.4.
Good chance of cell #1 dieing because of over charge, also good chance of cell #1 bursting into flames because of being over it capisity.

Read up on these lipo's and follow the instructions and lipo's are safe.
Not learning to use lipo's rite can be dangerous.

good to see so many knowledgeable ppl around! :) keep it up and rc will be a better hoby for all! its becos of the safety issues tat kept me from moving to lipo... even though lipo is so much lighter! how do i know exactly when the battery is flat and stop playing to prevent bloating?

In basic terms, balance charging is a lot like equalising with NiMH cells, but for the charging process. ;)

Think of it as a Spintec, but for LiPo.

You dont have to balance everytime you charge or even after a few charges, but like an oil change, it should not be neglected. Nexus racing used to have an article about making your own balance wire for two cell lipo. I will see if I can find it and bring a link here. Some people balance everytime they charge and theres no harm in doing that. Its a good thing to do.

I balance like every 2nd or 3rd charge after a balancr charge.

You should be running lipo'd with esc's with built in LVC (low voltave cutoff)
or with an external LVC so you don't discharge them below 3v per cell.