Lipo dischargers, no balancing function?
 

I've been looking at dischargers, purely to speed up my discharging at the end of the evening, but I've noticed none of them seem to offer a balancing function unless it's the type that work in association with the charger (my charger won't do that).

Is it a question of discharging, then sticking it on the charger to finish with the storage function? Or is it just not a problem, will the charger balancing them when I recharge them a week later make it all ok?

Thanks in advance

There shouldnt be an issue if your pack is stored at storage voltage "unbalanced". When you charge them up next time you use them, your charger will balance charge them.

+1

Though I would explore options in the charger settings to see if they offer "STO" or "Storage Mode" which should offer balance protection and will either charge/discharge accordingly instead of using the "DIS" or "Discharge" mode.

It may be helpful to learn more information about the specific charger being used to see which settings it may offer.

Most name brand chargers offered today will provide balance protection for all modes within the LiPo range of functions.

The problem of high current discharging is that no decent balance current that the balance connector can handle can keep up the high discharge current to keep the cells balanced. Funny thing is you can "complain" about dischargers but not about ESC's. Driving the car is also a high current discharge.

The discharger I once made based on a LiPo checker to shut off does shut off when one of the cells first reaches the set cut of voltage.

Thanks for all the replies. I think I'll hold off for now, the time the current charger takes to discharge gives me some much-needed tidying time in my garage anyway!

Perhaps I'll look out for a charger that accepts a resistor bank for discharging? I assume that would solve it?

Thanks again. Also, good point about the ESC!

Resistor bank discharging with a charger would definitely be the way to go, they will ramp down the discharge rate as it approaches the storage voltage.