I notice alot of Lipo chargers don't come with Lipo Balancers, hence they have to be bought seperately. Any recommendations?

This is great and only about $30-$35.

http://www.electrifly.com/chargers/gpmm3160.html

I would suggest you get your balancer from the company that makes your lipo.
The balance plugs on lipo's are not all the same.
You can get adapters for balancers so they match most lipo's if you want to do it that way.
Always charge balance lipo's.

[QUOTE=rcterp;5547474]This is great and only about $30-$35.



This balancer only works with certain charger, and mine isn't one of them. I was looking for a universe type balancer that would work on all lipo chargers

This balancer works on any charger with 4mm banana jack outputs. I've never seen a charger it didn't work on.

As far as balancing plugs go, that's another story.

>>I would suggest you get your balancer from the company that makes your lipo.
You can get adapters for balancers so they match most lipo's if you want to do it that way.
Always charge balance lipo's

I have SMC Lipo, I don't beleive they make their own balancer, I couldn't ever find their website, just retailers.

>>The balance plugs on lipo's are not all the same.

I beleive SMC balancing plugs are the standard type with the standard spacing.

Sorry, there is no "Standard" balance plug or tap. There are 4 in use, one may be more common cause its popular, but there is no standard - I wished there was....

The Equinox is a universal type balancer or Hyperion LBA10. If you don't like those look at an Astro Blinky.

You're right, the term I should have used should have been the most common balance plug. From the three that you mentioned, can they all handle large lipo batterys (ie 5000maH), and also do lipo balance charging.

With that said, that balancer comes with the same plug that SMC uses. That's the battery I use and the balancer I use.

You might want to add part number GPMM3163, these are adapters that allow you to charge at a higher rate then the adapter that comes with it (which I believe has a 3amp max)

All three will balance standalone with no charger, and balance actively while charging (best way). The equinox and LBA10 are supposed to be the same balancer, just re-badged for the diff companies.

Either will handle a 5000mah lipo, up to 6S for LBA10 and Blinky and 5S for the Equinox. You will need the adapter rcterp mentions to charge at 1C (5amps) for your 5000mah.

Im happy with the common sense balancer I purchased. Nice to see the readout.

I just bought a new rustler vxl and have a venom 3s 5000 mah lipo and duratrax onyx 230 charger. As with most it does not balance or discharge. I see someone made the comment to always balance charge them. I am new to lipos and don't know much about them. how do you balance charge them and can someone please let me know how to balance charge them. in addition i was told to discharge it every 5 or so runs. where can I get a discharger and is this accurate. lastley I am able to set the charge currnet on the charger, whats the best current to charge at and I assume the slower I charge, the better. The battery as all know are very exspensive and want to make sure I take care of it properley so it will last.
Thank you

traxk power make an exceptional balancer that plugs between you charger and battery.
http://www.amainhobbies.com/product_...ducts_id/12576

if you use the flight power packs then the above balancer is perfect for a more universal type of balancer then you can go wrong with the flight power v balance

http://www.amainhobbies.com/product_...ducts_id/12575

I personally have both of these as i use flightpower packs and max amps saddle packs in my B44

For my workshop i picked up the swallow lipo balancer it has all the universal tabs for most lipo brands and is able to be plugged in to the mains power supply cant go wrong with that.

My mate has used the losi lipo balancer too with no problems

Hope this helps.

Most lipo chargers have an automatic chrge rate i know my pulsar 3's when you plug it in and tell it how manny cells it has got it will pick up the charge rate but if you have a 4400 mah lipo then you must not charge at more than

4.4amps

As a personal thing i never let my lipo cells go below 3.3volts per cell i read somewhere that if i was to do that then i wouldn't have any problems with my cells and they would last me much longer and they have.

If you are unsure what charge rate to charge at then find out your maximum capacity and divide it by 1000

You said you have a 5000mah then that means charge now higher than 5amps your charger should drop the charge rate down as it charges mine does

i have heard good things and bad things regarding the venom lipo balancers i would get your self a flight power v balance module and use your charger you already have.

Hope this helps

Check your charger setup - you should not be able to set charge rate if you have selected proper lipo charge routine - most chargers have a select batt type - you want to select lipo here. You tell charger how many cells and the lipo capacity (mah) and it should set charge rate automatically. Lipo requires a special charge protocol - CC/CV where it charges at constant current (based on # of cells and capacity) until it reaches cell max voltage (4.2v/cell), then charger changes to constant voltage and finishes charging. In this last stage, you'll see current continually fall off while the batt is topped off. If you do not use proper charge protocol, you can overcharge and damage the lipo. It should never charge to more than 4.2v/cell (8.4v for a 2S, 12.6v for a 3s, etc).

Balancing is important as it prevents cells from being overcharged or overdischarged by keeping them at or near the same voltage. Chargers and low voltage cutoffs look at total voltage so if one cell is out of balance, it can be overdischarged or overcharged an the total voltage can still be in spec. The high quality lipos are matched and don't go out of balance as much as less expensive ones, but protecting your investment requires balancing them at least every so often. Less expensive lipos seem to need balancing more often to maintain them at optimum.

Lipo does not need discharging. Use what you need and recharge. The only time something special is needed is for long trem storage - then you charge (or discharge) to some percentage of capacity or voltage figure like 50-80% of capacity. Long terms torage is months and not just a few days or weeks.