Originally Posted by XingXing
well when i discharge and equilize them the lights flick off at same time or within a few seconds of each other, that to me means they are still matched.
in anycase, if you cells are not matched, an ICC wont do anything for you coz its discharge charateristics is whats important when racing. icc may prevent a cell from being over charged but thats about all, it still always best just to buy good quality matched packs.
What you have to understand is that your batteries are matched on DISCHARGE TIME which is important when racing like you say.
But matchers charge cells INDIVIDUALLY then measure the discharge, any difference in charging up time is not noted.
So you put the 4 or 6 cells together and charge them in series, as you do not know the individual charge times you will have maybe 1 very slightly overcharged cell, 2 at virtually 100% and 2 or 3 not quite there.
Enter the ICC, it makes sure EACH CELL HAS A FULL CHARGE so you have 100% in each cell from the start, THIS WILL MAKE YOUR CAR FASTER.
You already know your cells have the same discharge characteristic so no reverse polarity at the end of the run (this would be an extreme case)