No, the main power wires are connected as well, but my charger is a balancing charger with balancer builtin. A lipo is connected to the charger at both the main power leads and the balance wires. You can't charge at high rates thru the balance wiring. I have a specialized charger that is designed to rescue problem prob lipos and it charges thru the balance leads at rates less than 1a. Takes a long time to charge that way.

I don't understand TP's balance scheme using the extra wire, so I can't help there. I understand the wiring scheme that uses 1 more wire than you have cells (2S would be 3 wires, 3S 4 wires etc). There may be an explanation in battery/charger thread on RCGroups, they discuss these things in depth over there if it comes up. Also, if you locate a manual for the LBA10 Hyperion balancer there may be sometheing there to help. That was the reference I used when I balance wired my 5S and 6S a123 pacs that I built.