Sounds like the wiring/soldering was a mess and that was preventing that cell from charging all the way. If the resistance that the charger's balancer 'sees' is not equal one cell to the other, then the charger may think the cells are at same voltage when they're actually not.

I agree about the 8ga wires - complete overkill, no one likes or needs that heavy of a wire. Hopefully, one day they'll exhaust their supply and we'll get reasonably sized main power wires.


Bet you now have a decent lipo....