Originally Posted by kaycerc

When I started running lipo packs we didn't even have balancers, and even when they did come out the balancers were an extra add on device you plugged in between your pack and charger. As a result I never took it with me to the track, and what I found out over years of hit and miss balancing was that while balancing is good to do to extend the life of your packs I also came to believe it was over-rated. Guys like to act as if the world is going to come to an end or that it'll ruin your packs by not balancing, and it's not the truth. I've charged packs dozens of times between balancing, hundreds of times back in the early days, and they were never off more than a 10th of a volt or less when I actually did balance them. One battery company even says that as long as you don't charge at more than 1C (1amp charge rate for every 1000mah of the pack) that you don't even really need to balance their packs.