Charging li-pos w/out using a balancer...can it be done?

[VintageMA]

I used to do the charge then balance method (or rather - charge for about 1/2 way, then balance and then complete the charge).

I don't think it smart to do a full charge and then balance - if you do this and one cell is way out of whack it can cause one or more of the other cells to get way over 4.2v when the charger is looking at the total package voltage before switching from CC to CV charge. If this happens you end up doing more harm than good.

This past spring I got a TP 1010 charger with a TP210 balancer. The balancer is opto-coupled to the charger and there is a full communication with the charger through the whole charging process. You can monitor all the cells in the pack throughout the charging process and if one cell gets too far out of whack it will drop the charing current to 0.3A until the balancer can get everything in sync.

I now balance with every charge and all has been good.

I think if you are using cheap packs or you run your lipos to a 3.0V LVC frequently you will need to balance more often than if you run a higher lvc - I run 3.3v now as my lvc and have had no problems.