The balancer is just a rebranded Great Planes Equinox. The two are identical.
http://www3.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin...?&I=LXMGS7&P=0
It's a pretty decent balancer for the money, especially for people who just have small electric stuff.

It's odd though that the balancing lead as well as the battery itself uses banana plugs. It would have been better had the pack included hard wired output and charge leads. It's a bizarre setup. Is this standard in lipos for cars?

Michael Heer · Apr 22, 2008, 11:29 PM

Hello orinda635:
I believe this balancer is in the same family as the Great Planes Balancer as well as the V-Balance from Flight Power, none of them are actually identical. the CheckPoint balancer is designed to balance 2-3 cell packs. the Great Planes Balancer will balance packs with up to five cells and the V-Balance by Flight Power will balance up to six cell packs. How they function is probably very similar. With cars and trucks you will only be working with 2-3 cell packs and the current pack sold under the CheckPoint name connects to this balancer with the included connector. Thus this pack matches up perfectly with this balancer. Speaking of similar; Flight Power has a very similar looking 7.4 Lipoly pack with a different colored case and it has only 4900 mAh if I remember correctly. Mike H

mtfly2000 · Apr 23, 2008, 12:41 AM

That's a nice review. But Gosh... I don't see how they can get away with charging so much for it. I'm not convinced that it's better than the lesser expensive (with an extremely high reputation) Maxamps Lipos.

Keep in mind that the quicker you discharge a Lithium pack the more out of balance the pack can get. Using in your stock Evader is probably OK to not balance every single charge for just a 2-cell pack. Add more cells or drain it faster and you really should balance it every charge.

Michael Heer · Apr 25, 2008, 11:17 AM

Mtfly2000:
This pack is designed to be at the very top of those available to give the serious racer the competitive edge or at least prevent him from being behind if his opponent is equally equipped. That edge usually doesn't come cheap. CheckPoint has a quality name in racing equipment. As to your last comment: Yes! More cells or a much quicker drain you may want to balance more frequently. That said I am more concerned in getting those who don't balance ever...to start balancing before they have an accident. Too many still think of a balancer as an optional piece of equipment and not a necessity when using Lipolys. It took me awhile to fully appreciate the need. Thanks for the comments. Mike

mtfly2000 · Apr 25, 2008, 01:29 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Michael Heer

This pack is designed to be at the very top of those available to give the serious racer the competitive edge or at least prevent him from being behind if his opponent is equally equipped. That edge usually doesn't come cheap. CheckPoint has a quality name in racing equipment.

I thought Team CheckPoint was relativly new. They seem to be a division of Great Planes and I've had very good luck with their stuff, Lipo's included.

My comment about comparing it to www.maxamps.com was a matter of value. Many guys here race and bash extremly high power set-ups with MaxAmps Lipos I've never heard anything but praise (and they're cheaper). It's just my feeling that Team Checkpoint is pricing this battery out of sales.

Tom Frank · May 03, 2008, 01:11 PM

This balancer and the Team Checkpoint charger look like rebranded Hyperion LBA10 and ICE hardware, respectively, to me. Both very good quality components if they are the same.

Apr 22, 2008, 11:01 PM	#2
orenda635 Canucklehead Join Date: Apr 2004 Location: GTA, Ontario, Canada Posts: 827	The balancer is just a rebranded Great Planes Equinox. The two are identical. http://www3.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin...?&I=LXMGS7&P=0 It's a pretty decent balancer for the money, especially for people who just have small electric stuff. It's odd though that the balancing lead as well as the battery itself uses banana plugs. It would have been better had the pack included hard wired output and charge leads. It's a bizarre setup. Is this standard in lipos for cars?

Apr 22, 2008, 11:29 PM	#3
Michael Heer Registered User Join Date: Apr 2001 Location: Stockton, Ca. USA Posts: 6,933	Hello orinda635: I believe this balancer is in the same family as the Great Planes Balancer as well as the V-Balance from Flight Power, none of them are actually identical. the CheckPoint balancer is designed to balance 2-3 cell packs. the Great Planes Balancer will balance packs with up to five cells and the V-Balance by Flight Power will balance up to six cell packs. How they function is probably very similar. With cars and trucks you will only be working with 2-3 cell packs and the current pack sold under the CheckPoint name connects to this balancer with the included connector. Thus this pack matches up perfectly with this balancer. Speaking of similar; Flight Power has a very similar looking 7.4 Lipoly pack with a different colored case and it has only 4900 mAh if I remember correctly. Mike H Attached Thumbnails Has extra wires coming out of the right side and a different harness but there is a family resemblance. 7.6 KB · Views: 199

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Contents

Assembly

Battery Pack

Balancer

Benefits of Using a Lipoly Pack

The True Comparison on Voltage and Weight

Is a Balancer Really Necessary?

How Does This Balancer Work?

Securing the Battery Pack in my Truggie

Operation

Storage of the Battery Pack

Are these Battery and Balancer for a Beginner?

Conclusion

Apr 23, 2008, 12:41 AM	#4
mtfly2000 Registered User Join Date: Dec 2006 Location: washington Posts: 1,620	That's a nice review. But Gosh... I don't see how they can get away with charging so much for it. I'm not convinced that it's better than the lesser expensive (with an extremely high reputation) Maxamps Lipos. Keep in mind that the quicker you discharge a Lithium pack the more out of balance the pack can get. Using in your stock Evader is probably OK to not balance every single charge for just a 2-cell pack. Add more cells or drain it faster and you really should balance it every charge.

Apr 25, 2008, 11:17 AM	#5
Michael Heer Registered User Join Date: Apr 2001 Location: Stockton, Ca. USA Posts: 6,933	Mtfly2000: This pack is designed to be at the very top of those available to give the serious racer the competitive edge or at least prevent him from being behind if his opponent is equally equipped. That edge usually doesn't come cheap. CheckPoint has a quality name in racing equipment. As to your last comment: Yes! More cells or a much quicker drain you may want to balance more frequently. That said I am more concerned in getting those who don't balance ever...to start balancing before they have an accident. Too many still think of a balancer as an optional piece of equipment and not a necessity when using Lipolys. It took me awhile to fully appreciate the need. Thanks for the comments. Mike

May 03, 2008, 01:11 PM	#7
Tom Frank Dance the skies... Join Date: Dec 2003 Location: Sammamish, WA Posts: 6,249	This balancer and the Team Checkpoint charger look like rebranded Hyperion LBA10 and ICE hardware, respectively, to me. Both very good quality components if they are the same.