I discovered this mod when I had to repair the balance leads on a couple of my batteries. It's called a Balance Plug Saver and they're sold by Hobby King in packs of 5 – without postage, they work out at about 10 cents each. Here's the 'saver' in use. It's that translucent cover on the end of the JST–HX connector that I've plugged my battery alarm into.
These balance connectors are obviously pretty vulnerable and fragile, and I always tried to grip the connector body when pulling them from the charging board or disconnecting a battery alarm. But I've obviously got it wrong on a number of occasions and eventually I pulled one of the little wires off.
Initially I went looking for a replacement for the JST–XH connector, but then I spotted Hobby King were selling this retrofit casing to go around the connector. So…. I wasn't the only one experiencing this problem!
I bought my JST–XH connectors with pre–fitted wire tails on EBAY – 10 for the princely sum of about $2.00.
And at the same time I thought it wise to invest in these add–on casings.
They fit very easily, just snap–on, and give you something to get your fingers around to take away any need to apply tension to the wire.
Maybe in years to come, someone will redesign this end of the JST–HX plug for LiPo batteries and include a pre–moulded finger–grip that can cope with constant use. I imagine the ones they fit now were never really intended to be plugged and unplugged all the time.
In the meantime, if fitting these add–on casings means I don't have to do the fiddly job of soldering on a new balance plug (as shown above) they're worth the investment.
Highly recommended! Fit them now, before you need to replace the balance connectors.
And if you do need to replace the balance plug, do it one wire at a time and make sure each solder join is insulated and covered in heat–shrink before you expose the next wire. That way you'll get the wires going to the right place, and you'll avoid the possibility of a nasty short and melt–down!