I just purchased a few LM311 comparators and they have two pins that I don't know what they are used for. Google search hasn't helped much.

The pins are labeled "Balance" and "Bal/Strb. Do they do anything that the average hobbyist might find useful?

 

T I sais connect bal & bal-strobe together if not using the functions. for open collector operation, ground emitter out, pin 1. Use a pullup resistor, pin7, output, to + Vcc.

 

The TI data sheet has the most information.
Balance is used to adjust the offset between the 2 inputs to zero as they can be off by about 10 mv. Normally 5 or 10 mv doesn't bother much, but it could. The strobe basically turns the comparator off. So no matter what the inputs are doing the output is floating so other circuits on the output line have control.

 

Thanks for the replies. That is what I gathered, the strobe pretty much turns it off.