sh.stopBalancer = function( timeout, interval ) {
    sh.setBalancerState( false )
    sh.waitForBalancer( false, timeout, interval )
}

sh.waitForBalancer = function( onOrNot, timeout, interval ){
    
    // If we're waiting for the balancer to turn on or switch state or
    // go to a particular state
    if( onOrNot ){
        // Just wait for the balancer lock to change, can't ensure we'll ever see it
        // actually locked
        sh.waitForDLock( "balancer", undefined, timeout, interval )
    }
    else {
        // Otherwise we need to wait until we're sure balancing stops
        sh.waitForBalancerOff( timeout, interval )
    }
    
}

sh.waitForBalancerOff = function( timeout, interval ){
    
    var pings = db.getSisterDB( "config" ).mongos.find().toArray()
    var activePings = []
    for( var i = 0; i < pings.length; i++ ){
        if( ! pings[i].waiting ) activePings.push( pings[i] )
    }
    
    print( "Waiting for active hosts..." )
    
    activePings = sh.waitForPingChange( activePings, 60 * 1000 )
    
    // After 1min, we assume that all hosts with unchanged pings are either 
    // offline (this is enough time for a full errored balance round, if a network
    // issue, which would reload settings) or balancing, which we wait for next
    // Legacy hosts we always have to wait for
    
    print( "Waiting for the balancer lock..." )
    
    // Wait for the balancer lock to become inactive
    // We can guess this is stale after 15 mins, but need to double-check manually
    try{ 
        sh.waitForDLock( "balancer", false, 15 * 60 * 1000 )
    }
    catch( e ){
        print( "Balancer still may be active, you must manually verify this is not the case using the config.changelog collection." )
        throw Error(e);
    }
        
    print( "Waiting again for active hosts after balancer is off..." )
    
    // Wait a short time afterwards, to catch the host which was balancing earlier
    activePings = sh.waitForPingChange( activePings, 5 * 1000 )
    
    // Warn about all the stale host pings remaining
    for( var i = 0; i < activePings.length; i++ ){
        print( "Warning : host " + activePings[i]._id + " seems to have been offline since " + activePings[i].ping )
    }
    
}

diff --git a/src/mongo/shell/utils_sh.js b/src/mongo/shell/utils_sh.js
index d9c05a3..f9215bb 100644
--- a/src/mongo/shell/utils_sh.js
+++ b/src/mongo/shell/utils_sh.js
@@ -225,7 +225,7 @@ sh.waitForBalancerOff = function( timeout, interval ){
     // Wait for the balancer lock to become inactive
     // We can guess this is stale after 15 mins, but need to double-check manually
     try{
-        sh.waitForDLock( "balancer", false, 15 * 60 * 1000 )
+        sh.waitForDLock( "balancer", false, timeout || 15 * 60 * 1000, interval )
     }
     catch( e ){
         print( "Balancer still may be active, you must manually verify this is not the case using the config.changelog collection." )