HOBBYMATE H6 AC/DC Rc Lipo Battery Charger, Fast Lipo Balance Charger 700W/ 26A for Lipo Battery, Nimh Nicd Pack, Li-Ion Battery

As a preface to my review, if this is your first LiPo battery charger after using an analog charger(has one or two leds and charges via balance lead), please consult your local flying club or Youtube for how to charge your battery! I would, but my previous review was denied because I tried to include said video. This is a great and very potent charger, but if you are not sure of what you are doing, you may cause a fire!That being said, i'm very old-school when it comes to chargers. Up to a month ago, my collection of chargers were the old LCD screen chargers, a 4 port charger, a single port 50w and a single port 200w charger that all have those blue backlit screens. I decided to modernize with this little guy, and i'm not regretting it in the slightest, this is now my new go-to charger. To start with, this guy is tiny. This has about 1/3 of the footprint and maybe twice the height of the smallest LCD charger in my collection, and this has a power supply built in, about all the power supply i would really want in a chargerFirst thing to mention is the box, and what comes in it. Packaging is very nice, its like a little ring box, with an instruction manual, 2-prong wall plug, and the charger. This guy has built-in XT60 connectors for both power in and power out, and a built in balance lead. While this may be different from the 4mm banana plugs that usually come with those LCD chargers, and this may affect compatibility with your existing set of leads, this is a great choice, as the XT60 is a nearly foolproof plug that is resistant to both shorting and reverse polarity. However, if you do not run XT60s, you can very easily find or solder adapters.Next is the User Interface. This is a very simple to use charger, and the bright LED screen provides a lot of details, like charge percentage, voltages, amperage, etc. at a glance or with very few button presses. All of your basic charging features can be accessed within 2 or 3 taps, and menu options arent too much further with a long press of the center button.Which brings me to my next point. This is a very potent charger. Unlike some of the 200w chargers i've had in the past, which stop at 10a, this stops at 26a, and at 200w, you can charge a 3s lipo at over 16a, and a 6s at over 8 amps. And yes, i realise this is a 700w charger, but i'd really think of this as a compact 200w charger more than a 700w charger, unless you have the battery capacity to utilize that 700w, since the 200w charger will charge a 6s5000 LiPo in under an hour.Like any other charger, this has a full gamut of charging functionalities and safety features. This does feature reverse polarity protection, even on the balance leads, and a full suite of charging, balancing and discharging functionalities. On its own, it can discharge at 30w, which is significantly faster than the 10w of previous chargers, or far faster using an external load like a resistor or lightbulbs. When charging, the charger can provide internal resistance of each cell, which is useful to keep an eye on when monitoring the health of the battery.Outside of charging, this also features a power supply mode and a servo tester. Which doesn't sound like much, but this basically means you can power a TS100 soldering iron, or anything else using less than 24v, using this charger, and provide you with servo testing/centering functionalities. This means you can keep your toolbox that much smaller. Add in the built in USB Power Supply, and you have a charger that really deserves a spot at your workbench or on the field.So we've talked a lot of positives, are there any negatives? Really, just the one, which is the fan. The fan on this charger kicks on at 40c, which isnt a big deal, except that this charger will hit 40c when idling in a room temperature room. It also doesn't have a fan curve, so it turns on 100%. If this had a fan curve to it, say something like turn on 40% at 30 degrees c, this would be a much quieter unit, but i'm not going to hold that against them, as i'm sure this is something that can be implemented in a software updateSo in short, this charger is a great addition to anyone's toolkit/field bag/etc. Without using the extra 500w of capacity provided by a 700w+ 24v power supply, this charger is capable of charging just about any battery you might reasonably have at well over 1c. Throw in the ability to use this as a power supply and a servo tester, and there really isn't a reason not to have this kind of capacity at hand!

Writing this review because I am seldom impressed with “new products” out of China. I’ve been using this charger for a little over a week.. Purchased at the recommendation of a friend after seeing my desperate need for a modern device that was advanced enough to handle my incredibly diverse battery needs, software simple enough to be manageable, did not require a separate dc power supply at home, high quality to consistently charge new and old technology batteries SAFELY.I have several high end chargers from years past, I’ve been flying electric airplanes since the 80s. I charge myriad technologies from 12v lead acid for field charging, 4 and 8cell eneloop, Nicad and nickel metal hydride batteries for my Transmitters and Receivers. lithium ion, 1-6 cell lithium polymer through smart cell lipos for my airplanes and sailplanes.Through a mix match of chargers and work arounds, these batteries are still working.I was very sceptical of this charger’s ability to provide one stop shopping especially at the price point, although I have paid more in the past. Usually newer chargers like those from HK and eBay have all kinds of funky faults and are just lightweight junk and jeopardize the safety of your home when the safety features prematurely fail or don't exist.The charger feels solid weighting in at 14.9 oz. 4.25” x 3.4” x 3.3”, it has squared edges making it stable on your charging surface. Rubber feet help it stay in position while plugging in batteries and cords while setting up your charge -very solid yet compact enough to easily monitor without taking up the entire work bench.It can charge, cycle and park in storage mode all types of Lithium batteries. I can charge and cycle nicad, NmHi, ENEloop batteries from 1 cell on up.The charger has 3 buttons that are part of the super clear IPS display.. think high resolution like a cell phone or e reader. Even with my old eyes, I can read the screen without my reading glasses for all basic menus. Sub menus are smaller font but readable close in..again, no reading glasses needed.Safety features are defaulted at very conservative points but can be adjusted up and down to maximize performance if desired.Long press, short press center, up and down arrows. the menu flow is logical, clearly marked easily accessible in 2-3 clicks. More complex settings are available on easily navigated sub menus but again . . Clearly marked and logical flow.There is a simple 6cell balancing port on the side and an xt60 charging input.You can parallel charge an amazing number of packs with the correct balancing board. I used a simple 6s to simultaneously charge two 3s packs and one for 3 2s packs. The charger worked with them perfectly with my very old Kokam cells that I have imbedded in an indoor model.The charger has a step up voltage regulator that can take a 2 cell lithium battery (7.2v) and step it up to 28v to use it as a dc power supply for any number of projects at the field or on the bench at home!It has ppm and pwm output to allow you to check your analog and digital servos through 3 different test modes.The charger can use regenerative charging to use a dc input source as a discharge power destination… you arrive at the field with three batteries for one airplane and only use two,you can discharge the pack you are not using down to park voltage while pushing the current to charge another battery for a different plane.You can use any LiPo as a dc power source in addition to the standard lead acid 12v and 24v power source of your car or flight box field charging scheme.Discharging any battery is a piece of cake with 30 watt ac discharge and up to 700watt dc discharging.Can not recommend this charger more.It fits easily in any sized field box. It has a nice weight making the charging process easier.It has the ability to charge large number of park sized battery packs simultaneously using a parallel board with 200 watt using AC and a whopping 700 watts using a DC power source.