Joshua, I'm not sure that your explanation of the end current setting is correct. Usually when the charger goes into CV (constant voltage) mode toward the end of the charge cycle, it will stop the charge when the amperage drops down to 10% of your charge current (or whatever you set in the end current). So, let's say that we're charging at 5.0amps... when the charger goes into CV mode (usually 4.2V/cell) the amperage will drop as the battery becomes fully charged. When the charge current eventually drops to 10% (or whatever you select in the end current setting) of the selected charge rate (500 milliamps) the charger will terminate the charge cycle.
Using an M6D with an empty external battery does the job of discharging to storage a lot faster than heat discharging. Most batteries are empty after a fly session. Using a port to charge and one to discharge, even with an almost full external battery, the ones charging will take out charge indirectly from the ones charged. Or, if some batteries are still full, yfli has an 1W automatic storage mode “plug and forget”. These are the best.
Instead of that external discharge method I have these dongles that plug into each lipo and run it down to storage voltage (though without balancing) over the course of a day. Really nice... if it starts raining and it's time to quit I put the dongles on the charged batteries and forget about it. Each one was about $5.
Its a great charge for those who dont want a power supply or even new to the hobby.. but i just made myself a psu 2400w 24v 100a from two server psuwich works great for me. you had a video about it sometime ago :) I realy like this charge altough im a isdt fanboy. this would no. this hota s6 is a great workbench charger.
@@suborgulag7289 well it comes in handy if i need to go do a job for a client. i could just charge everything at once frome it. Drone/Rov/lipo,liion/cameras/Batterybank/USB Devices. insted of waiting forever my 20mah 6s powerbank is done. then the drones, then etc etc. compare having multiple tiny 600w12v 16a as an example. but this just works great for me.
@@mmineque nope i have 2 server psu in series. i also hooked up ground and live from the same psu lets say PSU A= wich gives me a 12v line. contra A+B? 24v i hooked it up to a 12v usb panel. you can find those easy online... yes smoke detector above where i charge and store my lipos,liion. i store most of my lipos in torvol lipo bags. and the bigger lipos in a batsafe container. just incase. have it on metal shelf. on the floor likewise with the wall theres a stoneplate/concrete . we just moved to the new house. so shed is still beeing built on. but in a perfect world building the storage and charge setup in a fireresistense wall material would be prefered. but hey anything is better then charging then on the table in a building... when you experiance a lipo fire first hand. then you will understand why some ppl spend tons of time and cash .with theire charghing system i have also started to make a mobile charge station in my truck too........ dang i havent shown my truck on the channel yet XD
@@theflyinggrip I don’t know why they are not having this function on S6, but they do on P6 and F6. F6 is a great charger if you have a lot of batteries, my experience with F6 was fantastic. Regen charging is also very useful in my opinion, when I had some big packs to use as field battery. But now I only have fly packs and I got a PD module with 100W output😆, I found it can also do the discharge job for me, perfectly.
Does this charger need 24V to get the full 650W or will it run on a 12v server PSU at 650W? I have another charger rated at 300W per channel but can only get about 7A per channel on a 6S 5000mAh.
Hi Joshua. Thanks for the review. Can you tell me if it does charge at 15a on each channel at the same time on ac please? Reason is I fly RC planes using 6s 5000 and I have d6 pro but it's supposed to do 2 x 15a at the same time but won't in reality. I wonder if it's because I use it with AC socket but I'd consider buying if it does allow say 2 x 10a simultaneously via ac as I'd like to be able to charge my 5000 at 2c. Cheers 👍
You have to consider that the D6 Pro only has 200W AC power, so 100W per channel when charging equal lipo's. For 1C with 6S 5000mAh you need 126 W on each channel so you're 26 W short per channel. With 100W per channel you have a minimum charge current of 3.97 A (with full 6S lipo). To get the D6 Pro to it's full potential you need to use an external DC powersupply with enough power and voltage (within the limits of the charger).
Couple other things to point out about the specs of the HOTA S6 vs the toolkitRC... 1. The HOTA S6 actually has a 478W PSU. When you use the USB or XT60 rear out, those do not count against the 400W for the main charging. Quick charge your phone, use your pinecil iron while you're charging, doesn't matter, there's still 400W for your LIPOs for charging. The toolkit RC's is 200W total no matter what ports you're using, so in the same scenario, you're sapping wattage from battery charging. 2. The ToolkitRC also has only 1000mA balance current. The S6 is 1600mA balance current. So the S6 will charge packs faster because it'll balance them faster. HOTA S6 is the far superior charger IMHO.
PLEASE NOTE though.... 650watt charging on the S6 is only capable with a >26volt input. Otherwise it defaults to 400watt. This is a massive fail to be honest. So buyer beware. 24v DC is easy to find but >26v is challenging. Strange that they would design it like this. I have the S6 and found this out the hard way..
@@Deceptive24 First off thanks for pointing this out. My rebuttal here shouldn't overshadow pointing this out for people who would want to know this. Of note, FYI a new firmware was released on 2/8/2/23. I don't see any release notes, but maybe it addresses this? I don't have a power supply hefty enough to test this. With that said... Curious? Yes. Bad? Yes. Massive fail? This charger is so big and due to its price, if you were looking for a high output charger for use with an external DC input, choosing the S6 would also be a curious choice by the buyer. Let's be honest here - The HOTA S6 is going to be used overwhelmingly on AC power by the overwhelming number of buyers. I disagree a limitation hardly anyone would even run into is a massive fail.
@HeroPsycho fair argument, agree I will use AC 90% of the time and 400watts is is more than most people need. I guess I'm just puzzled that they chose a 26v -30v dc supply range to activate what is essentially a 60% extra charging capacity over 400w. That would be like buying a sports car advertised everywhere at 650hp but only giving 400hp if you don't use a difficult to obtain fuel. There was a Turnigy 1200w power supply perfect for this but its not longer on the market. The alternatives are really not easy (or cheap to find) sometimes more than twice the unit cost. Unfortunately the recent firmware update doesn't address this, I have written to them but not response as yet.
@@Deceptive24ight be wrong as it's been a while since I did it, but isn't the D6 Pro a 650W charger that runs fine on 24V? I built my power supply from two server PSUs in series and my D6Pro is able to get to max power IIRC
I was thinking the exact same thing! I love my old HOTA D6 Pro charger but it always just feels weird to yank the power cable out the back whenever I want to 'turn it off'!
I just cut the power cable that I use for mine in half and soldered in a power switch from a lamp cord I had laying around. Looks ghetto but fixed that annoying issue
Given the beefy integrated power supply, I would have loved to see an additional more powerful DC output to power a second DC only charger (eg. isdt Q6). Then you could have three total channels in a very small form factor in the field. And 133W/channel is still plenty.
"Power Supply" one of the charge programs. You set voltage, and watt/current limits and the respective front port becomes a supply. The rear output is fixed at 12v,1a.
Did a peek into specs: - Balance Current: 1600mA * 2 - Discharge Current: 0.1~3A * 2 Wow, that's nice! You can stop just here. This would be my new LiPo charger if I would need a new one now.
I keep seeing those huge resistors for discharching, and i'm just here with my cheap automotive halogen light, a few XT30/XT60 connectors and a big circuit breaker. simple and cheap method to discharge. you just need to keep your eyes on a lipo checker on the balancer plug, because it goes very quickly 😄 The charger looks interesting. I'm still using my laptop psu + isdt q6 pro if i only charge single or small lipos, or server psu + isdt q6 pro when i need to parallel charge a lot of lipos quickly. I keep them in a small briefcase, that i could theoretically grab and throw out the window if something goes wrong. Its not the most elegant solution, but it works.
if i wanted to use a lightbulb with this charger for external discharging would i just wire an xt60 plug to a lightbulb and plug it in to the charger like he described at 4:11? would that discharge a battery any quicker than the 3 amp discharge the charger is rated at?
Hey Josh. I need some MASSIVE advise. I', about to purchase this charger. Actually the HOTA D6 Pro Lipo Charger AC200W DC650W 15A for LiHv Nicd NiMH Lipo Battery. I'm going to be building a 10" Long range next. Will this charger handle the different batteries needed to fly a 10"?
I love my Hota S6 charger, I bought mine from banggood when they were on special offer for $150. Thank you Joshua for a fantastic indepth review on the S6.
Great review! Since making this there is a new variant of this charger on the market that has a few additional features to boot. It's the Ultra Power UP8. Specifically the ability to add an external 200W discharger for quick discharging on channel 1, servo tester, motor tester & wireless charger on top. Would be great to see a review on this one as it appears to be just as powerful with a similar footprint and some additional features.
I thought most people should not touch the end current because most people don’t read manufacturer recommended charging curve, but then I remembered batteries probably die by crash more in this hobby and so people don’t care as much about longevity, only convenience.
Just got one based on this review! There is an audible buzzing when it's plugged in (regardless of charging) and its not the fan. Only audible from a few inches. Is that normal for these integrated power supplies? Or is this going to burn my house down?
For me Hota is a nonono…sorry but as you said I must be confident with my charger. I bought an Hota F6 after using ISDT chargers for years with no problem at all , and after a couple of charges ( lipo charge to storage ) it just “poof” with white smoke all over my house, likely enough I was near and watching …I found a couple of others users with problems , maybe I was just unlucky that’s a shame because HOTA charger seems to be a very good balance between functionality and price 😢
I hardly use the discharge function. I just send it in the front yard and terrorize the neighborhood street. Well, ok. If I charge them and I get rained out, then I’ll use it.
I have a hobbymate speed h6. Very compact and is plenty of capability to charge my 2-4s packs. I parallel charge 6 4s packs at the maximum 200 watts and it typically only takes about 30 mins.
I'm looking to get one of these this fall. I'll probably go with the D6 pro. Just to chime in on toolkit rc: I've got an M4Q and it's a good little 3 channel charger. One of the 4 acts up. If I went through the calibration process it might be fine but the balance pins on that channel sit just a hair too low in the socket, so you have to tilt the plug down a bit and force it in place compared to the others. That's got to add stress to solder joints on the board in addition to the calibration issue. I've never really had to have a 4th channel, with other chargers laying around, but like so many others it really stinks when you get something that doesn't work like it should.
The point is, it can balance charge properly the batteries, or the batteries will be out of balance like all my lipos are ? I have this problem and i can't find a solution, except if i solder a jst connector with two pin headers, and then charge all the cells separately until make them to have the exact same voltage. So this charger is smart enough to properly balance a lipo battery, or does the same job like all the others chargers ?
It would be nice if the Hota S6 could use it's 1st channel to discharge a battery into the resistor on the 2nd channel. That's how the iChargers do it; it almost wouldn't make sense to have a mode specific to LiPo when you could do this all along just using the DC output (power) function and just set up an input voltage minimum. Interesting charger though. I'll have to look at one myself 😎
Thanks for the great review. It was convincing enough to make the purchase... via the affiliate link :) Banggoods :) Hope I'll get it soon. Just one question... I will use it for a LiIon battery of 58ah for fish finder. The battery is consisted of 18650 cells and it's 3S. What would be the max Amps I should charge such battery? Thanks!
Thanks for the review. Bought the Hota S6 Ultra based on this, however while dischargin 5200mah 2S lipos at 3A it will only achieve 0.7A each port and after a phew minutes it just reboot the charger. Even with only 1 battery connected it will only achieve 0.7A. Very disapoointed.
@@JoshuaBardwell Just to keep you posted Joshua. I contacted the manufacturer and was told the maximum discharge power is indeed 5W / 0.7A only, and just 1 channel can be used otherwised it will reboot. Either we have being deceived into belive it could go up to 3A per channel (that is what it states on the box, manual and manufactorer website) or my charger is defective and the factory does not want to honor any warranty. Would you mind to run a test please? Check the maximum discharge current you can go on lipo connected to 1 channel and both channels, with and without balance leads? Sorry to ask but I do not know anyone that had bought this charger. Sorry for my poor English. I appreciate your suppport.
hello @hobbyzone, I also bought this charger recently in Europe and it was constantly rebooting during charge. I found a reddit post that also talks about this problem. After sending it back to the reseller, they advised me to choose a different model because other customers have the same issue and they feared that changing it to a different unit from the same batch would not solve the problem. I also had this rebooting issue while charging a 4s Lipo with 100mA ( I choose this current setting because I did not really want to charge the battery, just charge for as long as possible to test the charger). But using such a low current was not necessary because rebooting issue started already after 1 minute. Maybe there is a problem with the current batch,I had a charger with the following revision: hw:1.0.1, ld: 1.0.1, sw 1.0.1 At the time of testing there was no software update available. There could also be a problem with the different power source in Europe, 230V 50Hz.
I cant seem to find a 6s (ideally 8s) small charger that has an integrated USB PD input, I would like one because I always travel with a powerful USB PD multi port 65W adapter (could get an even bigger one once I get a new laptop) and I have a 160W one in my car, which would make it a very simple way to charge without carrying additional adapters and power supplies. There is the ISDT PD60, but it's very simplistic and only does 4s, same with the Toolkit M4 Pocket. I have thought of using a USB PD to straight DC board and that's what I might end up doing, might even integrate it, but I'm baffled that not many companies have thought of this. (Edit: I just realized that Toolkit makes a USB to XT-60 cable that plugs into their chargers, I think it just outputs a defined voltage it should work with any charger)
I need this charger in my life.. Coming from a skymax b6 v2 it gets the job done, but only having a max 50 watt output AC sucks when trying to parallel charge multiple 6s lipos..
I bought a HOTA D6 Pro that had the common problem of incorrect cell numbers, opened a claim on Aliexpress and they refunded me 50% of the amount, since one channel doesn't work. I thought it was my bad luck in the purchase and I bought a second charger just like it, after 3 months of moderate use, the same problem. I do not recommend this charger. It's cute but it sucks and it's going to break soon.
I always use the Balance Charge Option on a very similiar charger. Should i just be using the standard Lipo Charge Function instead if its using the balance leads and balancing them as well..? Came from your new HOTA S6 Continuous mode update option, which is really a nice feature to be able to add..
Joshua do you know what is the minimum voltage for external discharging is? I would like to use it to capacity test batteries up to 1s LFP/Lion (2.0~2.5) at high discharge rates, and I'm wondering if the charger uses external AC power while doing this.
Great review, thank you. Looks like a really great charger, saw one at the field this morning. If you're using an external resistance for faster battery discharging, does the charger monitor the battery, and shut off the discharge automatically?
Hopefully they have better design quality than ToolkitRC. I have three Toolkit chargers that no longer work, two were severely overcharging odd cells in packs while reporting the set 4.16v/cell on the screen so they killed several packs before I discovered the cause. the third charger smoked after about a dozen charge cycles and went in the bin. I'd never ever trust them again. Pretty Shiny Happy Lucky Junk
Also broke a Hobbymate screen... go figure. The Turnigy D6 Pro is the same thing as well, what I'm running right now with a DIY 2400w 24V PSU which I learned how to make from a Bardwell video too. This would be awesome to pair with my little 700w inverter generator tho for charging at the club where the 650w off the Turnigy plus the PSU itself is a little much for it. 400w will still do 15A one one channel. 3C for a 5000mah 6S pack from storage voltage=15 minute charges. And of course its out of stock everywhere... Also the Qi charger on the D6 was completely ignored in this video. At the field it is really cool to just be able to plop my phone down on top of my charger and it gets some juice while I'm flying.
It's missing a power switch and that's really stupid, add a timer switch even. Separate pin outs for 2-6s packs or just throw a bunch of cables for converting different batteries in the kit.
For my Hota D6 Pro I did cross channel calibration on 4.2V. The absolute voltage calibration is much harder task. Usually 1% of accuracy of non calibrated multimeter is very good :) No sence to do that...
I love my Hota D6 Pro.... At home i use it with a power supply to charge everyting fast and if im traveling i just throw it in the backpack.... i think now i need a S6 :D
everybody in the comments in saying how you cant regen discharge but you can plug a battery into the dc in and charge a battery so whats the difference? also does anyone know where i can find a manual online fore this damn thing? i cant find one anywhere and it doesnt come with a manual
Balance program @5:23... in one of your previous videos: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-c7iaDd2WTLc.html Joshua mentioned @4:35 that this feature is good for storage charging and a unique feature on the Hota D6, just set the balance voltage to the desired storage voltage (i.e.3.8 V). He told that the Storage charge program does not balance the batteries, so this Balance program would be better for long-term storage.
@@JoshuaBardwell must be a bum unit (eBay). Only channel 2 works. Starting the return process and going to make sure I get a new one. It does show signs of wear.
External discharge mode is for when you have a bigger battery plugged in to the input port, you can discharge a battery that is plugged into the charge port, at a way faster rate.
Block of 12V (till 3S) or 24V (till 6S) bulbs in paralel as load do the job just fine. Also you can charge a phone or power other things and discharge battery packs in one go.
Actually this charger doesn't have the ability to discharge to another battery. It only discharges to an external resistor. It does not have regen discharge capability
I use it to parallel discharge all the time. Wipe out all quads in the field and have tons of full batteries. Whack in parallel and stick in the back then dump the charge back in to the field charge LiFe with min voltage set. Flip it back round and balance to storage.
Been looking for a charger for quite a while. Unless I missed it, can you plug in a parallel charging board to one of the ports on there? Thanks much & excellent review JB!!
(Most?) Parallel balance boards just plug into the regular balance port. Usually the 6s port unless you have a balance board that goes to 8s. So if it has balance ports, then yes.
you rather have a 10w wireless charger for your phone than more power for charging? also the s6 has a 45w usb c for charging your phone. i rather be able to charge my batteries AND phone way faster. you could argue the wireless charging feature is actually a negative since it charges your phone so much slower than the s6 45w usb c
its only a 2 channel charger meaning it can only charge 2 batteries at the same time.... unless you use a parallel charging board but you better know what your doing if you do that
Hota F6 seams to be even better choice, have 1000 watts, 4 channels 15 amps each, and is on the same price as hota d6. Just don't have an ac power supply. Would like to see video on that one.
The F6 is great if you don't need an internal PSU. But the lack of an internal PSU is why it's not in this comparison. But frankly, if you need 1000 W, you're not going to find much if anything with an internal PSU.