For you guys that asked for it,here is my review of my Supermate DC-6 battery charger. One thing to note though is that I am in no way an expert at battery charging.
First off, it is a nice looking unit. The housing is blue anodized aluminum with a green/yellow back-lit digital display. It is also compact at a size of 5-1/4" long,3-3/4" wide and only 1-1/2" thick. It does require a separate power source that is not included. For this review,I am using my Eagle Racing 14amp linear power supply unit.
The menus are relatively simple to navigate. There are 4 clearly marked input buttons to select,set and change your charging details. If you have used a Venom Pro or Turnigy Acucell 6,the menus are exactly the same. You can save and load up to 5 battery models in memory. It will charge,discharge and cycle a battery up to 5cycles. Charge rates are from.1A to 5.0A with a discharge rate of .1A to 1.0A.
Of course it handles all of the common battery types:
1 to 15 cells NiCd or NiMh
2 to 20V Lead Acid(Pb)
1 to 6s Lilo,LiPo,LiFe with cell balancing adapter included.
While charging the display shows the elapsed time,charge rate,battery voltage and mAh put into the battery. For LiPo you can also check and monitor individual cell voltage. There is an adjustable time limit cutoff as well as an adjustable capacity limit cutoff for safety.
Several battery adapters are included. There is one for Deans(wire gage is a bit small IMO for 5A charging),glow plug adapter,Futaba J series,JST and one with alligator clips.
So far I have charged my NiCd transmitter batteries,NiMH 6v receiver pack and a Turnigy 2s 5000mAh LiPo. It has handled them all with no problem. I have found 2 minor(IMO) drawbacks. 1: if you charge a lot of batteries,this may not be your charger. There is no cooling fan for the circuitry. It did not get hot for me on 1 charge at a time,but I think it could be a problem if you charge several consecutive batteries and especially if they are at the max charge rate. 2: Is not a problem for me but for anyone that uses bigger than a 2s 5000mAh battery,this charger is only a 50watt unit so the charge rate is actually less on a 3s-6s battery or greater than 5000mAh.
In conclusion,if you do not charge a large number of batteries but need a versatile charger to handle several battery types and if you want it cheap,this seems to be a good buy. However,it is still new so it's longevity is still in question for me. Of course if future problem arise,I will be sure to update this thread to let everyone know.
I hope that covers any information you want to know,if not you can ask and I'll be happy to find the answer for you. :thumbup1:
Dynam Supermate DC-6, $29.95 + $4.95 shipping at HobbyPartz.com
Sample of tonight's charging results:
Batteries : 8AA 700mAh NiCd for my transmitter.
Charge Rate : .7A
End Result : Time - 63 min., mAh - 687, Final battery voltage - 11.4( same as I got from the wall charger)
First off, it is a nice looking unit. The housing is blue anodized aluminum with a green/yellow back-lit digital display. It is also compact at a size of 5-1/4" long,3-3/4" wide and only 1-1/2" thick. It does require a separate power source that is not included. For this review,I am using my Eagle Racing 14amp linear power supply unit.
The menus are relatively simple to navigate. There are 4 clearly marked input buttons to select,set and change your charging details. If you have used a Venom Pro or Turnigy Acucell 6,the menus are exactly the same. You can save and load up to 5 battery models in memory. It will charge,discharge and cycle a battery up to 5cycles. Charge rates are from.1A to 5.0A with a discharge rate of .1A to 1.0A.
Of course it handles all of the common battery types:
1 to 15 cells NiCd or NiMh
2 to 20V Lead Acid(Pb)
1 to 6s Lilo,LiPo,LiFe with cell balancing adapter included.
While charging the display shows the elapsed time,charge rate,battery voltage and mAh put into the battery. For LiPo you can also check and monitor individual cell voltage. There is an adjustable time limit cutoff as well as an adjustable capacity limit cutoff for safety.
Several battery adapters are included. There is one for Deans(wire gage is a bit small IMO for 5A charging),glow plug adapter,Futaba J series,JST and one with alligator clips.
So far I have charged my NiCd transmitter batteries,NiMH 6v receiver pack and a Turnigy 2s 5000mAh LiPo. It has handled them all with no problem. I have found 2 minor(IMO) drawbacks. 1: if you charge a lot of batteries,this may not be your charger. There is no cooling fan for the circuitry. It did not get hot for me on 1 charge at a time,but I think it could be a problem if you charge several consecutive batteries and especially if they are at the max charge rate. 2: Is not a problem for me but for anyone that uses bigger than a 2s 5000mAh battery,this charger is only a 50watt unit so the charge rate is actually less on a 3s-6s battery or greater than 5000mAh.
In conclusion,if you do not charge a large number of batteries but need a versatile charger to handle several battery types and if you want it cheap,this seems to be a good buy. However,it is still new so it's longevity is still in question for me. Of course if future problem arise,I will be sure to update this thread to let everyone know.
I hope that covers any information you want to know,if not you can ask and I'll be happy to find the answer for you. :thumbup1:
Dynam Supermate DC-6, $29.95 + $4.95 shipping at HobbyPartz.com
Sample of tonight's charging results:
Batteries : 8AA 700mAh NiCd for my transmitter.
Charge Rate : .7A
End Result : Time - 63 min., mAh - 687, Final battery voltage - 11.4( same as I got from the wall charger)
