Really Lovin' My HOTA DC6 Plus!

[drjim]

This is a really nice charger!

I've used it on all three of my LiPo batteries, and carefully watched the charging process. I like the way it ramps up the current as it begins the charge instead of clobbering the battery with the full charge current.

And being a complete beginner with these big LiPo batteries, I was pleased to see that my new SMC batteries came with an instruction sheet explaining charging, and something new to me, Storage Mode.

I didn't know that the correct way to use these packs is to discharge them down to a certain volatge before putting them aside for more than a couple of days. I've always made sure my batteries were fully charged before storing them, so this is new to me.

The "Instruction Manual" that came with the HOTA is pretty amusing in it's use of mangled English, and how sparse it is. But I figured it out with a few minutes of punching buttons, scrolling screens, and re-reading the instruction sheet.

The variable speed cooling fan is a nice touch, too.

All-in-all I'm happy with the charger. Works "As Advertised", and has more features than I know how to use now.

 

[Jeffashbaugh452]

@drjim any new updates on how the Hota D6+ is performing?

 

[drjim]

This is a case of "No News Is Good News", or what some people would call "It Just Works".......

I haven't been backyard bashing in a while due to the snow, but I've been using it for my 10th scale on-road (same 2S LiPo as my Senton), and it's great. I've also used it several times to charge the LiFe battery I bought for my Futaba 4PM, other than having to make an EC-3 to JSC (? looks like a servo plug) adapter, it works perfectly for that, too.

Haven't bothered with the fancy stuff like Bluetooth or the app HOTA has , or bothered to update the firmware. If I can find list of what they changed in the firmware update (change log) then I might consider reflashing it, but otherwise it works "As Advertised", and is very easy to use.

 

[Jeffashbaugh452]

That's great news. I just got mine in the mail a couple days ago along with a couple HRB 6s 5000mAh 50c lipos. I have not had a chance to use them yet. Hopefully this weekend

 

[arrmadave]

Its a beast of a charger in a very small package.

 

[Jeffashbaugh452]

I'm really excited to use it. For some reason I always second guess my purchases especially when I don't see them in person. But thanks to you guys and the reviews I fell alot better about buying this one.
Do these settings look correct to charge this battery?

@arrmadave have you used the hota app with it?

 

[arrmadave]

I'm really excited to use it. For some reason I always second guess my purchases especially when I don't see them in person. But thanks to you guys and the reviews I fell alot better about buying this one.
Do these settings look correct to charge this battery?View attachment 60110
@arrmadave have you used the hota app with it?

Yeah those look good. I haven’t used the app, honestly I didn’t know there was one. I am old school lol. Just a great easy to use charger. Enjoy it.

 

[Jeffashbaugh452]

Yeah those look good. I haven’t used the app, honestly I didn’t know there was one. I am old school lol. Just a great easy to use charger. Enjoy it.

Great thanks

 

[VPR01]

I’ve been using the HOTA D6+ for a few days now, it’s a slick charger. Charging/Balance/Storage (3.8) are super easy to navigate.

 

[arrmadillo]

I like mine, never downloaded app or did update. Leave well enough alone before ending up screwing the pooch.

 

[Jeffashbaugh452]

I hear ya @arrmadillo I'm not going to mess with the updates or app either. I have a hard enough time trying to navigate my cell phone

 

[Forker45]

For you D6+ guys I contacted HOTA and got a full manual which is much more helpful than the little pamphlet that was in the box.

Based on the few emails exchanged it didn’t seem like the iOS app was making any progress within their engineering workload and wasn't a priority unfortunately. ?

I tried out the app on a kindle fire since it’s the only android device I have and it did connect but it was very unstable from crashing... Kind of a disappointment especially since the app is where you can create custom charge profiles for different packs or conditions. Example for me: charge rate at home vs at track. Otherwise it has performed flawless charging.

 

[drjim]

My son downloaded the app to his iPhone while he was here and pronounced it "A Flop".

 

[jkflow]

Charger works great, update worked fine, app non-existent but I'd buy this charger again. It's semi intelligent and detects most of the settings.

Android - app never showed up in playstore, my guess it's incompatible with Android 9 or 10.
Apple - only app I see is in Chinese, installed and I was hoping you could select the language but no way.

Hota webpage,
you can download the manual as a file but must change the name and add the extension '.pdf'.
For the update, add extension '.zip' and extract. Very sparse instructions included but works well.

As per above, the update is not needed for it to work.

 

[drjim]

Yes, that's why my son called it a flop. He couldn't figure out how to switch it to English.

 

[JtkBrew]

I was able to find the app and it downloaded to my Samsung S10. If I remember correctly it was a 3rd party app.

I did get it to connect to the charger and show me the battery status. My only complaint is you have to be like no further than 8' away or it looses connection. Since I charge in my garage and stay in there when charging, I'll just walk the 7' and look right at the charger. I've not played with any custom setups or anything else, as I usually forget about the app when hooking it up.

I love this charger with or without the app, and I'm glad I spent a little more than my original budget to get it.