Detrum Supermate DC6 Charger

[Boogie]

A couple of the guys on here have these, but I figured I would add in my experience with them as well.
Just got one of these in to replace my Hyperion that I regretfully sold a month or so ago. Got it for $30 shipped at HobbyPartz.com. For some reason though, they list the brand as Dynam on the site...who knows why.
I didn't want to spend a whole lot on another charger since I'm not sure how much I'll be using it to begin with, so while I don't recommend relying on a cheap charger like this for comps and races, it would be good for a cheap backup in case your main charger happened to go down.

It's a DC only charger, so you need either a 12v battery or a 12v power supply to provide juice for it. I had initially converted an old atx computer power supply to run this thing but found an old laptop adapter laying around that puts out 15v/5A. The laptop adapter is a LOT more portable than a big-ass computer power supply, so that's probably what I'll run most of the time.

Anyhow, this little guy is very similar to the Venom and Turnigy chargers you see, and the innards are probably the same. Most of the reviews I've read on them are really positive with pretty low failure rates or issues. The only real issues I've heard of are bad solder points on the balance boards, which most of us can fix if it becomes a problem. It's spec'd out basically the same as most popular chargers like my old Hyperion 0606i, 50W, 5A max, etc. The overall build quality is nice, the only real gripe is it doesn't have a fan, but the case is sinked pretty well so I'm not too worried about heat buildup. My hyperion didn't have a fan and it hardly ever got warm unless I was charging at 5A on several packs back-to-back, so I don't expect anything different with this little guy.

I like the variety of charge leads it comes with as well as the balance board. The board/adapter is the popular JST XH which works with most brands of lipos out there. There are five different sets of leads that come with it, the most useful one being deans, which kind of suprises me. The other leads are alligator clips for charging lead acid field batteries, a glow plug adapter, and two others that fit receiver packs and whatnot.

Overall, it seems like a pretty good buy for $30 shipped. If you're just getting into the hobby and don't want to drop a whole lot of coin on a lipo charger, this may be a good option for you. I'll have a chance to use it this weekend and give an actual report on how it performs then, so stay tuned!

 

[Boogie]

Figured I would post an update. This charger worked for all of about 5 minutes, then decided to start giving a Break Down error after its amperage started going all over the place. I would set it to charge at say, 3 amps, and it would either dip down real low or go way up to 6 or 7 amps! I packed it up and sent it back to HobbyPartz and after two weeks I finally received another one. This new one works ok with the exception that it's amperage still dips down all the way to zero for a few seconds, goes back to whatever I set it at for 30 seconds to a minute, then dips back down to zero for a few seconds, then back up. No errors though and no amperage higher than what I set it at, so against my better judgement (well, mostly because I don't want to deal with the return process again) I'm going to keep using it and hope it lasts for a year or so.

I realize I shouldn't expect the world out of a $30 50 Watt charger, but I'm not completely satisfied with my purchase and were I to do it over again, I would throw out the extra dollars and just get another Hyperion. HobbyPartz was a royal PITA to deal with, either they flat out do not care or they do not understand English. Either way, only one person was able to finally help me and even then it was a struggle to get the exchange made.

 

[Metalhead Matt]

Thanks a lot for the review. I'm looking to finally go lipo, and now I know to pass this charger up.

 

[Racer 1966]

Sorry you're having problems Boogie,mine is still working great.(knocking on wood )