SkyRC B6neo Mini Lipo Charger Review (Perfect for

I've been looking to upgrade my lipo charger, to something smaller and better. SkyRC released this B6neo charger about 3 months ago. It requires an external DC power supply. Its specifications are quite impressive, but I only need it to charge my 1:28 300-400mah 2S lipo batteries.
The packaging is pretty simple. We have the charger and a quick start guide. The full manual is available online. The charger is compact, approximately two decks of cards on top of each other. It's got a cooling fan underneath. An external DC power supply is required. What's convenient is that it can take either XT-60 and USB-C! As for output, we have XT-60 for main power output, plus the standard 6S capable JST-XH balance socket.
For us 1:28 enthusiasts, let's compare the size of the charger with an actual Mini-Z MR-03EVO. Portability is a big deal because people bring their own chargers to the track and I prefer to travel as light as possible. Until now, I've been using another SkyRC charger, the B6AC v2. It's an older design, but it's been reliable. This model has an integrated power supply so it travels as one unit. B6neo is smaller, more featureful, and has a much improved display, but this is not a fair comparison without a power supply. I plan to use this Apple Macbook charger.
Okay, let's power it on and see what's up. Modern chargers all come with nice LCD screens like this. Note I hadn't peeled off the protective film yet in this footage. The brightness is configurable, and it's visibility is good. I appreciate SkyRC putting three physical buttons here, instead of relying on touchscreens or thumb wheel or rockers. For me buttons are easier and precise to use.
Let's browse through the main features. As expected, basically all types of battery chemistries are supported. For me, this is going to stay in the LiPo setting. This charger is capable of handling 6S. I need it for 2S charging duties. It can do the standard balanced charge, unbalanced charge, storage mode, and discharge. My batteries are standard with a max 4.2v. This setting stays. B6neo's charge current flexibility is what differentiates it from many other compact chargers. It can charge at 0.2A if needed. My batteries have capacities ranging from 300 to 450mah, so I charge at 0.3A frequently. Many other micro chargers are limited to 0.5A or even 1.0A.
By long pressing the middle button, we can access the system settings. There's a variety of settings, including safety and trickle charge features. I'm going to increase the LCD brightness a bit, and turn off the beeping sound.
B6neo also acts as a configurable DC power supply. This feature can be used to power tire truers, for example. It can of course measure individual cell voltage and resistance levels.
FYI these are the 2S batteries I use on my 1:28 lipo cars. They use a single JST-PH connector. To charge JST-PH batteries, I will need to use an adapter. It needs to split JST-PH into a regular JST-XH balance port plus XT-60 main power. To test the charger today, I will use this XT-60 to alligator clips, plus the charging cable I used with my old charger. Clearly this is not ideal, but when I have a chance I'm going to solder up an JST-PH to XT-60/JST-XH adapter.
Let's start charging a battery. The display shows essential information such as voltage level, amp, elapsed time, and how much charge energy has gone in. While in charge mode, pressing the up and down buttons will show additional information, such as individual cell voltages and IR. My lipo battery is a bit old as seen from the higher internal resistance values.
We can stop charging now, and verify the metered voltage levels with a multimeter. With lipo batteries being so sensitive to over or under charged, the accuracy of metering individual cell voltages is critical. I have a basic multimeter to measure the voltage levels. There's a real risk of shorting the positive and negative terminals, so I was taking this slowly and extremely carefully. The voltage of the first cell was 3.86v, and the second cell was The charger metered the first cell lower at 3.844v, off by around 0.01-0.02v. The second was spot on. That's not too bad, but I will use the calibrate feature later to dial in the first cell meter closer.
Let's test out the storage charge function. To prolong the life of lipo batteries, it's important to keep them at around 3.8v per cell when not in use. If you are new to lipo batteries, I highly recommend reading about their best practices and fire hazard risks. Similarly, the discharge function works as expected. The target cell voltage level is configurable, as with the discharge current.
SkyRC B6neo does exactly what I need in a small convenient package. This is now my go-to charger.
This is Sammy and thanks for watching!
SkyRC B6neo: www.skyrc.com/Charger/b6neo
Music: "Journey to the Stars", Savfk ( • Journey to the Stars b... )

[@shafiqjan1474]

Excellent recommendation and presentation, thanks for the ideas. 👍🏼

[@sammybaka]

Thank you!

[@EMU1]

This will be my next charger. At least for my light travel configuration. If it works as good as it looks, then possibly permanantly replace my other chargers with a few of these.

[@sammybaka]

Hope it gets the job done for you too. Btw have you ever needed to bring a big lipo pack as DC power source?

[@EMU1]

@@sammybaka I havent, but I have seen people use a big lipo to power truers... but thats what I want this charger to be able to do. Its all about carrying less with me to the track.

[@sammybaka]

@@EMU1 Yeah me too. An appropriately small charger for small cars. Since you are powering a tire truer too, how many watts of input do you need to provide?

[@EMU1]

@@sammybaka I cut my tires at 6v. Typically under 5A. Higher amperage than that, tends to be too much for most tires and causes them to tear. The ISDT 608AC that I was using, had a maximum of 5A, and was capable but a little finicky at startup. So, in theory, 30W would be needed for truing. The power source is a 65w, with 4 ports. One C port is always 45w, while one A and C share 15w but are fast charge capable. With one other port 5v only. Will see if it works as intended, but could reduce 2-3 things that need to be packed to go to the track... (or at least shrink it all to half the size).

[@popitn2nd]

Hi! I was just wondering…will i be able use 2 cell lipo 7.4v battery as my power supply to use this charger?

[@sammybaka]

I'm pretty sure it needs at least a 3s lipo as input power.

[@popitn2nd]

I saw you scroll through the settings under DC power. I see that you can change the Voltage settings . 3:55

[@sammybaka]

Minimum for input still needs to be 10v or above.

[@popitn2nd]

Can this charge 3 lipo batteries at the same time? I have 3 pn racing batteries and what amp should i set it to charge 3 lipo?

[@sammybaka]

The charger only has one output port, so it can do balanced charging for one lipo pack natively. You can use a 3-way parallel charging adapter (like www.kenonhobby.com/PN-Racing-XT60-Plug-3xJST-PH-Parallel-Charging-Cable_p_46091.html) but normally I don't recommend it because the charger won't be able to identify voltage level of individual cells, and can overcharge a cell as a result. That can be quite dangerous.

[@sammybaka]

And to answer the second question, if you are parallel charging 3 380mah packs, and assuming you want to do 0.3A for each, you will need to charge at 2S at 0.9A. Again, I think it's better to get a larger charger with multiple output ports natively.

[@popitn2nd]

@@sammybaka Thank you so much for your help!

[@popitn2nd]

@@sammybaka Btw, how many watt for the wall charger are you using? I’m not sure if i can use my regular iPhone usbc charger wall which has 20watt.

[@sammybaka]

@@popitn2nd My charger is 20 watts. The important bit is the max negotiable voltage the power supply can support. For this lipo charger, the power supply must be able to provide at least 10 volts of input. None of my existing small wall chargers other than the macbook power supplies could do that, so I bought a small one that can do 12v. When charging a 2s lipo at say 0.4a, only 4 watts of power is used.

[@popitn2nd]

I don’t know why my reply is being removed. Yeah it’s the anker nano II Gan 65watt with single output.

[@sammybaka]

I'm not sure why either. I checked the specs and it should be fine. The key numbers are "Output: 5.0V==3.0A /9.0V==3.0A / 15.0V==3.0A / 20.0V==3.25A (65W Max)"

[@popitn2nd]

@@sammybaka Awesome ! Thank you!

[@popitn2nd]

@@sammybaka Now i understand. Thank you for searching the specs. Now i get it why 2s lipo battery will not work because it only put out 8.4 volts. It needs at least 10 volts. Thank you!

[@sammybaka]

Yup exactly. Have fun with the charger!

[@turbofiero86]

DO NOT BUY. B6 Neo has an extremely high failure rate. mine is dead after just 3 months, i left it to cycle a single cell AA nimh and its now stuck saying connection break

[@sammybaka]

Thanks for sharing! After your comment, I went to look for more reviews and feedback and it seems many people are running into problems. I'm going to keep an eye out on mine and see how it does.

[@AKElectroDIY]

So how it went? Do you recommend this to buy?

[@turbofiero86]

@@AKElectroDIY Amazingly, I left the B6 plugged in for a week or two and it began working again... Still, I would look elsewhere, the RS16 from skyrc that I have has lasted many years, so SkyRC isnt bad in general, but the neo is not great

[@AKElectroDIY]

@@turbofiero86 I'm planning to buy skyrc imax b6 v2. Is is a goof charger?