I have a nice charger (XTAR VP4 Plus Dragon), but I use a lot of enloops and I would gladly buy something dedicated exclusively to them: convenience, etc. As I care about refreshing modes, analysis, etc., an advanced model is involved. And since it is advanced, it is better to buy it once and for all. What charger do you consider to be the best on the market today? I was thinking about the Maha / Powerex MH-C9000 Pro or the Skyrc NC2200. Which one would you recommend? Or maybe something else that I donāt know?
Thank you Chris, thatās good advice. But I prefer to wait for the MC3000 update for the protected 21700. Then it will be suitable for all large cells. Also interesting is the development of the Xtar for 26800. Now Skyrc has released a new model for AA / AAA and it looks good. NC2200 Charger - SkyRC
How do you rate the NC2200? How is it different from NC2600 and Maha? Or maybe you can recommend something even better?
I too only use eneloop so just use the charger that can be bought with the batteries. Iād figure Panasonic/Sanyo would know a thing or two about eneloops.
What I want avoid for charge AAA are pwm high peaks like happen on Opus3100.
Thatās not good for the cell and I prefer constant current
Any suggest for chargers analyzer non pwm and simply with Leds status like Panasonic are welcome
Iām not really a fan of Panasonicās 1-3h chargers, though I love the little RYG LED indicators. Only way Iāll use that is with a USB fan pointed at it, or you can do a trick where you put three batteries in (like slots 1,2,4) and then remove the middle one after it starts. Then you get the 3h rate in addition to sufficient spacing between cells to prevent overheating.
The BQ-CC17 7 hour charger is golden. Probably make cells last longer than anything else.
The Opus C3100 is a complete no-go for NiMH as it trickle charges at a considerable rate. If itās 20mA like the manual says, the displays indicate considerably more (30-50mA). The C2000/2400 is great, though 90% of the time I just use the SkyRC MC3000.
Worse than the BQ-CC55 was the SkyRC NC1500. I wanted to like that one. So cute, but itād go over 50C on a regular basis. Not sure how they did such a bad job on that.
The NC2200 is also cute in its own way. Unless thereās something quite wrong with it, I have to have one.
My C9000 is from when they first came out. Had to get it replaced, early on, because the first ones had an AAA charge termination bug.
It was state of the art, then. Iād generally rather have a modern -dV or 0dV terminating charger than one that uses voltage, like the C9000 or some XTARs that are primarily for LiIon. The Opus C2000/2400 is the closest to the C9000. The new C9000PRO hasnāt really improved the algorithm so it seems Mahaās kind of resting on their 10 year old laurels.
But, they work. Heck, one of my friends is still using the old MH-C401FS (in Slow!).
I have the Maha C801D 8-cell 1-hour charger which has worked like a champ since I purchased it more than 10 years ago.
It is a simple charger, put one battery in and then press a button if you want āsoftā charge, then put the rest in. The default charge rate for AA batteries is 2000mA, and āsoftā mode is half that at 1000mA (I normally select the soft mode which takes a bit longer but perhaps helps extend the life of batteries).
I use it to charge various NiMH batteries, mostly eneloops but various other makes as well. The 8-cell capacity is really useful (eg, for two camera flashguns). The charger seemed expensive when I bought it but has worked reliably and well for so long that I wouldnāt hesitate to buy another if needed.
I just got a Liitokala Lii-S6 in the door today, got it to charge AAA batteries, but it will of course also do others.
So far have charged my 12 new AAA and it was effortless of course
I am going to throw some 18650 batteries in it soon, i think i have some that need a dip in the fountain of power.
The most disappointing thing to me about Maha chargers are that they only display info for 1 slot at a time. Iām leaning towards getting a SKYRC NC2200 because of this, anyone knows how the charge algorithm compares to the Maha C9000Pro?
