Hi all, after much searching, the internet keeps pointing me here for anything smart charger related so I’m guessing this is where the experts live. Unfortunately due to some power issues over the last few weeks we’ve lost a couple of electronics, nothing expensive luckily. No idea what is happening as we just go to turn them on and they simply don’t work. The outlet still functions and we’ve had an electrician come by who said everything seems fine but brown outs and surges have been occurring in the area while the electrical people are upgrading the grid a few blocks away. Most of our expensive electronics are connected to good quality surge protected boards that warrant the connected devices so not worried yet but sadly my C9000 isn’t on that list, it is connected to a surge protected board, but a cheap one with the printer and USB charging hub.
To my question, the charger still appears to be working fine but this morning I chucked in 4 new AAAs for a break-in and 1 by 1 each slot changed from break-in to charge. It’s never done that before so I thought maybe having the the 2 AAs in there trying to rescue them for the last 2 weeks might have confused it so I unplugged it for a minute then set it back up and an hour later it’s still running the break-in on the new AAAs. Now I might be paranoid but if you get really close to the charger it’s making a faint tick almost in time with the LCD screen changing the information. I never noticed this before and am wondering if this is normal? It might even be the screen itself but I’m not sure.
Also since I’ve had this charger for a very long time (2010 I think) it might be time to consider a replacement or at least a standby unit as I use it regularly and would be stuffed if it suddenly died. I’ve had a look and no stores near me currently sell them or the newer pro model at the moment so can anyone recommend another charger with the same feature set (especially the break-in and refresh/analyse modes) that they consider as good as or better then the Maha MH-C9000?
I only have the MH-C9000 Pro but I would say the ticking noise is not normal. I had a similar but bigger problem with my Accupower 338XL as one slot broke (but others works still fine)
I would say, similar to the C9000 are only the C9000 Pro and maybe the Skyrc NC2200/2500 Pro/MC3000. But the last two are very expensive. Where I live it´s also not possible to find one of these chargers in local stores.
Normally I Didn´t use the BreakIn-Mode with my chargers, I tried it one time with the 9000 Pro and don´t see a practical use for it.
My favorite charger for NiMH is still the Vapcell S4 Plus, but it don´t have BreakIn.
I am not sure what your noise would be. I have 3 MC900 units. The original was purchased just shortly after they were released.
So far I have not had any problems with any of the three. I can’t remember if they have a fan in them, which is the first thing I would suspect to make noise. But what you describe, especially if it happens as the display changes, doesn’t sound like it would be a fan anyway.
I am not sure where you are, but Amazon US had the new PRO model for sale.
BTW, I know how you feel about the MC9000. I have a whole bunch of chargers. I don’t think any do as good a job on NiMH cells as the Maha chargers. None have the range of user adjustments or range of functions either.
Yes I think there are trade offs involved. But IIRC there was a supply problem with chips for the older model. SO they had to make some changes. I haven’t tried the Pro model, so I can’t comment. But if one of mine dies, I will replace it with the newer Pro version.
This comment does not tell us much. Can you comment on how the newer version is inferior to the old one? Maybe with some specifics. Is this just a “feeling” or is there data to support your statement. Does it not charge as well? Inaccurate results? Build quality? Failure rates? Ergonomics?
If the aim is to help people make decisions on buying the charger, I sure hope that there is more.
It does. But the appearance is subjective. The failure is not good, but I haven’t found any other info about the high failure rate.
Maybe luck of the draw? They do have a 3 year warranty, which is the best I have seen on any chargers. Did you get a replacement? Is it working? Is it functionally OK?
I had real good treatment from their customer service (just questions, Not failures). Which is good. How did you find it?
I know it really sucks to have something die on you. But that does not make it garbage…
Mandrake15, as I mentioned my feedback comes from the lengthy experiences in owning both units. You asked me for examples and I gave them to you. I would recommend you spend more time addressing the questions of the original poster than asking me more questions. As I mentioned I have both units and I dont have any questions.
Thanks for all the info guys, I think my C9000 might have in fact died. All was going well and then suddenly, this morning the first 2 slots said done on the break-in but slot 3 and 4 didn’t appear to have a battery in them (couldn’t scroll over to them with the slot button and the backlight turned off after removing the batteries from slot 1 and 2). I moved the 2 batteries from slot 3 and 4 over to slot 1 and 2 and added 2 more new batteries and it seems to be going again. But if 2 of the slots have decided to die (or only function for several hours) I can’t get by with only 2. On the other hand I haven’t had problems with AAs, (haven’t had 4 in there for about a month) so maybe it’s a AAA issue, the AAAs do seem a little more finicky to get in, the positive ends like to slide up a bit if the unit gets bumped.
I guess it’s time for a new one, I’ll still have a play around with this one, maybe pulling it apart and giving it a good clean will help. I like the sound of the skyrc NC2500Pro and their MC3000 but again no local stores stock them. I may have to bite the bullet and shop online. I’m in Australia so if anyone knows somewhere that has either in stock (found both for around the $200 mark but sold out) or I suppose I can get the new Maha. The extra slots draws me to the NC2500 and the ability to charge lithium makes me want the MC3000. Anyone know if they are as straight forward as the Maha or do they need to be baby sat? I had a no name brand that needed to be manually terminated and it was not an easy thing to use hence it went in a box never to be seen again when my C9000 showed up.
If it matters I need the break-in cycle as a place near me let’s me take his old stock of rechargeable batteries but they are so old they don’t work well until I hit them with a break-in once or twice and then they work like new. I have a security system that requires 28 batteries so I keep around 70 batteries including the ones in use for myself and friends and family get any that I don’t need. Occasionally a few don’t come back to life so they get recycled. Annoyingly though a few new remotes and a door bell require AAAs, until now I only had 2 in my coffee scales.
Thoughts on the skyrc’s and how they compare to the Maha would be appreciated. Other recommendations and experiences or brands to avoid would also be welcome.
The MC3000 is my go to charger for LIIon cells. I use the Maha chargers for NiMH cells. I don’t remember the MC3000 having a specific “break-In” setting. But you can program it to do most anything. The MAHA uses an IEC standard for break-in. IIRC, it is .1 C for charge and discharge rates and a rest period in between. That can be programmed into the MC3000. Using the BT Phone app, it would be easy. You can then save the program for different capacity cells. You just need to do the calculations. But then it is just finding the program in the app and clicking go.
When testing cells, you can easily duplicate the conditions used in the testing done by the manufacturer.
It is a truly versatile machine. You can even interface it with a PC and record testing.
The only downside is the initial cost.
There is a learning curve with the MC3000. But there are many good tutorials online to help get past that.
My MC3000 has been solid for over 10 years. I use it pretty much everyday. I am not familiar with the NC2500.
Sorry to hear about your C9000. My first one is about the same age as yours. I bought two more that are a few years younger. I hope they all last a while longer.
Mine running good since almost a year. It´s my No.1 for testing AA-capacity because the Skyrc NC2200 decrease the current with some cells extremely. This leads to long running tests and unreliable results, I don´t care if a 2.5A-AA only can deliver 20mA at the end.
Tested some hundreds cells now with the Pro.
I don´t have the C9000, I know it´s good reputation in longevity, dunno if the Pro is also that good but at least mine is not that bad.
Sorry. I was just hoping you would expand on describing your experience to do exactly that. Just saying something is “garbage” is not all that helpful when the OP is trying to decide whether to buy the device.
But maybe @dazza555 might. I was just asking things that would be of interest to me if I was trying to decide.
I guess you had you defective unit replaced under warranty, Yes? Knowing that would certainly be helpful in making a buying decision. Knowing if the charger works for it primary function, charging and analyzing cells, would also be good.
Sorry again if I upset you. I thought my questions were reasonable.
I have a problem with tis as well, I think the detection for high IR is a bit aggressive. But the majority of the cells that fail on the MC9000 also fail on several other chargers that I try them in. Including even the “dumb” chargers that used to be packaged with Eneloop sets. A few will charge, but they are essentially trash at that point. They won’t deliver much current and have low capacity.
It sounds like you have some bad cells. But, of course it could be a bad unit. I charge a lot of cells in mine. I probably have 400 NiMH cells that I rotate through devices regularly. Some are getting pretty old (8 to 10 years. Interestingly, I don’t think I have ever had to get rid of any Eneloop cells). So I have to trash a percentage every cycle. But I am pretty sure that is because they are just bad.
BTW, I think I read that the Pro raised the level of IR that triggers the “High” indication. So it could be an advantage for charging older cells. But when the IR gets that high, again, the cells aren’t good for much.
I also test with bad cells, true. But if my other chargers can discharge them at same current (Vapcell S4 Plus, Keeppower L4 ) with a realistic capacity in a realistic time.
Which discharge rate you use? I use AAA 500mA and AA 1000mA. I know it´s a bit high but I want to know if the voltage is stable at this current.
Works for me with the Vapcell S4 Plus, Keeppower L4 and Skyrc NC2200. I think there are not many chargers with 1A NiMH discharging.
I ordered now the C9000 Pro to compare the discharge behaviour and the High Problem
It should be dependent on the rating of the cells (C). A 750 mAh AAA cell I use 200 to 250 mA. 1900 mAh Enelooops I use around 500 mA. Sanyo specifies 400 mA for their capacity testing. For the 2400 to 2500mAh Cells I still stick with 500mA. WHich gets me closer to the manufacturers test conditions.
But generally I am not using these small cells in high amp drain situations. So I am not concerned about draining them at higher rates. Even at 500 mA, it is much higher than what the drain is for the devices that I put typically them in. The only exception would be single AA flashlights. But I tend to use LiIon cells in those when possible.
I have no answer for this. I have the S4+. I have tried the cells that fail HIGH in the C9000 in it. Most of the time it fails too… or shows very high IR. And, of course, shows low capacity. Maybe your C9000 has problems. I haven’t seen this behavior with the three that I have. But I will admit that they all have the high IR threshold set lower than I like. Again the cells that fail on it are pretty much shot anyway. But it might be nice to be able to use it to nurse a tiny bit more out of marginal cells.
I have only the C9000 Pro, so I cant compare with the C9000.
It showed me “High” with 2 cells from almost 50 tested, normal and problematic cells.
Discharging 500mA at AAA and 1000mA at AA works fine, voltages drops only at beginning a bit, then it stays relative stable with slow decreasing voltages. The rated capacity a bit lower than testing with the NC2200 but higher than with the Keeppower L4
The Power supply is very quiet, no complaints here
I have now also the LiitoKala Lii-600 and it have the same issue at discharging like your C9000. The voltage decrease a lot after beginning, the final score with most cells were much to low, if I insert the “empty cells” in other chargers I can discharge a lot capacity. And the max. discharge rate for Lii-600 is 750mA while I use up to 1A with some of my other cahrgers. If only the Lii-600 fail with it I think the cells are OK
