Worth replacing Ansmann Energy8 with Maha Wizard One?

Hi,

I alreay have an Ansmann Energy8 charger, which, so far (18 months or so) has served me well. Fairly often though, I have a situation where I put several cells into the charger, and, as expected, the green "charged" led comes on, but one of the cells stays as a "charging" red led and has stayed this way for many hours (7-8 hours) and is VERY hot to touch. If I let this rogue cell cool down and try charging it again it almost always refreshes / charges correctly.

Would this indicate a faulty charger or a tempremental cell? I use Enegiser and Fameart cell for the most part. I don't particularly want to get a new charger if I can help it.

I REALLY like the idea of getting some Eneloop cells now and wondered about getting a new charger as well, the Maha Wizard One.

Have most of the initial problems with the Wizard One been overcome now and how would I be able to tell if I was getting a "revised" Wizard One charger? Would this be a good combo with the Eneloop cells?

Any help, advice and guidance would, as always, be gratefully received.

Many thanks in advance,

Face

Hello Face,

It appears that your charger is missing the end of charge termination signal. The most common cause of this is charging aging cells at too low a charging rate. When using - delta V termination, you should be charging in the 0.5C - 1.0C rate.

As cells age, they sometimes don't produce a strong end of charge signal at lower charge rates. This results in an overcharge situation and the cell heats up. This damages the cell.

If you continue to use your charger, set a timer and if the charger does not properly terminate, just pull the cell manually after the timer goes off.

If you decide to go with the C9000, you should not have these problems. The charging algorithm has been altered to minimize any missed terminations. You should still charge in the 0.5C - 1.0C range, but if you happen to charge at a lower rate you still run a good chance of it terminating properly.

Tom

The C9000 is a great charger (I have one) but the Ansmann 8 (also have one) has also worked well and of course charges C, D and PP3 batteries as well.

Wish Maha would bring out a C9000 equivalent charger for those other cells...

Face, if it`s happening to the same cell then its the cell, take note of the charging location as they`re all independant ....
i also have the annsmann 8, i bought it after it had recieved a shedload of 5star reviews, its a great charger