MAHA MH-C777 Universal Desktop NiMH / NiCAD Rapid

Anybody have any experience on this particular model MAHA MH-C777 Universal Desktop NiMH / NiCAD Rapid Battery Charger & Conditioner?

It also goes under a different model, they are made by the same company see - http://www.batteriesamerica.com/newpage31.htm

This let's you charge up everything including batt packs. Looks like it would be a sure winner? /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/thumbsup.gif

I have one - seems alright. Not a super-fast charger, but seems safe for all batteries I've charged so far.

You can download the manual (PDF file) from Thomas-distributing.c0m (where I bought mine), and they seem to offer a lot of FAQ's information and whatnot on this charger and others.

Be advised - it charges cells in series and has auto-detect of configuration, but I think there are some odd combos that are not covered, such as 9 cells (10.8V), and probably some others.

Hope this helps - John

Thanks Illuminated - I can live with the charging the cells in series. Would it have the capabilities on charging a high capacity 9amp D Cell?

You mentioned that it did not charge quickly, how long does it take? They advertise "1 to 3 Hrs".

Dave

The problem with the 777 is that it can't smart charge any battery above about 5 amps (5000mA). This is because the voltage doesn't rise enough to make the smart part think it is working so it shuts off after a given time, I think 4 hours. Other then that little quirk it seems to be a great charger.

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Brock said:
The problem with the 777 is that it can't smart charge any battery above about 5 amps (5000mA). This is because the voltage doesn't rise enough to make the smart part think it is working so it shuts off after a given time, I think 4 hours. Other then that little quirk it seems to be a great charger.

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Is there a way this could be overridden or the charger fooled in order to fully charge the 9amp?

Thanks,
Dave

Hello Dave,

I believe you have to shut the charger off after it drops to trickle charge and turn it on again. If the charger is good for 5 amps and you have 9 amp hour batteries, two cycles should charge them up from dead.

If you can charge them back up before they are completely run down, you might be able to charge them in one cycle.

Remember to vary the amount of discharge with use. I believe that all rechargeable battery chemistries will develop the memory effect if they are subjected to exactly the same amount of discharge every cycle.

Tom

Tom - Thanks for the tip. I think I am going to look into a couple of other manufacturers e.g. Vanson(sp?) & ALLTek. Their NiMH/NiCad Chargers are designed to charge up to full capacity no matter what the capacity is.

Dave

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That Vanson is $24.99 at amondotech.com.

Bill

Hello Dave,

As others have mentioned, the Vanson BC-1HU is a great charger. I have that one, however it also has limitations.

The 9000 mAh D cells are over the limit for this charger if the batteries are dead. The Vanson charges D cells at the rate of 700 mA/h. This means that it would take 12.9 hours to fully charge a 9000 mAh D cell. The Vanson has an automatic shut off at 11.5 hours which means that in theory only a 8050 mAh D cell would be charged in one cycle.

This is not as bad as it sounds. After the charging cycle, the Vanson continues to trickle charge at a 1/10th rate (70 mA/h for D cells). That means that to get to a full charge you could just leave the battery charging another 13.6 hours on trickle and it would be fully charged. You also have to remember that in most cases you will recharge before the battery is completely dead. This means that it can be charged in one cycle on the Vanson charger.

I can't say enough good things about the Vanson BC-1HU charger. I use it for everything from AAA to D cells. I have not tried 9V yet so I can not comment on those, but for everything else it has worked out very well.

Tom

Tom - So basically you are saying that in about a 24 hour cycle a 9amp batt would be fully recharged that is if the cell is dead, right?

Does the Vanson have the conditioner feature? I read the stat's on it and it did not appear to but I might have missed something? If it doesn't how important is the conditioner feature i.e. doing a deep dicharge and then fully recharging all automatically.

Thanks,
Dave

Hello Dave,

That is correct - 24 hours unattended to charge a 9000 mAh D cell from dead on the Vanson BC-1HU charger.

Your mileage may vary on other models of the Vanson or on other chargers. You have to check out the specifications on other chargers to compare.

Yes, it has the discharge feature. You press the red button and the cells that are in the charger at the time start discharging. You can add other cells after that and they will charge normally. This charger has 4 independent channels (well 5 if you count the 9V chargers). You can mix and match battery size and chemistries. It does not do Li-Ion though.

The conditioner is more important on NiCd batteries, but it also is a good way to bring brand new NiMh batteries up to their full capacity. I do not use the condition mode very much as most of my batteries are NiMh. Still, I run them through a cycle once a year. The few NiCd batteries I have get the whole treatment after about 10 partial charges.

Tom

Here I found it. link