MAHA 808M charger questions

[Phlack]

I just bought the 808M charger from Thomas Distributing (arrived in two days...talk about fast shipping, and I didn't even pay extra for it).

So far I like it, but have a couple of questions.

1. Trying to charge one of my el-cheapo 12000MAH green D cells (one with a very flat button on top). They fit pretty well (unlike the Accumanager 20 where I had to stick a conductor on the + terminal to move it up a millimeter). But the 808M wouldn't recognize one of them. Similar to the Accumanager 20, it appears to not have a very low voltage detector. I actually had to throw it in my very old Battery Manager (gotten from Real Goods) for 1/2 hour to get the voltage up.

So, Is there a way to get the 808M to recognize a very low voltage battery?

2. I've decided to condition all of my batteries that I have, since I never did that before. Is that a good idea, or is it a waste of time?

Thanks
-Mike

 

[SilverFox]

Hello Mike,

The low voltage reject allows the charger to not accept alkaline cells. It is a safety feature.

Over discharge damages cells, so don't expect top performance from them. The conditioning cycle should be run around every 20 cycles, or with problem cells. It sounds like you may be able to get some benefit from using it, if the cells have not been damaged too much.

Tom

 

[Phlack]

Thanks for the reply.

Though I doubt the conditioning cycle will help with the drained cells (I'm assuming that's what you were implying). I don't know if I can do the same trick that I did with the Accumanager20 (the kill the power then plug it back in). Looks like I'll still have to keep the old chargers around (was hoping to get rid of that battery manager).

I'm not sure how that low voltage would help with the alkalines...wouldn't alkalines also have some power left over?

What do other people do in my situation?

Thanks
-Mike

 

[macdude22]

I have an old PS3 charger for "jump starting" cells if I drain them too much. Once I drained 4 Tenergy D Cells in my camp fan completely, I stuck them in my 808M and it didn't even light up. I was busy with something else (*cough* video games) as I was sitting there probably 10 minutes later the damn thing lit up and started charging 2 of the cells, couple minutes later all 4 were charging. Can't say what exactly happened but I suspect there's some sort of small charge going through when they are snapped in and eventually the 808 decided they were there.

 

[SilverFox]

Hello Mike,

You could always try recharging more often...

Tom

 

[BrianChan]

Same thing happened to some of my AA cells. I currently run 6AA cells in a 2D Mag with a standard 6D bulb. Twice I left it running till it was completely dead, not even a glow on the filament. In the first instance 2 of them were not detected by the C808m charger. A few minutes later they were charging. The second time I left the cells out for around 30 minutes before placing them into the charger and they were all detected simultaneously. I guess the charger will only detect cells that are over a certain voltage. The lowest voltage voltage that I've measured on some cells that have been in storage for 6 months were 0.86V and the charger detected them immediately. I guess my AA cells were much lower than that. Those were 3 years old 2500mAh Uniross 'crap' cells that'll be thrown away soon. The lowest capacity I got from a 1A discharge was 1550mAh with the C9000.:thumbsdow

My advice is just leave them in the C808M for a while, it might just detect the cell and light up.

 

[max52]

I have had the same experience with the 808 eventually detecting cells. The only problem, if it is a problem, is that regardless of settings it seems all my cells end up right around 1.40v. This goes for batteries ranging from 1800AA to 10,000 Mah D's.

My Maha MH-C9000, Accumanager 20, and BC-900 chargers all seem to terminate, at least the AA's, with about 5% more capacity. I have no idea why.