Maha MH C808M Charger

[Mad-Bassist]

Anybody try making an adapter to allow charging telephone battery packs? The terminals on the battery pack are on the back and are the pressure type. If I take it apart, I destroy the battery. The handset has two metal tabs at the base which I can attach alligator clips to. The problem is on the mh-c808m charger - the negative terminals extend out enough that I can attach an alligator clip to but I can't do the same with the positive terminals. I figure an adapter about the size of a D cell with metal tabs at the ends that extend out so that I can attach alligator clips would work.

Anybody seen anything like that? Good idea? Bad idea?

One easy solution would be to put rare earth magnets in the jaws of your alligator clips, turning them into magnetic leads (no dummy cells required.) I think 1/8 inch diameter cylinders would be ideal because they're around the size of a AAA's positive button and could be mounted in different directions, but I haven't tried it yet. Others around here would probably know better than me. (I've seen posts about soldering and welding magnets to wires, and there are "Magleads" out there, but they're a bit spendy.)

My concern would be for the battery packs since they are wired in series. You would have to cut two holes in the shrink-wrap to have access to the single cells inside a 3-cell pack (as our chargers are only meant to handle one cell per channel.) I think this would be a clever way to condition or charge one cell at a time inside the pack, but there is the possibility of overheating because of the plastic enclosure and the fact it's far away from the charger's temperature sensors. At least you wouldn't have to take the pack apart.

 

[mandrews58]

I've had one for several years now, still works great. Does anyone know if maha has plans for a quality charger that will do cr123?

 

[hank]

> ... to guarantee that your Maha C808M is charging at the gentler, "soft" setting you'll
> have to take the extraordinary step of running it through a UPS.
> ...
> The Maha C808M doesn't like even the briefest half second dip in power and goes directly into
> ... default 'hard charge' setting no matter how you programmed it to charge your cells.

Yeek. That's vitally important as a bad failure mode that could screw up batteries.

Is there any visible indication that it _has_ changed from soft to fast charge, can you even tell it's done that?


-----
Edit to add -- I did ask Maha if there were any versions, or any changes over time, for the way the charger works. Reply was no, no change at all in the model/version.

 

[Train_Watchman]

Is there any visible indication that it _has_ changed from soft to fast charge, can you even tell it's done that?

As far as I know, the only way to tell is to look at it periodically, and see if the little "SOFT CHARGING" text is present on--or missing from--the top right corner of the LCD.

I haven't noticed that quirk with mine yet, but maybe we haven't had a power drop while it was in use. We've been pretty lucky in that regard this winter, only having the generator come on a couple of times besides its weekly self-tests.

 

[tslrc]

Does anyone know if the MH C808M has had any upgades since this thread started? Possibly tweaking some things to address the issues / concerns some have brought up.

 

[Swedpat]

Hi!

I have been using my Maha MH C808M Charger for a few years now and it has worked good. Until now. I think. I have tried to read the manual without explanation to the problem I recently faced.
I placed 7AA and 1AAA(3xDuracell 2650mAh, 4xGP 2500 mAH and an Eneloop 750mAh) in the charger for conditioning. From the beginning it showed that all the cells were charging but after a while there was just nothing in the screen. Waited a night until next day and still no confirmation of finished process. Then I breaked the power and started it again. The same thing occured. What do you say; has the charger become faulty? Never seen this before. Just empty screen for several hours(and a night and day).

 

[Mr Floppy]

What do you say; has the charger become faulty? Never seen this before. Just empty screen for several hours(and a night and day).

I've had something that caused the charger to constantly reset. It turned out to be a bad battery. It would charge and rest but discharging cause the unit to reset. Have you tried a single battery?

 

[Swedpat]

I've had something that caused the charger to constantly reset. It turned out to be a bad battery. It would charge and rest but discharging cause the unit to reset. Have you tried a single battery?

Thanks for the reply!

I tried to do the conditioning with only the 3xDuracell 2650mAh and it has been completed. After that I did the same with 4xGP 2500 mAH and it also succeeded. So I don't know why it didn't work the first time with all the batteries.

 

[shredmandan]

Need a manual for my MH-808 charger - have been searching the web and can't find one. Can Someone point me to one??

Thanks much!!

 

[shredmandan]

Thanks for the reply!

I tried to do the conditioning with only the 3xDuracell 2650mAh and it has been completed. After that I did the same with 4xGP 2500 mAH and it also succeeded. So I don't know why it didn't work the first time with all the batteries.

There are some great tips and comments on Amazon regarding this charger. In one of the reviews the reviewer talks about using another "dumb" charger that will start chargering cells that appear to be "bad" and will charge them up to a level that is required "minimum" for the MAHA CH-808M to start chargeing. If the cells are below a certain voltage (easily done) the 808 will NOT BEGIN to charge. Not sure what a dumb charger would be all though - looking into that and will check back in if I find one.

 

[Sub_Umbra]

Need a manual for my MH-808 charger - have been searching the web and can't find one. Can Someone point me to one??

Thanks much!!

There wasn't one when I bought mine. In no way could the one page of text that came with it be called a manual. If it weren't for threads at CPF I never would have ever found workarounds for some of the features claimed in the ads for it...and some of the workarounds are unreliable.

I'm not saying it's a bad charger, only that MAHA should act less like a used car salesman and try to more accurately list actual features that work as advertised on a charger that they charged $100 for.

No offense to any used car salesmen out there...

 

[Mr Floppy]

Need a manual for my MH-808 charger - have been searching the web and can't find one. Can Someone point me to one??

I bookmarked it! Pity the link is dead but here it is:
http://web.archive.org/web/20121111005211/http://www.mahaenergy.com/download/mhc808m.pdf

 

[Artivideo]

Did you test this to confirm that if you leave the cell on the 808 that when the voltage drops below a certain value by self discharge, the 808 starts the charge process again by itself ???

One test I have not done is to leave a cell on the C808M charger for an extended period of time. It could be that when the self discharge of the cell dropped below a certain voltage, the charge process would begin again. T
Tom

 

[Richwouldnt]

Link in post 232 is no longer dead. Just worked for me. Considering the start date of this thread it must be one of the oldest on CPF that is still relevant for a still produced product. Any one know what changes have been made to the product since it was introduced?

 

[magnum70383]

I bought it 2 years ago and it looks the same.. I think they haven't updated this charge one bit since when it came out at 2005???

 

[WalkIntoTheLight]

Shame they never updated the C9000 to take advantage of LSD cells like Eneloops. i.e., Don't stop the charge at 1.47v (rely on -dV instead), and don't top-off or trickle. At least have a charging optional mode that does this, even if the default mode doesn't.

 

[breamer]

My 808m died yesterday. All eight bays flashing done when empty. Went I put batteries in it just displays a box, not charging indicator , nothing. Four years old , paid 150cdn. I'm going back to the cheap chargers, I could have bought four for that price. It really burns my bag with people tout "Buy quality", my old CCRANE that is twelve years old is still working

 

[breamer]

As a follow up Maha has agreed to replace the entire unit free. I purchased it in 2009. All I pay is shipping. Which I am ok with

Very happy with the customer service

 

[fnsooner]

That is awesome breamer. The MH C808M is one of the best investments I have made since I started out in this hobby.

 

[Lateck]

I know this is an "Older" thread but it is VERY interesting that nobody has made a better charger for NiCd/Ni-MH batteries in 10+ years.
I had asked about changing multiple D cells and every time people would recommend this charger.
I have one in-coming along with C/D Tenergy cells. I look forward to being able to charge my Ni-MH's properly (and more then 4 at a time).
I hope this thread will help others in the same quandary.

Lateck,