jtr1962
Flashaholic
Some here have posted some suggestions for ways to improve the already very nice MH-C9000 in other threads. I thought it a good idea to put all the suggestions in one thread. Some of course may be unfeasible to do at a reasonable cost. Others may not be. Here's my list:
1) A switch to turn off the backlight or perhaps a way to dim it. My concern isn't so much that I want the backlight dimmer but rather that I'm concerned long term about the LEDs degrading in brightness if it's on constantly.
2) Have a discharge-charge cycle in addition to the plain old discharge cycle. By all means though keep the discharge only cycle. This is one of the things I like best about this charger.
3) Read out the cell voltage to 3 decimal places instead of two. The display already has enough digits to do so. This would let the user see minor changes when the cell is almost finished charging. Perhaps the cells which fail to terminate properly don't exhibit enough voltage drop. At least the end user would be able to see if that's the case.
4) Have the temperature readout for each cell as part of the information screen. Since each cell has its own thermistor it should be a simple matter to display temperature (perhaps as an option only rather than by default).
5) Have a way to program all four slots simultaneously. This isn't that imperative since programming is quick and intuitive but it might be nice if it can be done without too much recoding.
6) Have a reconditioning cycle similar to the one on the Cadex where a cell is discharged at 0.1C or 0.2C until 1V, then discharged at 40 mA or so until it reaches 0.4V and then recharged at 15 mA until it reaches 1.1V. This would then be followed by a normal 0.1C forming charge for 16 hours. Have a provision to program the number of times to repeat this cycle. I've heard this process will sometimes rejuvenate a cell which even forming has failed to help. Also, since any cell which was put through this cycle would probably be in lousy shape it would be desireable to skip the internal resistance check so that it could work with any cell. At the end of the cycle(s) the charger could give information on the discharge capacity.
Other than those admittedly picky suggestions, and fixing anything which may not be working properly, this is a great charger. It's much better out of the box than the BC-900 was.
1) A switch to turn off the backlight or perhaps a way to dim it. My concern isn't so much that I want the backlight dimmer but rather that I'm concerned long term about the LEDs degrading in brightness if it's on constantly.
2) Have a discharge-charge cycle in addition to the plain old discharge cycle. By all means though keep the discharge only cycle. This is one of the things I like best about this charger.
3) Read out the cell voltage to 3 decimal places instead of two. The display already has enough digits to do so. This would let the user see minor changes when the cell is almost finished charging. Perhaps the cells which fail to terminate properly don't exhibit enough voltage drop. At least the end user would be able to see if that's the case.
4) Have the temperature readout for each cell as part of the information screen. Since each cell has its own thermistor it should be a simple matter to display temperature (perhaps as an option only rather than by default).
5) Have a way to program all four slots simultaneously. This isn't that imperative since programming is quick and intuitive but it might be nice if it can be done without too much recoding.
6) Have a reconditioning cycle similar to the one on the Cadex where a cell is discharged at 0.1C or 0.2C until 1V, then discharged at 40 mA or so until it reaches 0.4V and then recharged at 15 mA until it reaches 1.1V. This would then be followed by a normal 0.1C forming charge for 16 hours. Have a provision to program the number of times to repeat this cycle. I've heard this process will sometimes rejuvenate a cell which even forming has failed to help. Also, since any cell which was put through this cycle would probably be in lousy shape it would be desireable to skip the internal resistance check so that it could work with any cell. At the end of the cycle(s) the charger could give information on the discharge capacity.
Other than those admittedly picky suggestions, and fixing anything which may not be working properly, this is a great charger. It's much better out of the box than the BC-900 was.