NiMH charger: which of these two?

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Fallingwater

Fallingwater

Flashlight Enthusiast
Joined
Jul 11, 2005
Messages
3,323
Location
Trieste, Italy
My RC charger is perfect for LiIons, but seems to have peculiar ideas about when to stop charging NiMH.
I need something that will charge my many NiMH AAs and AAAs reliably, so I've been looking on the usual sites, and I've come up with these two:
Soshine @DX
DCD @Kai

I like the DCD more because it has a mAh readout so you know exactly how much energy each cell holds, but the other one is so much cheaper...

What is your experience, if you have either? Which one do you think I should get?
Thanks :)
 
Ive got both of those and they are nice chargers. the op should get the c9000
 
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I held off on buying chargers for a long time. One of the drivers to making the decision was the need to charge items other than just flashlights - like 18 V NiCd packs for my drill (charger died) and the 24 v lead acid pack in my bush / hedge timmer - and of course, r/c and flashlights.

Once I convinced myself that I just wanted one charger for all of this stuff, then I was able to justify spending the $130 for a triton2. (plus $ 50 for a ps)

I really wanted a schultze, but that is out of my range (and needs), esp. with the rather dismal dollar / euro exchange rate. The hyperion was a close - really close - edged out by the need to charge the trimmer.

It was so nice last night to charge up the drill for the first time, using the same charger and space as the r/c car packs. If you have an r/c pack charger that is suppose to charge NiMHs and it is not terminating, it might be the dv/dt setting, or not a high enough charge rate to see the termination.
 
Hyperions can charge lead-acid. At least, mine can, and every other I've seen can too.

Can't get a Maha because, as Bones suspected, they aren't available here in Italy. I could get one on eBay shipped from the US, but inbetween its price and shipping I'd pay close to €70, which is way too much.

Thanks for those links. Looks like people are happy with the DCD/AngelEyes, and I very much like the mAh reading. I think I'll splurge for one. If anyone knows a reason why I shouldn't (other than "it's chinese") speak now or forever hold your peace :p
 
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Hi - the hyperions can charge lead acid at 12 volts, but at least the manual they distribute on - line indicates that it could not charge lead acid in the 24 - 28 volt range, which was a need of mine. I really don't understand this, as they clearly can charge Ni based cell packs with higher voltage than this.

Just curious - you have a hyperion and it does not do a good job of terminating charge on NiMH cells ? I was under the impression that those chargers are pretty top end.
 
Yep, I have a Hyperion 5i AC/DC, and I too was under that impression. It works just fine for everything else including NiCD, but it'll often either miss end-of-charge of NiMH or stop charging way too early.
This doesn't bother me *too* much, because I mainly bought it to charge LiIon and LiFe cells. I rarely have to charge pre-balanced NiMH packs, and charging AAs one at a time for any device that runs on more than one them is a pain, so I'd need a standard AA charger even if the 5i worked perfectly fine.
Still, for what I paid for it I'd expect it to do everything perfectly and then offer to make coffee. Grumble grumble.

Edit: forgot to mention, it seems to charge NiMH fine in packs - it has never failed charging my 7x1.2V "nine volt" battery properly, or the 8-cell NiMH pack I was given with a helicopter and that I now use for other things (the heli runs on a LiPo). Even when charging just two cells it behaves better. Charge only one, though, and it gets confused...

As for charging 24V lead-acid, all you need is a variable power supply set at 28.8 volts and you're all set.
 
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While digging around on eBay, I found an authorized MahaEnergy dealer that will ship worldwide via the United States Postal Service for about 35 USD.

http://shop.ebay.com/merchant/bdrouch

At the moment, this MH-C9000 is selling for 54 USD, which makes for a grand total of 89 USD delivered overseas:

http://cgi.ebay.com... item=370087058136

The product prices vary from listing to listing, but generally they are quite reasonable.

There is also a notation in the listing that buyers can email for the very best shipping price.

Caveat emptor, of course, applies...
 
Fallingwater said:
that's three times the price of the angel eyes. I'm not too crazy about making my wallet cry...
Click to expand...

I understand because my wallet does it too Fallingwater.

A professional financial adviser diagnosed it as the 'wimpy wallet syndrome', primarily caused by commen sense spending practices.

I note the MH-C9000 linked in my previous post has been sold, so here's another for those fortunate souls whose wallet doesn't suffer from this terrible affliction:

http://cgi.ebay.com ... item=370087813036
 
The hyperion is a good charger. The reason it can't detect the charge end or false peak is most likely your battery pack. If you can dismantle your pack, do a charge-discharge cycle. If the cells differ in capacity by more than about 5% any charger will have trouble charging them as a pack and the cells will either need to be charged individually or you'll have to use the Nicd setting on nimh batteries. The nicd has a larger delta v setting. Also when charging a dead pack if some cells get significantly hotter they're the weak cell and under continuous use they will be the first cells to fail.
 
Fallingwater said:
Can't get a Maha because, as Bones suspected, they aren't available here in Italy. I could get one on eBay shipped from the US, but inbetween its price and shipping I'd pay close to €70, which is way too much.
Click to expand...

You should consider becoming their Italian dealer. Might be lucrative.
 
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