Improved Maha C9000…

I was reading the information on the C9000 (Wizard 1) charger over at Thomas Distributing. There were several things listed that seemed different to me. One was a 15 cycle capability, another was the Break In mode was referred to as going through 4 cycles and ending with a medium charge.

I believe these differences came from pre-production notes, but then I had the wild idea that perhaps Maha has slipped some changes in under our noses.

I prefer the Wizard 1 over the BC-900, so I recently acquired a second C9000 charger.

I have noticed some differences…

I was using the Refresh/Analyze mode.

My original charger would charge first, rest for an hour, discharge, rest, then charge back up. During the rest period between charging and discharging I would see the voltage gradually settle down from the peak charge voltage.

My newer charger does this differently. It still follows the same sequence, but the rest time between charging and discharging is now two hours, and the voltage holds steady. It is as if there is now a top off charge being applied during the rest period.

The next thing I noticed was that while charging a 9000 mAh D cell, external to the unit, it stopped charging at 4000 mAh. We have seen AA cells that have missed their charge termination signal go for longer than that.

Finally, I took my Tenergy cells that missed the end of charge termination on both the C9000 and the BC-900 when charging at 500 mA, discharged them, then charged them in this latest C9000 to see what would happen. All the cells terminated properly.

Does anyone else have a recent C9000? Have you noticed any other changes in it?

My original one was purchased during the pre-sale. This last one came last week.

Tom

Hi Tom,
Where did you get your latest charger at? Could "The Cat Out Of The Bag" be true? Have you called Maha? I do believe this could be the best charger out there with the improvements you mentioned! Maybe Maha listened to you and some other people. Enjoy your NEW C9000 charger. I should get mine Friday. Thank you for the updates.
Dan

is there any other difference, like a revision on the bottom of the case, or a firmware number flashing when you plug it in (a-la BC900)

Mine should be here on Wed. Thanks for the rundown on the changes. I too would like to know if the code on the bottom of the newer chargers are different from the first run models.

Hello Dan,

Thomas Distributing is the only place that I am aware of that is selling the C9000, but I didn't look beyond there. I am assuming that this is what they now have.

I have been feeding information to William at Maha, and had a feeling "something was in the works," but I was expecting it to take a while for any changes.

Tom

Hello Viorel,

The only difference that I can see is in the way the display is mounted. My original unit seems to have a very thin dark line along the left side of the display. The new unit has the display centered in a way that eliminates that line.

There is no version number or other changes in the start up information.

Tom

Hello Chris,

It will be interesting to see what you get. Do you have an older model to compare with?

Tom

Tom - I do currently have a pre-order C9000. Have you noticed any differences in cell temperatures during charge?

Tom,
I have a older model to compare to. I will get mine on Friday. I will compare.
Dan

Hello Chris,

I have only had heating problems with one set of cells and I sent those cells off to Maha for evaluation.

I have my "charger evaluation" test cells charging right now and should be able to see if they changed the charge termination...

Tom

Interesting... please keep us posted. I received mine about 2 weeks ago so I'm not sure if it would be a new one or old.

Very interesting...

My test cell results came in at roughly the same results as what I got from the Maha 808. Cells were charged at the default rate and the cell temperature ended up at 105 F. Cells were pulled as soon as "Done" appeared and were not topped off.

It looks like there has been a change in the charging algorithm as well.

Tom

Tom - Thank you for the exceptional investigative work that you do. I plan to call Thomas tomorrow to discuss returning my pre-order charger for a newer version. Kirk

Re: Improved Maha C9000…

I notice that the info on the Australian distributor's website (http://servaas.com.au/maha-powerex-c9000-wizardone-battery-charger-analyzer-p-52.html) has also changed recently, to reflect the changes that Tom is talking about. My C9000 is from the first batch to arrive in Oz, which was pre-sold out.

The second shipment has arrived now, and seems to be the new spec. There's no mention on the Thomas or Maha site, or anywhere else of any changes in the spec., such as "New Improved Version" or anything like that - I feel like a mushroom!*

Cheers

* (Kept in the dark, and fed on sh1t)

Hello Kirk,

You may be better off contacting Maha...

Tom

Hello Digitor,

The information you referred to was what got me going about checking things out. My unit does not support 15 cycles, so their information either a pre-production idea, or a preview of more changes. Since it is the same shots that Thomas Distributing has had for awhile, I believe it is more of a pre-production wish list. They got most of it, but we seem to be ending up with 12 cycles instead of 15.

If the mushrooms and you grow rapidly, does that mean you are in really good sh**?

Tom

SilverFox said:

Hello Kirk,

You may be better off contacting Maha...

Tom

Click to expand...

Agreed, Maha is sending me a "2nd Ed." replacement charger with a pre-paid return label.

As much as it pains me to do so, I decided to try charging at a slower charge rate to see what this improved C9000 would do.

MarkCM gave me some Moden 850 mAh AAA cells. These cells have been sitting around for an extended period of time and were at 0.6 volts. This means that they have been in storage for a long time. If I had purchased cells that were in this condition, I would have returned them.

The C9000 seems to have "issues" with AAA cells, especially at lower charging rates. I decided to charge these cells at 400 mA on the improved C9000.

The charger did have some difficulty terminating the charge, but it did finally terminate all 4 cells. Maximum cell temperature was 105 F. Charge input was as follows:

Slot 1 - 937 mAh, 158 minutes
Slot 2 - 911 mAh, 154 minutes
Slot 3 - 1233 mAh, 207 minutes
Slot 4 - 870 mAh, 145 minutes

As you can see, the cell in slot 3 gave this charger a run for its money, but it still terminated. I would normally do a Break In on cells in this condition before even trying to do a normal charge. I am impressed.

Now that these cells have been charged, I discharged them and charged them on my original C9000. Once again I used a 400 mA charge rate. None of the 4 cells terminated. This time the cell temperature only got to 97 F. The voltage got up to 1.47 volts and stayed there. I manually terminated the charge after 2500 mAh was put into the cells.

I think this improved C9000 has really been "improved."

A final test to check things out. These AAA cells have a couple of cycles on them, including a missed termination. I discharged them, then charged them on the improved charger, this time using a 200 mA charge rate.

How slow can you go and still terminate?

Surprise, all of the cells terminated. Here is what I got.

Slot 1 - 694 mAh, 233 min
Slot 2 - 697 mAh, 234 min
Slot 3 - 912 mAh, 306 min
Slot 4 - 650 mAh, 219 min

Please understand that I don't recommend charging at this slow a rate unattended. I would expect missed terminations, but in this case, all the cells terminated.

Tom

A friend of mine contacted Maha a few weeks ago. The reply from Maha
follows and confirms the new improved C9000:

--
Dear ------:

Many thanks. The next shipment of the C9000 chargers will arrive here
around Feb 18~20.

We always collect the suggestions from the customers and then improve our
products to make sure the high end products we provide. As to the
concerns and suggestions from the customers, they are all improved for the
next shipment. Actually the customers have the higher expectation of
this charger than we imagine. To serve the customers we made more effort
to improve it though the cost will be higher. Please keep contacting me
when the shipment arrives here.

Best regards & have a great weekend.

James
Maha Energy Corp.

What if you unplug it and plug it back in, with cells in the bay... does it start charging them?