The MH-C9000 Wizard1 Battery Charger Review

Value

Maha Powerex MH-C9000 Wizard1 Charger Value

The MH-C9000 Wizard1 battery charger provides you with all the features necessary to charge and maintain your AA and AAA NiMH batteries. This is an advanced charger that also comes with a price tag so it is for serious users of rechargeable batteries.

What is assuring is that the Maha MH-C9000 Wizard1 battery charger will be your last charger for NiMH Batteries until a new battery technology emerges for consumer batteries. That won't be for a while.

The Maha MH-C9000 Wizard1 battery charger provides full diagnostics on your batteries. It also allows you to condition and recondition your batteries to their maximum performance.

 

Maha Powerex MH-B9000 manual ( scanned )

Price

Maha MH-C9000 Wizard1 Battery Charger Price

You can buy the Maha MH-C9000 Wizard1 battery charger for under 65$ US. When you consider whether you want to buy this charger , you have to consider the following :

• Do you want to know if the NEW battery you bought is performing as promised? There is a lot of junk on the market.
• If you don't use your batteries all the time or full out, you need to cycle and recondition them.
• Is your device failing or your NiMH battery. The Wizard1 will tell you if it is your battery that is causing the problem.
• How many charge cycles does your battery deliver? Really! A good NiMH battery WILL NOT LAST 1000 cycles, probably not 500 cycles. Keep TRACK. Post it here.
• Maha Powerex has built a quality product. You get what you pay for.
• You invest a lot of money in buying rechargeable batteries ( more than the cost of this charger if you have 8 or more of QUALITY AAA and AA ). Buy a crappy charger and watch your electricity costs go up and your battery performance go down ( at the same time !!! ).

So the price is relative to your budget, needs and desires. Not many people think long term. This is usually a mistake ( Just like your politicians ).

The Maha MH-C9000 Wizard1 battery charger is worth the 60+ bucks you'll pay if you buy premium rechargeable batteries and you use a lot of them. It will be the last charger you'll buy for NiMH AA and AAA batteries.

 

Features

Maha MH-C9000 Wizard1 Battery Charger Features

 

• Four independent slots for AA or AAA NiMH batteries.
• Backlit LCD display.
• Digitally displays capacity, voltage, time and current.
• Five modes of operation: Charge, Refresh & Analyze, Break-In,
  Discharge and Cycle.
• 19 selectable charging current from 0.2A to 2.0A.
• 10 selectable discharging current from 0.1A to 1.0A.
• Worldwide power supply.

 

Charge Mode

• Maha MH-C9000 Wizard1 battery charger recharges the battery at the selected rate.
• Useful when battery needs to be recharged without determining the capacity of the battery. It should be used on batteries known to be in good condition and have been in continuous use.
• Requires the least amount of time.

Discharge Mode

• Discharges the battery at the selected rate.
• Useful for analyzing the amount of charge stored in the battery.
  
• The Battery is not recharged at the end of the cycle.

 

Refresh & Analyze Mode

The Maha MH-C9000 Wizard1 battery charger Refresh and Analyze mode should be used ever 10 to 20 cycles. Cycling your batteries every 10 or 20 cycles helps keep them performing at peak capacity.

If you use your rechargeable regularly, this is a great maintenance feature that also gives you information on your batteries current status.

• First recharges the battery, rest for one hour, discharge, rest, then recharges again. Charging and discharging rates are programmable.
• Reports the discharge capacity at the end of the cycle.
• Useful when the battery capacity needs to be determined. Also useful for battery with degraded performance.
• Recommended once every ten cycles for NiMH batteries.

 

Cycle Mode

The Maha MH-C9000 Wizard1 battery charger cycle mode is a great feature when you want to revive a NiMH battery that has been left unused for an extended period of time. You can cycle your batteries as needed and at the rates required.

• Performs a charge-discharge cycle for the programmable number of times.
• Charging and discharging rates are also selectable.
• At the end of the cycle, a final recharge is applied.
• Suitable for cycling the batteries multiple times.

 

Break In Mode

The Maha MH-C9000 Wizard1 battery charger Break In Mode is meant to get the NiMH Battery going. As you may have read in the FAQs and Information section, it can take anywhere from three to five cycle for a new rechargeable NiMH battery to reach its peak capacity.

New batteries and those stored for extended period become chemically deactivated Battery forming is a charge-discharge-charge cycle which forces a full charge into the battery at a very slow rate. This process activates the battery. In certain cases, it may need to be repeated two or three times.

• Applies a 16-hour 0.1C charge (0.1 times the capacity of the battery), rest of one hour, followed by a 0.2C discharge, rest again, and finally a 16-hour 0.1C recharge again.
• Recommended for brand-new batteries. This process is also known as “Forming Charge.” Also recommended with batteries that cannot be rescued by the Refresh & Analyze mode.
• Recommended once every 30 cycles for NiMH batteries.
• Requires 39 to 45 hours to complete.
• The process follows the IEC standard for determining battery capacity.

 

 

Specifications

Maha MH-C9000 Wizard1 Battery Charger Specifications

 

• Maha MH-C9000 Wizard1 battery charger Operation Modes:
  1. Charge
  2. Discharge
  3. Analyze & Refresh (Charge > Discharge > Charge)
  4. Break-In (battery forming
  5. Battery Forming Mode

• 10 Selectable Charging Currents: 0.2A, 0.4A, 0.6A, 0.8A, 1.0A, 1.2A, 1.4A, 1.6A, 1.8A, 2.0A ( ie. 1.0A = 1000mA, 0.A same as 00mA )
• 10 Selectable Discharging Currents: 0.1A, 0.2A, 0.3A, 0.4A, 0.5A, 0.6A, 0.7A, 0.8A, 0.9A, 1.0A
• Accuracy (Capacity): 1% - The capacity is determined by continously integrating the measured current (actual current not set point) over time.
• High accuracy is achieved with a precision shunt-resistor coupled with a 12-bit Analog-to-Digital converter as well as a quartz oscillator timebase.
• Time Base: Quartz Clock (100ppm)
• Stores battery capacity: Yes, up to 12 times in Cycle mode
• Special Heat Management System: Protects your batteries from overheating
• Trickle Charge -- Approx. 10mA when charging AA rechargeable batteries using modulated pulse trickle charge
• LCD Size: 3.5 " x 1.5", very large text and digits display
• LCD Back light: Ultra bright white LED back light
• Number of keys: 4
• Charger Dimensions: 6.5" (16.50cm) L x 4.33" (11.00cm)W x 1.69" (4.30cm) H
• Adapter Dimensions: 3.66" (9.30cm) L x 2.36" (6.00cm)W x 1.97" (5.00cm) H
• 100~240V AC Lightweight Worldwide power Adapter Included. Weight: 170gr (6oz)
• Optional 12V Car Power Cord is also available for 12V Operation.
• RoHS & WEEE Compliant
  

Tests

Maha MH-C9000 Wizard1 Battery Charger Tests

1. Battery Charge Capacity Tests
2. Battery Charging Temperature Tests
3. Charging Characteristics
4. Feature Tests

 

 

Maha MH-C9000 Wizard1 Battery Charger Capacity Tests

 

 

	MH-C9000	LaCrosse BC900
Energizer 2500	> 98%	> 97%
Duracell 2500	> 98%	> 98%
Powerex 2700	> 99%	> 99%

( tested results in % of rated capacity, i.e.. for a 2000mAh battery 99% = 1980mAh )

 

Maha MH-C9000 Wizard1 Battery Charger Temperature Tests

The Maha MH-C9000 Wizard1 battery charger was tested using the Powerex 2700 AA and the Duracell 2500 AA batteries. We decided to test with charge rates of 1A and the maximum setting of 2A.

The Maha MH-C9000 Wizard1 battery charger performance was equivalent to the MH-C204W and managed to keep the temperature below 41.75 degrees for the Powerex 2700 AA. What I would qualify as a battery specific reaction, the for the Duracell 2500 AA reached a higher maximum temperature of 48.3 degrees ( see Graph #1 ).

 

Graph #1 MH-C9000 Temperature at 2A

 

The Maha MH-C9000 Wizard1 battery charger at a 1A charge rate managed to keep the temperature below 35.3 degrees for the Powerex 2700 AA. What I would qualify as a battery specific reaction, the for the Duracell 2500 AA reached a higher maximum temperature of 40 degrees ( see Graph #2 )

 

Graph #2 MH-C9000 Temperature at 1A

 

 

Maha MH-C9000 Wizard1 Battery Charger Charging Characteristics

From both Graph #1 and #2 above, you can see that the MH-C9000 uses an algorithm which varies the charge in sustained periods. In trickle charging mode, a short pulsed charge is used. This can be seen after the temperature peaks.

 

Maha MH-C9000 Wizard1 Battery Charger Feature Tests

 

Charge Mode

The Maha MH-C9000 Wizard1 battery charger does an excellent job of charging and having a wide range of settings makes it very flexible. All the batteries we tested using this charger had their charge topped within 98 to 100% of their useful capacity

Discharge Mode

The Maha MH-C9000 Wizard1 battery charger discharge mode operates as described and the MH-C9000 discharge feature is actually different from all the chargers we've come across.

It is the only one that actually stops once the battery is discharged and doesn't auto start the charge cycle.

Unlike the LaCrosse BC900, the Maha MH-C9000 Wizard1 battery charger discharge rate is actually user selectable.

 

Analyze & Refresh Mode

The Maha MH-C9000 Wizard1 battery charger Analyze and Refresh mode works very well. The data provided from the C9000 varied from 0.5% to 3.9% from our test results. We used Powerex 2700 AA Nimh batteries when testing and comparing capacity results in the Wizard1.

 

Cycle Mode

There's not much to say here except that this is a very useful feature and that it performs well.

 

Break In Mode

We tried the Maha MH-C9000 Wizard1 battery charger Break In Mode, but we didn't perform any measurements with our equipment. The problem lies in the number of samples required and the number of tests that could give us a reasonable average.

A test of the Maha MH-C9000 Wizard1 battery charger feature would look something like :

1. Charge and test a set ( SET A ) of batteries. This would be a full battery with its first cycle.
2. Another set ( SET B ) of batteries would be put the BreakIn Mode.
3. Once completed, SET B would be tested.

 

Remember that The Maha MH-C9000 Wizard1 battery charger Break in Mode takes 39 to 45 hours to complete and that it might have to be used several times, depending on the battery.

The reason for needing many samples is that there usually is anywhere from 2 to 5% variance in battery capacity. Having many samples gives you a good average.

 

Conclusion

Overall Conclusion

Like we said, if you buy the Maha MH-C9000 Wizard1 battery charger, it will be your last AAA / AA battery charger. It is an excellent performer and provides all the features needed to keep you rechargeable batteries working at peak condition.

For many of you, the price tag will be an important factor. So this charger is for the serious rechargeable battery user. With MH-C9000 Wizard1, you get a 3 year limited warranty. You don't see this any where else ( if you do, let me know! ).

What is also great about the Maha MH-C9000 Wizard1 battery charger is the LCD readout. It is backlit and is extremely easy to read. The charger itself is also very easy to use. The size of the manual speaks for itself, it's only a few pages.

What was also refreshing was how responsive the front panel control buttons were.

All in all, if you can afford it, we highly recommend the Maha MH-C9000 Wizard1 battery charger.