Customer Reviews

Maha Powerex MH-C808M 8 Cell Multi-Charger for AA/AAA/C/D

5 star:		(28)
4 star:		(10)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

This battery charger is a winner. Batteries stays cool (a good thing) fast & slow rates of charge. No overcharging, it seems to FULLY CHARGE the big C & D sizes rather quickly, about 5 or 6 hours. Each battery size has it's own charging points, fixed contacts no springs sliding a metal bar against the battery, less stuff to wear out & break. You can charge AA ,AAA, C & D sizes but not 9 volt. about the only down side to this product. According to sales lit. with proper power cords you can charge around the world. Maha also makes wonderful rechargeable batteries have been using AA, AAA & D sizes for 6 months no problems so far. Mine cost about $ 90 twice what other cheaper crappier chargers go for(some cheapies don't charge big sized/highly rated mAh batteries fully) Thomas Distribution seems to be the cheapest & very reliable vendor.

Great charging circuit. Charges single cells. I hate when you have to stick two at a time. I've had other "smart" chargers that have a discharge function but not independently. Think of it as eight separate chargers. I also discharge cells manually with a simple lamp, but then I have to remember to take them out.

Power supply is outside the box.

We'll see how long this one lasts.

Negatives:

No cover, but I could use a piece of plastic.

Once the cells are in (over few seconds), the soft and cycle buttons don't work.

And if you want to cycle and soft charge, you have to remember the button sequence, which I've already forgotten, within five seconds.

Others:

I don't understand how some people say that the plastic housing is so great. Its plastic, what's there to say?

The cell contacts feel like they can come off if you push them too hard. What's the word...cheap.

(above 8/15/2008)

EDIT

1/27/2009

A drained cell won't charge on this device because it can't detect the cell being there. So, do keep a "dumb" charger handy to assist this "smart" charger.

Put the drained cell in the "dumb" charger for ten seconds, then put it in the "smart" charger and let it complete its job.

It's still a good charger. It just tries too hard to be smart.

EDIT:

6/4/2009

Unit still alive.

I forgot to mention that a battery gets very hot during charge.

It's less hot if you do a slow or soft charge. But heat during charge is normal. So don't panic.

The people who say that batterys don't get hot are ... well, questionable.

EDIT:

6/17/2010

Unit still alive.

Loaded with dust.

This charger has lots of nice features but I don't trust it in terms of safety. I bought this model a few years back from another distributor and it actually caught on fire. I sent it to the manufacturer for warranty replacement, and the one they sent me caught on fire as well. Sent that one back and the third one didn't catch on fire, but I did detect that unmistakable odor of burning plastic. So finally I sent it back for a full refund. I am currently using a different charger from the same company (the MH C-9000) and it works wonderfully. It simply appears that the MH-C808M charger is not one of Maha's better models. My advice, don't buy this charger.

This is no doubt a nice charger, but I have found it to have a couple of very minor faults. First, it doesn't handle 9V batteries. Not a big deal but if you want 9V you would have to buy yet another charger for them. Also, I have had very mixed results trying to charge old NiCd batteries. Sometimes the charger will not recognize them at all, and other times it will recognize them but not charge and give a "high voltage" error (flashes the word "done"). The manual doesn't really explain what this error means exactly. I was able to take these very same NiCd batteries and charge them successfully on an Ansmann Energy 8 charger that I also have. I also had the same thing happen with an old NiMH battery (the Maha wouldn't recognize it, but the Ansmann did and was able to charge it). I've had great results charging brand new NiMH batteries though. A plus of this charger is that it is faster than some other models, however I turn off the fast charging mode (which requires you to press a button each time you go to charge anything, otherwise it defaults to fast mode automatically). Another plus is that it has a manual refresh process so you don't have to run a refresh on a battery unless you want to. But... overall, I'd say the Ansmann Energy 8 would be a better alternative (especially if you want to charge 9V batteries, plus have the reliability of reviving older NiCd or NiMH batteries).

This is a very good charger for bigger batteries (C & D-cell). It is very easy to use and works well.

If you want a charger just for AA or AAA, get the La Crosse Technology BC-900 AlphaPower Battery Charger. The BC-900 has many more features and has a LCD display with lots of information about the charging.

The good:

1) You can insert up to 8 batteries at a time (AAA, AA, C, or D).

2) This is an intelligent charger not just a timer (like most of the cheaper chargers). The timer type chargers will ruin your batteries if you aren't careful. If you have expensive rechargeable C or D cell batteries, you must get this charger.

Complaints:

1) My first MH-C808M charger melted the casing when I recharged 4 D-cell batteries. The casing around the left two slots melted badly enough that I exchanged the unit. I haven't recharged D batteries with the new one, but I have recharged numerous AA & C-cells, which work fine.

2) Be careful when inserting batteries. Some batteries don't get a very good connection. This may be why the casing melted with the D batteries.

Well worth the price. I have a some AAA's that would no longer charge in my cheap 1-hour charger. After using the Conditioning function of the MH-C808M, they are working great again. This unit has 3 modes of operation: 1-hour Quick Charge, 2-hour Soft Charge, and the many-hour Conditioning mode which gradually charges, discharges, then charges batteries. This product works as advertised. Highly recommended if you want to get the most out of your rechargeables.

1) This product needed a better manual.

2) It'd be nice if the product had the basic info printed on it. That would explain what various actions mean - or even how to put it in soft charge mode. Some extra buttons would be nice too. (ie: being able to quick charge a few while re-conditioning other batteries would be helpful).

3) Issues with batteries getting hot. Not all batteries most remain cool just a few seem to get hot. Nothing to pin point, as the ones that overheat are the same brands and ones that work fine. Not an age issue as it has occurred with newer batteries too.

4. Caution, if you do not seat the battery ALL the way. The unit has the potential to overheat as some of the plastic on our unit melted.

***

All in all, I am left not trusting the device. Don't like to leave it plugged in overnight. Read lots of rave reviews, but must confess I am have been left a bit disappointed and do not really trust the product.

:-(

This charger seems to work well. I like the fact that it's made of high quality materials. Powerex makes really awesome rechargable batteries, so i'm assuming that their chargers are also well-made.

I think the instructions will leave you with a lot of questions. For example: 1. what happens if you leave the charger on overnight? is it safe for the batteries to stay in the charger once they're already fully charged? 2. what does it mean when you put in a battery, and the display remains blank?

you can email the company and they'll answer your specific questions.

there are only 2 buttons on this thing--one is to activate the slow charge, and the other is to activate the rejuvenation cycle(useful for old batteries or after every 10th charge). i wish it had a cover to protect it from dust.

that's all folks! enjoy it. oh by the way, it IS safe to leave the batteries in the charger even after they're fully charged. Maha responded to my email re: that question.

This is an awesome charger! It is slightly large in size / bulky. It has two large buttons on the front and that is it. Everything else is automatic. If you have 2000mah or higher NImH batteries, you can "quick charge" them. If they are older or under 2000 mah, you have to regular/slow/soft charge them.

When you first insert a battery, you have five seconds to setup the charge type. If you don't chose anything at all, it will quick charge by default. You hit the "slow" button, then the "recondition" button, and the charger is now going to discharge all inserted batteries, then quick or slow charge them (depending on if you chose slow or not). It is always best to slow charge, but, you can ONLY quick charge if the battery is over 2000mah.

If you have seven high capacity batteries, and ONE that is under 2000mah, you can't quick charge. The charger/unit doesn't have the ability to charge different slots at different capacities. In other words, it's ALL quick, or all slow. Quick charging states it takes one hour to charge. Slow charging probably takes about eight hours. I haven't tested either.

I have taken some NiCD batteries that were about 10 years old, and gave them life again - using this charger.

Oh - and the reviews saying that this charger gets hot, or catches on fire, etc... no way! This entire charger BARELY got warm after quick charging six 2500mah batteries. I think fluorescent light bulbs are hotter than this charger. The batteries themselves aren't even warming up very much at all.

this is a quailty product. I bought it after having a baby and constantly needing batteries. I bought Tenergy Battery's (AA, C, D) and it charges them effortly. I am always charging a combination of sizes and there is never a problem. It does fully charge the high capacitiy batteries and I did notice a difference between them. I would buy again.