Introducing the world's most advanced NiMH battery charger and tester, endorsed by Mike Adams
By Mike Adams, editor, NewsTarget.com
Want to know the secret to getting the most out of your NiMH rechargeable batteries? Get a high quality charger that can charge batteries, test them, cycle them and even refresh batteries to improve their performance, all while reporting the details on-screen so that you know exactly which batteries will last the longest when it's time to use them.
I searched the entire battery industry to find a NiMH battery charger for AA and AAA batteries that I could openly recommend. It took a year of searching, and almost everything I found out there was junk. Some battery chargers actually HARM your batteries. The "quick charge" chargers are the worst. Some of them burn up your batteries with too much current, permanently reducing their life. I've seen quick chargers destroy NiMH batteries in just a few months.
But I persisted and finally found the best consumer level battery charger available in the marketplace today. It's called the WizardOne MH-C9000 and it's made by Maha Energy (Powerex). It features an incredible backlight display that resembles the brightness of a plasma TV screen. It has advanced, independent circuitry for charging, discharging, capacity testing and refreshing any capacity of AA or AAA NiMH batteries.
This charger makes your rechargeable batteries last long and perform better, so you get more out of your investment in any NiMH battery you own, regardless of the manufacturer.
With this Wizard One MH-C9000 charger, you can:
- Charge any NiMH AA or AAA battery simply by inserting it and walking away (no button pressing required, but if you want, you can also control the charge current).
- Analyze any NiMH AA or AAA battery to determine its actual capacity in mAh (milli-amp hours). This is like testing how much fuel is in your gas tank. It reveals the actual power capacity of the battery and tells you how long it will last when you use it.
- Break-In any NiMH AA or AAA battery to raise its capacity ceiling and maximize real-world performance. Can also be used to "wake up" seemingly dead batteries and revive them back to their peak performance.
- Discharge any AA or AAA battery to find out how much power it was storing. This lets you test both NiMH or Alkaline batteries to see what their true capacity really is.
- Cycle any NiMH AA or AAA battery to "exercise" it back to its maximum performance.
For each of these modes, if desired, you can select the charge and discharge rates, giving you total control over the treatment of each battery (this charger has advanced, independent circuitry to control each battery separately). Or, you can just let them run on automatic, using default settings.
Far better features and usability than the competition
About six months ago, I purchased a La Crosse Technology BC-900 AlphaPower Battery Charger, which was designed to do many of the things I'm describing to you here. I found the BC-900 charger to be extremely confusing, difficult to use and finicky. I had to press the control buttons multiple times to get the settings I wanted, the display was terribly difficult for me to read, and I soon learned that if you inserted a new battery too quickly after selecting settings for another battery, all your settings would disappear in a flash, and the charger would revert to "default" charging.
The instruction manual was extremely difficult to read, and the internal circuitry was so bizarre that if you selected a charging current on the left-most battery slot, that limited the current you could select on other slots. Needless to say, I was extremely disappointed with the BC-900 from La Crosse Technology, and I have never recommended it to anyone.
In contrast, the Maha Energy WizardOne MH-C9000 is a dream to use! The display is astonishingly bright (really, it will blow your mind when you see it), the controls are intuitive, and it offers so many more features that it's impossible to name them all. It even gives you full control over the charge and discharge rates, from 200mA all the way up to 2000mA (charging rates), in increments of 100mA.
The instruction manual is well written with clear diagrams, and the charger comes with a three year manufacturer's warranty. The WizardOne MH-C9000 was so easy to use that I didn't even open the instruction manual for several days, and that was just out of curiosity to see if I had missed any features.
Advanced safety features protect your batteries AND your home
Speaking of features, the WizardOne MH-C9000 is packed with outstanding safety features. It senses both voltage and temperature changes, and it automatically shuts off any battery that behaves outside normal, safe parameters. If the battery temperature gets too hot during charging, for example, the MH-C9000 immediately cuts off the current to it, preventing it from getting any hotter and forcing it to cool off. How many chargers do you know if with that kind of safety feature?
The charger's "Refresh" mode automatically rests one hour between charge and discharge cycles in order to keep the batteries at a low temperature (which also preserves battery life). And just to make sure each battery is safe to charge, the WizardOne MH-C9000 analyzes each battery's internal circuitry with an "impedance check" that rejects non-rechargeable batteries (so you don't end up trying to charge batteries that should never be recharged in the first place).
From my extensive research on battery chargers, I have not found a safer charger on the market. In fact, most of the cheaper battery chargers you'll find in retail stores are downright dangerous. Did you know that many low-cost chargers operate only on TIME circuits and have no temperature or voltage sensing abilities whatsoever? That's a recipe for a fire hazard. If you're going to charge batteries in your home, especially at night or when you might be away from your house during the day, be sure to use a battery charger with advanced safety features that can prevent fires.
How this charger can save you real money in battery costs
Here's something that very few people know about batteries:
- Today's best NiMH rechargeable batteries actually out-perform the most popular Duracell and Energize alkaline batteries!
It's hard to believe, but true. I've done the tests. I bought fresh packs of Duracell, Energizer and other brands, then tested them in a $600 battery analyzer that was calibrated with another $300 worth of electrical equipment. The results astounded me:
- Cost to buy a new Duracell Coppertop "PowerPIX" battery: $2.24
- Actual discharge capacity: 1792 mAh (tested at 270ma discharge rate)
- Cost to recharge a Powerex NiMH AA 2700 battery: 2 cents
- Actual discharge capacity: 2635 mAh (also tested at 270ma discharge rate)
In other words, a quality rechargeable battery provides more power than a Duracell Coppertop for less than 1/100th the cost!
(You can reproduce these measurements on the MH-C9000, by the way. Test the batteries yourself and see!)
Using alkaline batteries, in other words, is a complete waste of money and natural resources. Throway batteries are bad for the environment. If you care about saving money, or protecting the planet, or conserving natural resources, NiMH rechargeable batteries are clearly the only way to go. Even if you don't give a hoot about the environment, throwing money away is still stupid. Why spend two bucks on a full charge when you could spend two cents?
It's like this: If you drove up to a gas station selling the exact same gas at two pumps, but the pump on the left was two cents per gallon and the pump on the right was two dollars per gallon, which gas would you buy for your car?
It's a no-brainer, right? You'd fill up at two cents per gallon. That's what NiMH rechargeable batteries offer you: super cheap power, plus the ability to refill the battery 1,000 times before needing to toss it. Over the life of the battery, using it for 1000 cycles, you'll spend about 2000 cents, or $20 in electricity, compared to a whopping $2,240 you'd need to buy 1,000 Duracell batteries.
Buyer beware: Not all NiMH batteries are created equal
But don't think that all NiMH batteries are the same. Most of the batteries I tested were lying about their capacities. (Powerex, Sanyo and Sony were the best three overall. I won't mention the lousy brands that failed my tests...) Some batteries that claimed to perform at 2700mAh only performed at 1900mAh!
A lot of NiMH batteries are just plain bad quality. They'll wear out after only a few dozen cycles instead of delivering the 1000 cycles you should expect from a quality NiMH battery.
That's why I've put my reputation behind only one brand of battery: Powerex. These batteries, which we also sell on this site, are the best I've found in the industry (and I've searched resources across Asia, the U.S. and Europe). Their 2700mAh AA battery is made in Japan and comes with an astonishing five year warranty. That's the best in the business!
So if you're interested in saving money, reducing toxic waste, conserving natural resources and being a smart consumer, get the MH-C9000 WizardOne charger and some Powerex NiMH batteries to go with it. You can't go wrong with this combination of outstanding technology and safety features.
That's why I'm recommending the MH-C9000 to everyone I know who uses batteries (and who doesn't?). I've done the research and testing to find these products, and my reputation as a critical product reviewer is well known on the internet, where I've published literally hundreds of product reviews over the last four years (almost entirely for products that I don't even sell).
That's why this MH-C9000 is unconditionally guaranteed for 30 days. If it doesn't perform exactly as I've described here -- or even if you just don't like it for any reason -- send it back for a full refund! (Minus shipping & handling, of course.) Plus, this battery charger comes with a three year manufacturer's warranty.
The MH-C9000 is now the charger I use at home. It has replaced my La Crosse BC-900 and an entire bank of cheap chargers from Duracell, Energizer and Sony that I'm giving away to Goodwill. With the MH-C9000 around, nothing else compares. Once you use this, you'll never settle for anything less.
This product is certified RoHS compliant. (Reduction of Hazardous Substances directive). This means it is free of mercury, lead, cadmium and other
hazardous substances normally found in electronics. Click here to view the
manufacturer's statement of RoHS compliance (PDF).
Click here to download the MH-C9000 product brochure (PDF)
(Batteries sold separately) |
