Maha 9000 Charger

I notice that the Maha 9000 charger is on sale right now at Thomas Distributing. I was thinking of buying one at this good price. I have previously not used rechargeables for my strobes so have not had to deal with how many chargers to bring on a dive trip. In September, I am headed to Bali, Wakatobi and Lembeh for a couple weeks of diving and am wondering how many chargers for your rechargeable batteries most of you advise bringing on a dive trip. Also, how many rechargeable batteries do you advise bringing?

Thanks.

Ellen

I usually make sure I have a friend who brings along a Maha MC801 that i can use

But I also carry 2 La Crosse BC900 for AA batteries. They are 1/2 the size of the Maha 9000 and have similar functionality. Also cheaper. The Maha 9000 is too big for travel, imho.

i'd say redundancy is the name of the game so i typically have at least 2 full sets of rechargeables for each of my strobes and at least 2 chargers if not three!

and then like drew i hope my fellow travellers have some redundancy with them as well

enjoy the trip, sounds like a great foray into Indonesian paradise

/paul

Drew: Thanks for the tip on the La Crosse BC900 chargers. I admit I would not have looked at them before you mentioned them, but they sure seem to be a great alternative to the Maha, especially for travel.

3@5: Thanks for the recommendation. I took a look at your web site, especially the trip you took last September. Wonderful images of your trip. I couldn't help but notice a lot of the images were taken with the 15mm lens. I just purchased the 16mm lens, hope I can get images as nice as yours.

Looks like I'll be buying a charger or two, though not the exact model that I first had in mind. I like the idea of going with a lighter charger, especially with the weight requirements of the airlines.

Cheers,

Ellen

Paul

I would say we covered redundancies very well. Spare cameras, strobes, cables, ipod chargers, battery chargers.... I could've saved some weight.

Btw we found out who the 2 missing bags belonged to... the boat owners!

Ellen

Enjoy Indo.

Hey guys

I switched recently to an inexpensive,compact charger that will do 8x AAs at a time. I carry two sets of AAs for each strobe so with the 8x charger I can charge the whole lot in one go. Saves lugging two chargers around but, yep, no redundancy. But how often do chargers pack up? Errr, right?

Check out for details:

http://www.tantronics.co.uk/acatalog/famea...08_charger.html

Paul

I would say we covered redundancies very well. Spare cameras, strobes, cables, ipod chargers, battery chargers.... I could've saved some weight.

Btw we found out who the 2 missing bags belonged to... the boat owners!

 

Ellen

Enjoy Indo.

indeed all we were missing was an extra 5D for Marc

i am sure the owners must have been thrilled, with their luggage in bali and all

/paul

But how often do chargers pack up? Errr, right?

I've had a number of AA chargers fail. My experience is that not all chargers tolerate variable wall current that you will get at remote locations. That may have improved in the last few years (since I've settled on Maha) but it is a consideration. Sometimes the chargers fail and other times they just don't work reliably.

Maha makes 4 AA chargers so small it's hard to imagine not carrying spares. 2 Maha 4AA chargers are just as small as the smallest 8AA chargers. I don't believe that fancy displays, full cycling and reconditioning functions are necessary during a trip. I have the LaCrosse charger and I like it. I've never taken it traveling though.

Are the independent channels for each battery important?

I see it in some charges and wonder if it charge better.

At home we have the fancy, display Mahas. For trips we take 3 of the Maha 204 chargers, small and so far no one has broken anywhere we have tried (PNG, Indonesia, Fiji, Australia, Galapagos etc). They do need to work with pairs of batteries though. We typically take 16 batteries, 4 in use and 12 charging, never need quite that many but most of our friends need them so we take spares.

Bill

Are the independent channels for each battery important?

I see it in some charges and wonder if it charge better.

I think independent channels are the best way to go but not the only way. I prefer, like some others here, to have a charger than can recondition individual cells. I don't feel it's necessary while on the trip though. I also like the Maha 204 chargers for traveling. Unless you have devices that take an odd number of cells, charging in pairs over the course of 1-3 weeks isn't likely to cause problems IMO.

I like the bigger 8 cell Maha charger but there's no redundancy with it. Fortunately, you're like to have someone with chargers you can use in a pinch. Whether the extra pound or two of travel weight is important really depends on what else you carry.