Ni-cad chargers for Nimh

[Crackle]

Chargers for Nimh

Will my old Ni-cad charger work with modern batteries or is the charging cycle different?

Reason is my Nimh chargers gone on the blink and I've only got my old charger left.

 

[Mr Phoebus]

Many of the older NiCd chargers are the simple timed type charger which will charge batteries for a fixed amount of time and then shut off. Unfortunately, since NiCd batteries have a much lower capacity than NiMH batteries, the timer is likely to shut off long before the NiMH batteries are fully charged. This won't harm the batteries, but the NiMH batteries won't be fully charged since the timer will have stopped the charge cycle too soon.

 

[Crackle]

Thank you Mr Phoebus, you have confirmed my suspiscions. New charger required then.

Now can I have another post, I was so disappointed to not read a funny post from you.

 

[Crackle]

One more serious question. Any old Nimh charger or should I look for summat specific?

 

[Mr Phoebus]

Thank you Mr Phoebus, you have confirmed my suspiscions. New charger required then.

Now can I have another post, I was so disappointed to not read a funny post from you.

I feel a right Bastard now.
Can you recommend a decent chain splitter, I need to apply some self flagellation.

 

[jimboalee]

www.maplin.co.uk/Module.aspx?ModuleNo=219129

Don't bother with a NiMh commercial charger.

2700 mAhr cells - 1.4 A for 2 hours.
4000 mahr cells - 2.2 A for 2 hours.
2500 mAhr cells - 1.3 A for 2 hours.

Any size, any capacity, because battery boxes are also available from Maplins.

 

[ColinJ]

One more serious question. Any old Nimh charger or should I look for summat specific?

The more sophisticated (expensive) ones will probably charge quicker and look after the cells better.

There's a lengthy article about the subject here.

I got my batteries and charger here.

 

[Mr Phoebus]

We are the Knights that say NiMh.

 

[jimboalee]

http://data.energizer.com/PDFs/nickelmetalhydride_appman.pdf

Here's the info.

 

[Twenty Inch]

Small rodents charge mine.

That's right, they're the Rats of NiMh.

(I'll get my coat...)

 

[Crackle]

The more sophisticated (expensive) ones will probably charge quicker and look after the cells better.

There's a lengthy article about the subject here.

I got my batteries and charger here.

Which one did you get ColinJ?

Quite a bit of reading to absorb so far.

 

[andrew_s]

www.maplin.co.uk/Module.aspx?ModuleNo=219129
Don't bother with a NiMh commercial charger.

I wouldn't advise using a power supply as a charger. There's nothing to detect full charge, so at some stage you'll give a cell too long and cook it, even if you do wait until they are flat before charging.

It's worth getting a decent smart charger that will detect end of charge in the long run.
Most chargers are 2 or 4 cells only, but something that will charge odd numbers of cells is important if you use devices that take an odd number, such as a Petzl headtorch. It's also good if you get one dodgy cell in a pack of 4, which isn't uncommon. They generally recover after a couple of cycles, but not if you damage them further by using/charging as one of a set/pair.

I use a Maha WizardOne. Others you might like to look at are the Ansmann Globe 4 or the Technoline BL-700

 

[Crackle]

andrew-s, thanks for those links but do you know a universal charger that will do the same thing?

 

[jimboalee]

andrew s.

I've been using a power supply for years. Got it on a digital timer, so no burn-ups.
Big powerful diode protection.

Only a suggestion if anyone is a sparky.

 

[Crackle]

Might go for this. Not as fully featured as andrew_s's but it's intelligent and will do some basic conditioning and takes the full range of batteries.