Hi
To build on what Dominic has said.
I am a model aeroplane flyer of many years and the heart of the control
system has been nicads/NiMh's. I could bore with all sorts of info including
there is no better cell than Sanyo. The easiest way is to give a link to a
well respected provider of information over a few years and maybe it'll
answer a few questions. NiMh's look to the menu on the left.
http://www.rcbatteryclinic.com/
Just for info I use a RadioControl charger on a 12 volt battery, stable
voltage so as not to affect the critical peak voltage detection (smaller
peak on NiMh's compared to NiCads) . this will be the usual reason for the
Nimh's frying. When new they don't exhibit a peak voltage so clearly , so
the cheaper chargers miss it. When you get new cells by all means use your
cheap charger but don't rely on it to cut out. manually stop it. Then
discharge your cells and do the same again. Do this two or three times until
the capacity of the cells builds up and peak detect starts to work on the
charger. You'll probably be fine from then on. Nimh's usually take 4-5
charges to reach claimed cpacity , cheap makes may never get there
. If
the cells can be charged a little slower the first few times it may help.
Damn I said I wouldn't bore. A very complicated subject.
Alan
"Dominic Sexton" <{d-sep03}@dscs.demon.co.uk> wrote in message
news:
[email protected]...
> In article <[email protected]>, Dominic Sexton
> <{d-sep03}@dscs.demon.co.uk> writes
>>In article <[email protected]>, Daytona
>><[email protected]> writes
>>>Dominic Sexton <{d-sep03}@dscs.demon.co.uk> wrote:
>>>
>>>>I'm a decent charger snob to make the most of the available capacity
>>>>available in the cells. I use a Maha C401, what do you use?
>>>
>>>I never even considered it when I bought my cheapy unbranded charger.
>>>What's the worst that can happen ?
>>
>>Fire?
>>
>>The poor chargers can over-charge or charge too fast both of which will
>>reduce the life of the cells in the long run.
>
> I forgot to say that the poor fast chargers can literally cook the cells
> by trying to stuff too much current into them. If they get very hot in
> charging (almost too hot to touch) they will be damaged and their life, in
> terms of both capacity and number of times they can be charged, will be
> reduced.
>
>
> --
>
> Dominic Sexton