Quick Q: Charging NiCd and NiMh with the same device?

[mongoose1983]

Quick questions for anybody in the know.

I have these chargers. They're perfect for NICd batteries, now will they charge NiMh batteries too, or not? The question is for a 3000Mah NiMh regular 7,2v battery pack.

Please let me know if you can

[kwkenuf]

Yes,  they both should be able too.  The Hobbico for sure.  I have a 905 that I have been using for maaannnnyy years to do Nimh.  I don't see why the top one wouldn't be able to.  Just make sure you know the actual charging amperage each one puts out so you can  get accurate charge times.

I know you didn't ask,  but I recently picked up an X1 charger for $20 (claimed "new").  This can do Nicd,  Nimh,  and Lipo.  It has peak voltage tech so you get a perfect charge on your batteries everytime.  It also has a discharge function,  and a discharge/charge function so you can cycle your batteries (Nicd and Nimh mainlly) and bring them "back to life".

[mongoose1983]

Thanks for the prompt reply. I am asking this because they say NiCd, but nowhere I could read NiMh. The Hobbico says 1 AMP. You say you have a 905, any idea how much knob-time would take to do a 3000Mah NiMh battery pack?

Edit: the one in the box says it chargers 1800 miliamps.

I know nothing about electronics

[kwkenuf]

With your 900,  your 3000mah will take about three hours!  My 905 is rated at 3 amp hours,  so it would only take mine 1 hour.

Check out below,  see if it makes sense to you.  I pulled it from another website and altered the numbers to match your stuff...

 

Formula to calculate charge times : Mah (of battery) divided by ma (charger rating, see translations below) equals the hours of charging time.

1000ma equals to 1amps.
1amps equals to 1000ma.

mah stands for milliamp hour.   ma stands for milliamp

Example: your battery is 3000mah and your wall charger is 1000ma, it would take 3 hours to charge it to maximum because 3000/1000=3 hrs

 

The math works.  My X1 that is rated to 5 amps does my 5000mah batteries in an hour using peak voltage detection,  which is right on par with the above formula.  I attached some pics of my chargers for visual aids.

Edited February 8, 2017 by kwkenuf
Removed "foul language" just to be on the safe side.

[mongoose1983]

Please pal, just one more Q.

What about this other one? (the one that's in the box). How would this one do with the 3000Mah NiMh. Any idea?

Thank you!

[kwkenuf]

That 1 amp you see on your 900 is actually for the fuse,  not necessarily the ma rating.  I remember now after comparing our pictures.  I thought that too when I first starting trying to get a good handle on my charging needs.  It might be 3 amps like my 905.

[kwkenuf]

3 minutes ago, mongoose1983 said:

Please pal, just one more Q.

What about this other one? (the one that's in the box). How would this one do with the 3000Mah NiMh. Any idea?

Thank you!

Quick charge...  3000/2400=1.25  1 hour and 15 minutes

Trickle...  3000/50=60 hours!!!  Not even worth it!

[mongoose1983]

1 hour ago, kwkenuf said:

Quick charge...  3000/2400=1.25  1 hour and 15 minutes

That I understand.

1 hour ago, kwkenuf said:

Trickle...  3000/50=60 hours!!!  Not even worth it!

Okay, so that means this other one would require 60 hours charging?

Don't think I've ever felt so dumb!

[kwkenuf]

Here is a link to the Hobbico 900 Series charger manual...  http://manuals.hobbico.com/hca/hcap0125-0150-manual.pdf   I was wrong...  our chargers (i.e. your 900) are rated at 3.5 amps. 

So your 3000mah battery would take about 52 minutes on the 900.

[kwkenuf]

3 minutes ago, mongoose1983 said:

That I understand.

Okay, so that means this other one would require 60 hours charging?

Don't think I've ever felt so dumb!

That charger has both a quick charge and a trickle charge function.  Maybe there is a switch on it somewhere?  The quick charge method would take over an hour,  but the trickle charge method would take 2.5 days!

[mongoose1983]

1 hour ago, kwkenuf said:

That charger has both a quick charge and a trickle charge function.  Maybe there is a switch on it somewhere?  The quick charge method would take over an hour,  but the trickle charge method would take 2.5 days!

No switch anywhere.

I thank you VERY much for all this information and for sharing your knowledge on the subject!  

[kwkenuf]

Your welcome!  This knowledge is really only about 3 months old to me!  I read a lot about it when I got my Stampede out of the closet!

Honestly I would do your own research on the newer chargers out there,  and consider buying one.  They read the voltage of the batteries during charging so they will not over-charge them.  And like I said earlier,  most have a discharge/charge function.  I used that on some old Nicd batteries I had gotten and it kind of revived them.  But the auto shut-off feature is really nice.

 

I happen to find my X1 and a new 5000mah nimh battery on a local classifieds board for $40 for both.  This is easily about half the price of new on these items,  and they were claimed to be never used,  so I feel like I got a good deal.  You might be able to find something local to you.  eBay and Amazon are loaded with them too,  maybe you could find a good price on something somewhere on the net.

[WillyChang]

Be careful about charging NiMH on an old nicad charger.

The voltage drop (that charger detects as "peak" then turns off) is SMALLER in NiMH than nicads, so it's likely that a nicad charger will continue pumping longer than is healthy for a NiMH.

 

[Wooders28]

I don't know if this is actually relevant, but this is what happened to my Nicad when I accidently cycled it on nimh setting.