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Chargine NiMH batteries

Old 11-26-2017, 05:29 PM
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JollyPopper
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Default Chargine NiMH batteries

Can NiMH batteries be charged with a charger designed to charge NiCad batteries?
Old 11-26-2017, 07:19 PM
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It depends on the charger.
The peak detection on some NiCd chargers will not detect the NiMh pack as being full and will continue to charge , overheating and damaging the pack.
Old 11-26-2017, 08:07 PM
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What kind of charger are you using? Dan
Old 11-26-2017, 11:00 PM
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Originally Posted by JollyPopper
Can NiMH batteries be charged with a charger designed to charge NiCad batteries?
,
It will charge, but it's not advisable if it's a peak detection rapid charger, the peak detection on NiCd rapid chargers is not sensitive enough for NiMH charging and will not shut off when the battery is full.

If the charger is a 1C Delta-T charger (uses temperature detection for auto cutoff) it will work on NiMH.
Old 11-27-2017, 06:43 AM
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Notwithstanding the above I have never heard of a NiCd charger that could not be used with NiMH batteries.
Old 11-27-2017, 07:38 AM
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Originally Posted by rgburrill
Notwithstanding the above I have never heard of a NiCd charger that could not be used with NiMH batteries.
Most any modern charger will have a setting for NiCd or NiMH charge. Typically it is long obsolete, or specific purpose chargers that can't auto cutoff a NiMH charge. I still have an old "race fast charger" that is only good for NiCd. I can charge NiMH packs on it, but I must manually stop the charge when the pack is full. I call it full when the NiMH pack reaches 112 deg.f, if not it will literally burn up or "vent" a NiMH pack.

Last edited by HunkaJunk; 11-27-2017 at 08:03 AM.
Old 11-27-2017, 12:44 PM
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What I was throwing around in my mind as a possibility is replacing the NiCad batteries in some 18 volt drill motors with NiMH batteries and was wondering how I would charge them afterwards. I seem to have ended up with about a half dozen drill motors with just as many bad batteries, but the drill motors are fine. I was reading a thing on the internet about replacing the NiCads in those battery packs with NiNH batteries of much higher capacity, somewhere around 5,000, but was just wondering how to charge them in the future. I have already changed the starter I use at the field with a three cell LiPo and it spins everything up to a nitro 120 engine very well. I would replace the batteries in one of these drills with a 5S LiPo if they weren't so damned expensive. I can buy 15 NiMH batteries with solder tabs and solder them all together for much less than a 5S LiPo.

PS: the bad drill batteries make wonderful weights for weighing down sheet balsa when gluing, such as fuselage sides. Keeps them absolutely flat with no warping, so they are not entirely useless.
Old 11-27-2017, 04:17 PM
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Originally Posted by JollyPopper
What I was throwing around in my mind as a possibility is replacing the NiCad batteries in some 18 volt drill motors with NiMH batteries and was wondering how I would charge them afterwards. I seem to have ended up with about a half dozen drill motors with just as many bad batteries, but the drill motors are fine. I was reading a thing on the internet about replacing the NiCads in those battery packs with NiNH batteries of much higher capacity, somewhere around 5,000, but was just wondering how to charge them in the future. I have already changed the starter I use at the field with a three cell LiPo and it spins everything up to a nitro 120 engine very well. I would replace the batteries in one of these drills with a 5S LiPo if they weren't so damned expensive. I can buy 15 NiMH batteries with solder tabs and solder them all together for much less than a 5S LiPo.

PS: the bad drill batteries make wonderful weights for weighing down sheet balsa when gluing, such as fuselage sides. Keeps them absolutely flat with no warping, so they are not entirely useless.
If you are set on keeping the drill why not buy modern NiCd sub-c cells, they also come in considerably higher ratings now in the same package. Many cordless tool packs were made up of 1300ma cells originally, but you can get NiCd in 2100, 2500, 3000, 3400, and even 4000ma now. In my opinion, you would have to buy the high end and more costly NiMH cells to get a good discharge rating for cordless drill use.

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