ORIGINAL: ro347
What would be the correct charge rate for 1650 MAH 4.8 volt batteries? Ive been charging at .80 amps but packs were getting warm. So I backed off a little to .75 amps and pack seems ok. Does this charge rate seem ok? It prob takes me about 2 hours to charge after a full discharge.
Theoretically you can safely charge a battery at 1 amp per 1000 Mah. for 1 hour. so you should be able to charge your battery at 1.6 amps for an hour. Experience says to charge it for 2 hours at .8 amps, like you are doing, for two hours and the charge seems to hold better and the packs seem to have a longer life. Ensure you have the correct number of cells selected on your charger if it is not auto detected. 4.8v should be a 4 cell pack where as 6v is a 5 cell pack.
EDIT// NmHi and NiCd batteries do get warm when fully charged or recently discharged. This is normal say 90 degrees but do not let them get hot. Then you risk cell damage and I will not use a battery after it gets overcharged.