On Thu, Jan 31, 2013 at 02:52:30AM +0000, Anthony Anson wrote:
Charging losses vary with charge rate, discharge level and environmental conditions. You need a good spec sheet with a pretty graph. From memory I think a typical NiMH cell being charged at 1C absorbs about 85% of the energy you put into it
The spec sheets for the batteries when available can be a great source of info.
Lead Acid (Pb) chargers use the Constant Voltage model..don't use those on a NiMH/NiCd battery or vice versa
To read up on it properly http://batteryuniversity.com/ isn't a bad place to start.
Many thanks. Shall be in N&NUH for a couple of days, and I might get tired of reading hard copy.
I have dozens (no exaggeration) of NiCad and NiMH cells - AAA; AA; C; D; PP3, and we'll forget about the old phone batteries, then... Of course, I meant Li not Ni
There are chips (can't remember the manufacturer, there is one major specialist) specifically for NiMh and NiCd chargers which detect the delta-V fully charged voltage step from the battery. There are also chips specially designed for charging LiIon of course.
'Intelligent' chargers (i.e. ones which detect delta-V) for NiMh and NiCD are so cheap nowadays that it's almost certainly not worth DIY except for one's own satisfaction.