Can I get some tips on charging LSD NiMH cells on a hobby charger?

Batteries and Chargers Chargers
1

Current I have use a Tenergy T-9688 to charge my AA Eneloops, AAA Eneloops, and Tenergy Centura LSD 8000mAh D cells.

I was looking at the specs for the charger and it says it charges at the following rates:

AA/C/D: 1300mA
AAA: 500mA
9v: 30mA

1.3A seems awfully high for a AA Eneloop :~

I have not used my Turnigy AC6 based hobby chargers (Thunder AC680 and Hitec x4 AC Plus) to charge an LSD NiMH battery. I was looking into it and it seems a little more complicated than charging a lithium ion battery. Do you just set a charging current and then set a cut off time and/or mAh? Do they not figure out on their own when the battery is charged and ready to go? Any instructions on how to charge an LSD NiMH on a Turnigy AC6 based charger would be highly appreciated. Also, if you think I would be better off just sticking with my Tenergy T-9688 to charge my batteries, feel free to say that, because I am honestly perfectly fine with that.

2

1.3A is slightly higher than what I would use to charge my Ni-Mh’s (1.0A), but it is still perfectly acceptable and safe in my opinion.

With a hobby charger, you can only charge one Ni-Mh cell at a time, since parallel charging is a big no-no and series charging is not recommended. I would stick to the Tenergy charger, but to answer your questions, the hobby charger uses delta V detection to determine when to terminate the charging. It’s the same method as the Tenergy charger, but I think you can manually adjust that value with the hobby charger.

Some additional safety measures that it uses is a timer you can set and a max capacity you can set, just in case the hobby charger misses the delta V value and overcharges the Ni-Mh.

But again you would be better off charging your Ni-Mh’s with the Tenergy charger. :slight_smile:

3

I tried charging NiMH cells on my Accucel6 and sometimes it takes a real long time to terminate. Sometimes it times out (10 hours or more!). I stopped using it because of this, and ordered a new NiMH charger yesterday (Shan SH168DLCD).

4

Uh oh, sounds like the charger is missing the termination delta V.

The could happen when 1. the charging current is too low or 2. the delta V voltage should be decreased in the settings menu.

5

Thanks for the tips Ryan. I think I’ll wait for the Shan charger. Charging one at a time is not fun when you have a D40A and an EA4, plus several 1x and 2x AA/AAA lights. :wink:

6

No problem, I even avoid charging Ni-Mh’s on my iCharger. :slight_smile:

7

I have even charged my eneloops with 2A with my hobby charger bmax b6.
Eneloops can survive this, may get its life shortened.

It is not practical to use hobby charger for nimh.
I have one GP (4 battery) and Varta (4 battery) AA chargers.
Also cumbersome GP AA/C/D charger.
Varta charger is great, it is very compact.
2 front,2 back loading and led turnd off when charging is complete.

8

Yeahhhh, sounds like I’ll just stick with the Tenergy charger. I can charge 4 batteries at a time with my Hitec hobby charger and 1 with my Thunder AC680, but it just seems like it is more complicated than it is worth. LiPo charging is complicated enough as it is…lol

Shameless plug of my Hitec x4 AC+ hobby charger :slight_smile: It is 4 chargers in one body and has a built in AC power supply….because fook trying to balance charge things…