Battery Charger Question?

Question

If I use the charger that came with my airsoft gun's 8.4V 1200mAh NiCad battery to charge my friends 8.4V 1100mAh NiMH will it damage his battery, my charger or not charge his battery?

Answer 1

No, you should be good.

NiMH chargers always charge at voltages well over the battery voltage, so you should stick to the same voltage, as you're doing.. using a charger intended to charge 8.4V batteries.

The capacity may or may not matter. If this is a trickle charger, it'll just charge your friend's pack every-so-slightly faster than yours. If it's it's quick charger, your friend's pack might get a bit warmer than yours, but the differences are minor.

If there was a large difference, you could still use the slow chargers, but anything that's delivering a full charge in 15-30 minutes needs to be a smart charger, and ideally adjusted to the capacity of the pack.

Most NiMH chargers are a little smart... they stop heavy cycle charging when the battery voltage stops increasing, thus they compensate somewhat for different cell capacities. However, they usually have a built-in timer as well, just to prevent overcharging. If you put a 3600mAh pack on your charger, you might need to cycle it twice to achieve a full charge. This is also a common problem with high capacity AA's in a typical cheap four-cell wall charger.  

Answer 2

Not a problem at all.  Go for it.

73 from the Fisherman

Answer 3

I think it's all good.