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charging nicad batteries in nimh charger?

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Red Squirrel

Red Squirrel

No Lifer
Is it safe to do this?

I never realized till now, but some of my rechargeable are nicad others are nimh, my charger is nimh. Are they interchangeable when it comes to charging?

I think I actually did charge the wrong types at one point without realizing.

In fact long time ago I've put non rechargeable in our old nicad charger and they did charge!

 
Originally posted by: RedSquirrel
The charger is an energizer. Oddly enough I had no idea it was not nicad until I bought another for someone else. It does not say on it what type it is.

This is it: http://www.energizer.com/SiteC...mily%20Charger_med.jpg
Click to expand...
Do you have a link to the exact product page?

Is this it? (PDF)

Based on the charging rates shown there, it might charge at C for a Nicad. NiCads that I've seen usually have about half the mAh capacity of a NiMH. The specs seem to say that it charges at 1100mA per AA, and 450mA per AAA. Those sound like they'd be close to the normal capacity of a NiCad of each cell size.
NiMHs are usually ok to charge at C, but I don't know about NiCads.
It does use Delta V for the end-of-charge cutoff, which I have seen used on both NiMH and NiCad cells.



From some quick reading online, mainly this thread, it looks like a NiCad charger should never be used to charge NiMH, but a NiMH might be ok for NiCads, provided the charging current is low enough.

 
In terms of "dangerousness" for charging it goes like this: Lead Acid->NiCad->NiMh->Lithium Ion.. Meaning that Lead acid is the least dangerous and can use the dumbest of chargers and Lithium ion is most dangerous and needs the smartest of chargers. I believe that putting a NiCad in a NiMh charger would be Ok because basically the difference between dumb chargers and smart chargers is that dumb ones will overcharge and charge quickly while smarter ones vary the rate in which they charge and the smartest won't overcharge at all. I guess the only important distiction you'll need to find out between your NiCd batteries and NiMh batteries is, are they varying in voltages? Also don't mix charging NIMH and NiCd in the same charge, charge ONLY NiCd or NiMh but not both at the same time. Those are the only things I can think of...
 
Originally posted by: fleabag
In terms of "dangerousness" for charging it goes like this: Lead Acid->NiCad->NiMh->Lithium Ion.. Meaning that Lead acid is the least dangerous and can use the dumbest of chargers and Lithium ion is most dangerous and needs the smartest of chargers. I believe that putting a NiCad in a NiMh charger would be Ok because basically the difference between dumb chargers and smart chargers is that dumb ones will overcharge and charge quickly while smarter ones vary the rate in which they charge and the smartest won't overcharge at all. I guess the only important distiction you'll need to find out between your NiCd batteries and NiMh batteries is, are they varying in voltages? Also don't mix charging NIMH and NiCd in the same charge, charge ONLY NiCd or NiMh but not both at the same time. Those are the only things I can think of...
Click to expand...
Unless your charger has an independent channel per cell, right? I know some cheaper chargers will pair up batteries, and charge two as though they were perfectly identical - put in a NiCad AAA and a NiMH AA, and they'll both get charged the same.
I always prefer chargers with one channel per cell.


My suggestion: Ditch the NiCads and buy Eneloops. 😉


 
Originally posted by: Jeff7
Originally posted by: fleabag
In terms of "dangerousness" for charging it goes like this: Lead Acid->NiCad->NiMh->Lithium Ion.. Meaning that Lead acid is the least dangerous and can use the dumbest of chargers and Lithium ion is most dangerous and needs the smartest of chargers. I believe that putting a NiCad in a NiMh charger would be Ok because basically the difference between dumb chargers and smart chargers is that dumb ones will overcharge and charge quickly while smarter ones vary the rate in which they charge and the smartest won't overcharge at all. I guess the only important distiction you'll need to find out between your NiCd batteries and NiMh batteries is, are they varying in voltages? Also don't mix charging NIMH and NiCd in the same charge, charge ONLY NiCd or NiMh but not both at the same time. Those are the only things I can think of...
Click to expand...
Unless your charger has an independent channel per cell, right? I know some cheaper chargers will pair up batteries, and charge two as though they were perfectly identical - put in a NiCad AAA and a NiMH AA, and they'll both get charged the same.
I always prefer chargers with one channel per cell.


My suggestion: Ditch the NiCads and buy Eneloops. 😉
Click to expand...


Well they're brand new so that would be a waste. Don't think they sell enleloops here. I got some nextech and energizers. The nicads are 700 mah and the nimh are 2600. Never realized the difference though!

Actually kind of funny though as I originally bought these for my phone but the phone wont work with these as it needs 1.5 volt ones. Most things will still work with 1.2 but when it takes 4 batteries then that's a big voltage difference. 4.8v instead of 6. I'd have to mod the phone so I can throw in a 5th battery. It's a cheap phone, I should do it just for fun.
 
why would you buy brand new nicads?
thats very weird. where do they even sell nicads anymore, they are generally relegated to specialized applications. in some uses they can have very long cycle life span for instance but for most consumer uses they are inferior to nimhs big time.
 
I bought the sanyo eneloop bundle from costco couple days ago. Comes with 8 AA and 2 AAA, 4x C and 4x D adapters, plus the charger. $20.
 
-> Amazon -> Eneloops.
Very worth it. And while they're only rated 2000 mAh, I'd bet that they'd perform at least as well as the 2600mAh cells you've got already. The low self-discharge is really nice, too.

Your phone won't work with 1.2V cells? It should - the only way you'd get 1.5V would be to use alkalines.
What kind of phone is it?

The main use for NiCad anymore is for applications which require a lot of current for short periods of time, like portable power tools. Even they seem to be shifting to li-ion though.
If you're doing a mod, you might be able to use NiMH AAAs instead. 5 in series would give 6V, and they might almost fit in the compartment.


And I might not bother putting good Eneloops in a cheap phone that has a built-in charger. The charger circuit isn't likely to be a smart one, and that can be stressful on batteries - and since it'll be plugged in all the time, the benefit of an Eneloop is greatly reduced anyway.

 
Originally posted by: 0roo0roo
why would you buy brand new nicads?
thats very weird. where do they even sell nicads anymore, they are generally relegated to specialized applications. in some uses they can have very long cycle life span for instance but for most consumer uses they are inferior to nimhs big time.
Click to expand...

I did not know better at the time. 😛 Funny thing is, I only got 2 of them and got 4 nimh later on. I don't even remember what intention I had in using them as I don't think I did end up using them ever. The ones I got later on were for the phone but never ended up working due to total voltage being too low. I might just find a cheap charger for the nicads and use them at church or something, I believe we have some equipment that takes AAs.

 
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