Cheap charger, good battery

[Metalhead Matt]

I purchased an 8 cell 4600 pack for my rustler. I have a charger a buddy gave me that will charge 6-10 cells nimh/nicd at 1.9 amps. Is it safe to charge this battery a few times with this charger as long as I watch it close and make sure it doesn't get hot? Gotta wait a couple weeks until I can afford a proper charger with parameter adjustments and a lcd. This charger I speak of is an ac unit with no read outs. Just plug in and wait for the green light. Thanks for any suggestions. The battery has a tag that says to charge at 2.8 amps.

 

[sweetdiesel]

Charging it at lower amps should not hurt it, but using a cheap charger can. It is a good idea to check the temps, if it gets hotter than 115-120 degrees unplug it.

 

[Metalhead Matt]

Thanks S.D. Thats what I was thinking. I'll monitor it closely while it's charging.

 

[pitbull14218]

i wish there was a cheap charger that chargers everything! I hate having to run around the house looking for outlets for glow plug igniter, battery charger, Roto start battery charger!

 

[sweetdiesel]

You can use one of these adapters and charge anything you wish.

http://www.amainhobbies.com/product_info.php/cPath/1_221_654/products_id/19701

 

[alpinehyperlite]

I was just about to suggest the same thing.

 

[pitbull14218]

But could it over charge and run a battery?

 

[alpinehyperlite]

If you get somthing like an ICE or a SUPERBRAIN, good for charging all types of batteries, you could use the product sweetdiesel posted to use all your ends. All you have to do is type what kind of battery (lipo, nimh, nicd) and how many cells, and the charger will do the rest.

 

[sweetdiesel]

To charge your glow plug ignitor, all you have to do is cut the charge lead off your wall charger and solder it onto the extra lead on the multi-charge adapter.

Alpine is correct, if you have a charger with a delta V cutoff you run a low risk of overcharging your batteries.

 

[olds97_lss]

I use a MRC Superbrain 959 to charge pretty much everything from 1-8 cells.

I bought one of these for my glow heater, just in case it didn't work, I didn't want to mess up my wall charger:
http://www3.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin/wti0001p?&W=000426515&I=LXSGN7&P=K

This is one model newer than the charger I use:
http://www3.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin/wti0001p?&I=LXRST9&P=ML

$50 and it will charge pretty much everything but Li* cells. I use mine to charge my transmitter, 4 different capacity receiver packs, my micro-t stock battery, my micro-t AAA pack I made, my heater, my camera batteries (AA's in a 4 cell or 2 cell holder) and my rechargable B&D drill. It does a great job on everything I charge with it, especially if I have a wall charger or something that came with the device I'm charging. I get longer run times and quicker charges.

I just stick with 1A charge for all my AA's and receiver packs, but drop down to .5A if I'm not in a hurry. Gives a longer lasting charge when using .5A. I use 2-2.5A for my cordless drill. It has sub-c's NiCAD's in it I think.