Help me understand chargers

[madd802]

I just bought my son a traxxas grave digger and it comes with a 7 cell battery. I am curious what i am looking for in the specification of a charger. I want a charger that will charge in about 1 hour.
Lower the amps the slower the charge time?

 

[zrock]

Yep lower amps lower charge. Read reviews and info you can find on the forums. Think of future upgrades like lipo and more than 1 veh or batt to charge. Go for something that will charge more than 1 batt, lipo, ac/dc power supply especially if you go out you can use your car to charge. Do not look at price. Price means nothing I have 2 different chargers that I payed over $200 each for. One is great the other is a pile of garbage. Having a discharge in them as well is handy for cycling nimh batteries

 

[trax de max]

You'll need a charger that can charge 7cell. The hour charge rate depends on the battery capacity size. I liked the Prolux charger when i had nimh.
But most cheap and cheerful multi chemistry chargers would fit your needs depending on battery.
One with a screen is better than one with just led lights. Buying a temp sensor that plugs into the charger could be worth it also.
and of course AC or DC

 

[olds97_lss]

I use a MRC 959 for everything I do. I think tower sells a 960 now that is comparable. Have had this thing for a long time. It will do 1-8 cells and up to 4.5A on AC, 5A on DC (I think, never used DC). Been a very reliable charger that does a good job peak charging NiMH and NiCAD's. I use it to charge pretty much everything I have, receiver, glow plugs, AA's that I have 2/4/8 AA holders for and even my dewalt screwdriver that's NiCAD. Charges a lot faster than the charger that came with it.

Doesn't do lipo's though.

What's your battery capacity? I'm pretty sure most batteries don't care to be charged at a higher rate than their capacity. So, if it's 3000mah, you'd want to charge at at 3A max, which would take about an hour.

 

[Greywolf74]

I've found most NiXX cell dont like being charged at 1C. My temp cutoff always kicks in before the pack is full. especially with smaller AA and AAA cells. my Cordless drill batteries however I can charge at 1C with no problems.

Id look at getting something like a Thunder Ac6 to start with. It will do anything you want with NiXX cells and does lipos too incase you grow into lipos. Its a good starter charger for the money (around $40 bucks I want to say) IMO.