NiMH Help

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JP-12

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I just received my Nimh jump pack to power my servos. I’m trying to figure out how long to charge it.
I can’t find a reliable source, most that comes up is just forums with people going back and forth on what’s good and bad. Saw many posts that said when it starts to heat up, it’s charged. But that can’t be the only way can it?
Could someone link me to a good article or if you have the info yourself, throw me some pointers if you could.

I found an old Hitec X1 AC plus I had lying around to charge it. It’s currently running at .6A at 7.2V
 
That hitec X1 should have a nimh mode. If the nimh pack is new, or has not been charged in a long time, then the first charge or two should be a "Forming charge" - basically charge it a .1C for a 10-hour charge. Cycle it, then charge it at 1C. In general, nimh should be charged at 1c. The battery will stay mostly cool for the whole charge, then heat up right at the end. This is normal for Nimh and NiCad.

The "When it heats up it is charged" is useful for those wall-wart trickle chargers. They don't ever shut off, or tell you when the battery is charged. But when the battery is full, it gets warm.
 
Also, it depends on the capacity of the pack. They usually range from 1200mah to 1600mah. Both can be charged at 1A, but charging at less is preferred for longer life (more cycles). If it's dead, charging at 1A would be 1.2 hours or 1.6 hours respectively. You just do the math on amps going in compared to the capacity of the pack.

Most NiMH chargers have a NiMH setting to sense the dip in voltage when the cells peak. Those cheap wall chargers don't have that and they just trickle charge usually at 100mah - 250mah, which with a 1600mah pack would be 16 hours or 6.4 hours respectively.
 
@WoodiE
Thank you for finding the manual!
And @Jerry-Rigged
Thank you for all that info, definitely helped!
And are you the Jerry-Rigged from YouTube?
 
No, my youtube is just Jerry G. (I need to come up with a catchy name... LOL)

There are several youtube channels with different variants of the Jerry-rigged name, so I don't want to go there. I am Jerry-Rigged or JerryRigged on pretty much every forum I am on, though...
 
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