On Thu, 25 Aug 2005 21:50:10 +0100, "Harry Bloomfield"
wrote:


The intelligent ones are usually the fast/rapid charge type, charging
in about 60 to 90 minutes. They will also have some sort of indication
(LED) when a cell is fully charged. Delta-V (voltage sensing end of
charge), or delta-T (Temperature sensing end of charge) should be
mentioned somewhere.

All of these damage the cells to a greater or lesser extent.

Avoid the ones which simply trickle charge [1]

Actually these are by far the best as far as battery life is
concerned. You can happily charge at 1/10th of the cell capacity for
a day or 1/20th of capacity for days without causing harm. Neither
require careful supervision.

The most damaging chargers are usually the cheap "5 hr" ones supplied
with some power tools. These have no worthwhile regulation and
overheat cells badly.

As a rough guide - if the cell/battery gets hot it is being damaged.
Nearly all fast chargers make the cells get hot.



--
Peter Parry.
http://www.wpp.ltd.uk/