On Thu, 29 Sep 2005 16:23:35 +0200, Markus L wrote:

Have built a so-called reflex charger (that's the term to google for) myself
some years ago, based on the ICS1702 chip made by
www.galaxypower.com (can't reach their website today). In the
datasheets of their ICs, the reflex charging principle is described in
detail. As far as I remember, a cycle takes around 1 second and is made
up of about 950ms forward (charge) current and about 20ms reverse
(discharge) current. In between there are short pauses to make sure
one source is shut off before the other one is activated.

Thanks for the info. Something like that was going on in my
otherwise unsatisfactory RayOVac chargers (for renewal alkalines and
NiCad batteries) based on nothing more than the cyclical slight
dimming of the LEDs while charging. They did in fact use pulse
charging, but the documentation didn't say anything about "reflex"
charging or negative pulses.