Battery Chargers

[The Great Wallsendo]

Are battery chargers mostly Universal?

IE can one brand of charger be used to charge another brand of battery as long as they fit?

I ask this in a fishing context...my headlamp

[tonynufc]

im no expert but i think as long as the voltage etc are the same i cant see why not

[silent striker]

yes most will charge as long as they have the same voltage,and connections
watch dont let a dry cell battery fully decharge as they gain a memory
which shortens the running time

[kingfisher]

no they are not all the same it depends on the amps if you use the wrong charger ,voltage or amprage you can fry the battery

[mark]

possibly not. voltage might be the same, but it depends on what sort of batteries are being charged

different battery types have different charge cycles, some like a steady trickle of current for several hours, some like a big whack of current for a short while then tail off to a trickle for a bit to finish off

NiMh batteries won't be happy with a nicad charger and vice versa, lead acid batteries, aren't too fussy but can demand a huge amount of current to get the started

too much current being pulled from the charger can nack the charger

too much current being forced on batteries that aren't wanting it can nack the batteries

Thats not to say all you won't get away with it, you might, but if its not what the batteries are after, whilst it might charge them it might shorten their life as well

generally speaking, if the charger was designed for nicads, and the lamp has nicads, you should be ok, same if its charger for lead acids and the batteries are lead acids, ditto NiMh

Lithium batteries can be the fussiest of all

[tonynufc]

possibly not. voltage might be the same, but it depends on what sort of batteries are being charged

different battery types have different charge cycles, some like a steady trickle of current for several hours, some like a big whack of current for a short while then tail off to a trickle for a bit to finish off

NiMh batteries won't be happy with a nicad charger and vice versa, lead acid batteries, aren't too fussy but can demand a huge amount of current to get the started

too much current being pulled from the charger can nack the charger

too much current being forced on batteries that aren't wanting it can nack the batteries

Thats not to say all you won't get away with it, you might, but if its not what the batteries are after, whilst it might charge them it might shorten their life as well

generally speaking, if the charger was designed for nicads, and the lamp has nicads, you should be ok, same if its charger for lead acids and the batteries are lead acids, ditto NiMh

Lithium batteries can be the fussiest of all

do you work for duracell

[The Great Wallsendo]

Reet - cheers for the input lads

It's a Ni-MH charger...it's branded Sony and the gumf on the back says:

must only be used with Sony Ni-MH battereies to AA or AAA size, which are marked "rechargeable"

Can I assume that the brand is irrelevant but if I was to stick with Ni-MH rechargeables (to which it is designed) that it would be OK?

Also the ones that it came with are 2300s...could I upgrade to 2700s with the same charger?

[mark]

Reet - cheers for the input lads

It's a Ni-MH charger...it's branded Sony and the gumf on the back says:



Can I assume that the brand is irrelevant but if I was to stick with Ni-MH rechargeables (to which it is designed) that it would be OK?

Also the ones that it came with are 2300s...could I upgrade to 2700s with the same charger?

if its a charger for NiMh batteries and you want to charge NiMh batteries you'll be ok. upgrading to 2700mAH baterreis will be ok, they'll take a bit longer to charge

if the charger is an intelligent one with a 'ready light' on that tells you when you're done it'll be spot on

[bazw]

its ok to do the jump just takes longer to charge ,

i did a lot of looking into battery's and chargers for my camera as i could take about 200 with an ordinary cell and 20 with rechargeable's due to the drop in voltage to start with ( dry cell 1.5V rechargeable 1.2V)

some times those throwaway's from asda or pound land work out best

[mark]

I did quite well there, several posts about chargers and not once did I mention chargers you shove up your bum and their relative compatibility

[The Great Wallsendo]

I did quite well there, several posts about chargers and not once did I mention chargers you shove up your bum and their relative compatibility

nor I "Jamiaican Ling"...doh!!

[The Great Wallsendo]

in fact if you notice the "intentional" spelling error I have actually added a Jamaican accent to the phrase

[cocomonkey19k]

tony whynot just go buy a charger that comes with batterys then you wouldnt need this post lol jobs a goodin

[The Great Wallsendo]

tony whynot just go buy a charger that comes with batterys then you wouldnt need this post lol jobs a goodin

Got that already...the one I've got is with 2300s...I wanted to know if 2700s would work with it...seems they do

[Charlie_Thompson]

I've just bought a huge heavy box full of wires and spare electricity which will apparently charge anything up to the size of a Munro (I'm thinking of lending it to Insano ) read the instructions and it really does mention things blowing up - I've left it in the garden with a wheely bin over it until the skipper can tackle it safely.