Recharging a battery

MagicIRL

Very n00bish question but;

• Can you buy a charge that will discharge the battery and then charge it?

Im against charging batteries when they have abit of power in them myself and instead of draining it with my AEG I was curious if a charge would do it for me?
Thanks

Gray

You can get chargers from any of the retailers that discharge/charge. They are better than the ones that come with the guns, here is a link for the one I have

http://www.hobbyairsoft.ie/products.php?cmd=detail&id=603352

Handy for re-charging your battery's at lunch time as well

MagicIRL

So you just plug your battery in at any state and the charge will discharge it first and then recharge it?

swiftblade

Please correct me if im wrong but there isn't really any memory effect with NIMH batteries. But if your using NICD batteries you got to discharge them first. But it proubley still is good practice to discharge them anyway.

Gray

The one I use you have to push a button for it to discharge first it then automatically charges when it has finished discharging. This is because you only need to discharge Ni-Cad battery's Ni-Mh battery's don't suffer from "memory effect" where they only take the same amount of charge they did last time.

You can get auto sensing chargers that can tell what type of battery is connected & what voltage it is but they cost about €100. The one I use you have to set the voltage & battery type manually but it's only €40.

It really depends how much you want to pay but it is worth the investment as they will charge quicker than the stock chargers & let you know when finished. One thing worth noting is that it can take longer to discharge a battery than charge it.

ARGINITE

but there isn't really any memory effect with NIMH batteries. But if your using NICD batteries you got to discharge them first.

Yes.

MagicIRL

Well I have 2 Ni-Mh batteries so I can charge them whenever I want without damaging them with the "memory effect" ?

swiftblade

Yup Just make sure not to overcharge them.

Gray

As said no need to worry about discharging Ni-Mh:) but the chargers you get with the AEG's are often low amp chargers e.g. 250mAh. In that case it would take 6 hours to charge a 1500mAh battery (battery / charge):(

The shop ones are higher power 1000-2000mAh & would charge a 1500mAh in 1 & 1/2 hours:)

MagicIRL

swiftblade wrote: »

Yup Just make sure not to overcharge them.

How would I overcharge it? Charge it too frequently?

Drachnien

you can overcharge by either charging at too high an amp rating (you should not really go above what the battery can contain ie. if it's a 1500mah battery don't charge above 1.5ah) or by charging for too long.

A useful tool is http://www.csgnetwork.com/batterychgcalc.html fill in the details of your battery and charger and it'll tell you how long you should charge for, ignore the lower numbers and use the 20% efficiency loss number

deco nate

MagicIRL wrote: »

How would I overcharge it? Charge it too frequently?

no,by leaving it on charge too long,not a problem with a good charger,think of it like you fillin the sink/bath while you do something else and left it too long,(its late,an my answer works at this time of night:o,kinda)

swiftblade

I think this is stickied somewhre but here it is anyway.

http://www.greenbatteries.com/batterycalc.html

I always use this and its never steered me wrong...yet

MagicIRL

All it says on each individual cell on my battery is

2/3 A 1200 mAh 1.2V

swiftblade

1200 mah then. Is the battery an 8.4V? Did the battery come with an AEG you bought?

MagicIRL

It did, DBoys SCAR-L. 7 Cells @ 1200 so thats 8.4v

swiftblade

Do you know what the charging current of the charger is? It should say it on the back somewhere.

MagicIRL

INPUT: AC 220-240V 50Hz

OUTPUT: DC 8.4V 450mA

swiftblade

Well i used the calculator and it says charge for 3.2 hours. So 3 hours and 30 mins should do. Just keep an eye on it and dont leave it unattended

MagicIRL

Cheers man been a great help

swiftblade

No probs. Are you still using the charger that cames with the AEG? Might be better buying one of these.

http://www.airsofteire.com/index.php?page=shop.product_details&flypage=shop.flypage&product_id=251&category_id=12&manufacturer_id=0&option=com_virtuemart&Itemid=26

Its just a standerd charger but at least it wont set your house on fire Might be also a good thing to buy an extra battery if your planning on skirmishing it.

MagicIRL

Aye Im using the stndard charger but I have an extra battery.

I have quite alot of things to buy for the AEG but a lack of money

I'll definetly invest in one of these good chargers though sometime soon

swiftblade

Dboys's chargers are not that bad. Its the only orgional charger i still have that didnt melt on me. I got it with a Kalash AK

MagicIRL

Thats good to know at least. Should last me until I can afford a better one then :cool: