Charger for weird battery pack

[kimbear]

I have a weird NiCad battery pack made up of 8- 1.2v 800ma AA batteries soldered together.
What power supply will I need to charge this correctly, and at what voltage??
If there is a EBay charger you can point me to, I would appreciate it.....something along the lines of:

Race Prep AC DC VARIABLE RATE MULTI CHARGER For R C Nicad Batteries for sale | eBay

Find great deals on eBay for Race Prep AC DC VARIABLE RATE MULTI CHARGER For R C Nicad Batteries. Shop with confidence.

www.ebay.ca

Thanks a lot,
Kim

 

[Externet]

I would say a 80ma capable charger that puts out between 10.4V and 11.2V should work.

 

[kimbear]

GWS MC 2007 Nimh Nicad Battery Charger for Trinity Tamiya Reedy | eBay

Find best value and selection for your GWS MC 2007 Nimh Nicad Battery Charger for Trinity Tamiya Reedy search on eBay. World's leading marketplace.

www.ebay.ca

Whatcha think of this, its one of the few that goes down to 80 ma. I think it charges at 12V

 

[kimbear]

or this, Whatca think:

Hitec CG 340 Charger 4 16 Cell Nicad NiMh Peak New for sale | eBay

Find great deals on eBay for Hitec CG 340 Charger 4 16 Cell Nicad NiMh Peak New. Shop with confidence.

www.ebay.ca

 

[rjenkinsgb]

You need at least 1.5V per cell, so 12V minimum for an eight-cell pack.
You only really need a dedicated charger if you must fast-charge them, as then the cutoff at full charge is critical.

If you do not need fast charge, just using 1/10th the MAH rating (so 80mA) as a charge current and leave it on for 14 - 16 hours minimum.
Leaving them on for a few hours longer is fine, it helps condition the cells.

The voltage in that case can be anything above the minimum, so eg. a 15V or 16V source such as a laptop charger.
Add a resistor so the current is no more than 80mA with 12V on the battery pack.
eg. with a 15V supply so 12V across the resistor, 3 / 0.080 = 37.5

A 39 ohm or two 75 ohm in parallel would be OK, just make sure the resistor has a decent power rating.


Edit:
Or if you want an off-the-shelf unit, one such as these would work:
**broken link removed**

Vapex Intelligent 500mA smart charger for 4-10 cell race NiMH NiCd packs 4.8-12v | eBay

10 cells 16V 500mA 500mA. 4 cells 16V 240mA 500mA. 5 cells 16V 280mA 500mA. 6 cells 16V 396mA 500mA. 7 cells 16V 423mA 500mA. 8 cells 16V 450mA 500mA. 9 cells 16V 480mA 500mA. 800mAh 500mA 1.5 hours.

www.ebay.co.uk

Fusion Racing 6-8 Fast Battery Charger for 7.2V - 9.6V packs Tamiya Cars | eBay

Tamiya Plug.

www.ebay.co.uk

 

[Nigel Goodwin]

I have a weird NiCad battery pack made up of 8- 1.2v 800ma AA batteries soldered together.

Not at all weird, 9.6V (8 cells) is a perfectly normal and very common battery pack - often used as the 8 cell battery cases were used to give 12V with non-rechargeable cells (for actual 12V with NiCd's you used 10 cells).

Here's a charger that has adjustable current, and does a wide range of cell numbers.

https://cpc.farnell.com/unbranded/mw2168/charger-nicd-nimh-battery-pack/dp/BT03388