ni-cad makita charger

[shakyman]

hi,is there any reason why i cant use a 18v ni cad makita charger to charge a bosch ni cad 18v? thinking just clip wires from charger to bosch batt? .. i can buy new bosch psr18 for 9.99 and ive already inherited a good batt for ziltch..but dont have right charger...is it worth a try?....

 

[Flapdisk]

A nicad charger is a nicad charger doesn't matter who made it mate, only problem is that the different manufactures have different shapes to their batteries so that you have to buy theirs as other makes won't fit their charger

 

[shakyman]

have made two extension wires(one black one red)put small crocodile clips on the ends, used a couple of hard drive magnets on the contacts..bingo!looks like jobs a good un...red lights on..hopefully will turn to green..and maybe saved a few bob..!

 

[Flapdisk]

Yes that will do it mate, just dont ever use a NIMH charger or a Lithium charger to charge a NICAD or vise versa as the different types of batteries all have different cut off voltages and can be damaged by overcharging. You can use any make and type providing it is the correct kind of battery for the charger. One of my hobbies is flying model aircraft and helicopters and some of them are electric with very powerful batteries in them that I had to buy a special computerised charger for, but this charger will charge anything, you just select it from the menu and away you go, I often use it to charge my power tool batteries as it charges them faster and displays what it is doing as well

 

[shenion]

NiMH charger will work fine on NiCads. Just the other way around may not work. Both use peak charge methods on fast chargers. The peak occurs as the batts reach full charge and then they start to heat up. NiMh drop with temperature is half that of NiCads, so a NiCad charger may not see the drop on NiMh as it is too slow.

NiMh do not like to be overcharged by trickle chargers. NiCads handle it better.

Lithiums use constant-voltage, current limited chargers and need special handling if batts are below 3.1V/cell.