NiCad Battery Chargers

Nicad batteries are very popular and usually used in ready to run kits or toy rc cars bought in department or toy stores.

Nicads are relatively durable and safe if handled properly. My tip is to read the charging instruction that came with your Nicad battery pack.

Tekin is one of the best Nicad battery charger you can buy.

As for a charger, there are three types.

1. Wall charger – usually a slow charger and will charge your pack in around 12 – 14 hours. This gives maximum battery life but less power.

2. Timer quick charger – usually a charger with a 15 to 30 minute timer dial. This is ok, but overcharging a battery is high possibility.

3. Peak detection charger – These are the only type of chargers I use to charge my various Nicad batterys. Reason is these chargers detect the peak voltage and automatically stop charging. Risk of overcharging is minimal.

Below are chargers I use:

1. Tekin 112A – Over 15 years and still working well. If you see a second hand for sale, you might consider buying it as these are great Nicad chargers.

2. Muchmore – Mine has the temp probe. Beside peak voltage detection, there is a temp sensor to stop charging should the battery temperature hit the set temp cutoff. I usually set mine at 42 degrees celcius.

3. TLP – a cheap peak detection charger. I love this charger for my Tamiya 1600SP Nicads. I simply set at 4amps and my batteries seem to get a good charge with good power.

As for charging, I use 4amp for most of my Nicads as a balance for battery durability versus power.

As always, take care, avoid overcharging your batteries.

Joel

P.S. Please feel free to post comments and share your own tips. Thanks.