Battery Charge Question

[LorenzoZ]

my batteries are 4500 mAh NIMH 7.2v

and my charger a Onyx 100

my question is ....

in the batteries it says " Use recommended charge current (1A) " *

but in the charger it says
600 - 1100 mah = (1A)
1500 - 2100 mah = (2A)
2500 - 6000mah = (4A) *

So now im not sure should i charge them at (1A) or (4A)

my Guess would be what the battery Label says which would be (1A)

but i would like to hear opinions
Thank you.

[Scottmisfits]

A 4amp charge rate will not hurt the battery. It will take a little over an hour to charge from dead.
A 1amp charge rate won't hurt the battery but will take a touch over 4.5 hours to charge.

Charge it at 4amp.

[Offroader5]

Usually you base charge rates off of the batteries capacity. You'll always see recommendations to charge at "1C" which means 1 capacity. Using your 4500mah battery as an example...that would be 4.5A

For another example, when I charge my 1290mah packs...a 1C charge would be 1.29A (1.3A).

If your charger only has set incriments on amps like 1,2,3,4 and so on...always round down. So, in your case...you may need to step it down to charge at 4A in lieu of 5A if you get what I'm saying.

Many chargers don't even let you tell them what amperage rating to charge at. You instead tell the charger what the capacity of the pack is (4500mah) and the pack voltage, and it adjusts itself accordingly for the charge rate.

[LorenzoZ]

Originally Posted by Offroader5

Usually you base charge rates off of the batteries capacity. You'll always see recommendations to charge at "1C" which means 1 capacity. Using your 4500mah battery as an example...that would be 4.5A

For another example, when I charge my 1290mah packs...a 1C charge would be 1.29A (1.3A).

If your charger only has set incriments on amps like 1,2,3,4 and so on...always round down. So, in your case...you may need to step it down to charge at 4A in lieu of 5A if you get what I'm saying.

Many chargers don't even let you tell them what amperage rating to charge at. You instead tell the charger what the capacity of the pack is (4500mah) and the pack voltage, and it adjusts itself accordingly for the charge rate.

so this means .. i should charge at (4A) right ?
like he said

[Scottmisfits]

Just to add what I had said earlier, I used to charge 3300's in my race trucks at 6amps. I have charged 2200 NiCd's at 10 ampd and they've been ok.

[Offroader5]

Originally Posted by LorenzoZ

so this means .. i should charge at (4A) right ?
like he said

Yup, that should be fine.

I try and give insight as to why you make a decision...rather than a yes or no answer.