Inexspensive battery charger (from another forum) ( up-dated 2/25/09) ??

[BIGMIG]

Seen this "Radioshack" battery charger posted on (another forum  ::) ::) by "Torpedochief" ) and went to their website and decided to buy and try one of them.Went to their comment section and read most of the replys and over-all they had good reports on them with a few exceptions who had trouble with them on certin types of batterys.I figured for $5.97,plus $2.00 shipping by UPS,and $0.61 cents sales tax that what the heck why not give one a try.Several comments on charging 3300 Mah batterys and they say a full charge in 30 minutes or less and it shuts itself off after charging the battery.I bought it to try on my RC boat batterys,but can also use it on my tanks as I have external battery plugs on most of them.When I get it after trying it out I'll post the results.

                                        BIGMIG 

[BIGMIG]

well I said I would report on this charger,so here it is. Pictures will follow-

Got the charger today and had a partly charged Ni-Cd SC 1700 MaH 7.2 V battery on the bench that I pluged into it to see how this charger would perform.It started charging and in about 5 minutes shut off,and I assume it was charged to the max-----This charger has a fan in it to keep its internals cool while charging,and mabe also helps get rid of heat from the battery.One thing that has me wondering
about these is how hot the battery got,very warm (almost even what you may call "hot" ).The battery was even making a sizzeling sound that you could hear and even feel.I have never herd a battery sizzel
before that I can remember (model batterys that is--have seen this in big 12 volt batterys).

I have allways been told that heat and batterys is not a good combination,in these hobby batterys.
With most of the factory supplyed chargers I normally use they get warm to the touch,along with the batterys.(but never what I would call hot)

This is what it says on the box-----
    SPEND MORE TIME DRIVING,LESS TIME CHARGING

It charges 6.0V,7.2V or 9.6V batteries in just a fraction of the time it takes a standard charger--as little as 15 minutes*
Overcharging,short-circut and reverse polarity protection help safeguard batteries and charger.
Charging indicator lets you see when batteries are fully charged.
ETL/CRTL listed.
this is followed by a charging times list of various Ni-Cd and Ni-MH batterys---I'll post a few pictures of this chart on the box  (sorry about the quality of the pictures,but is the best my camera will do )
If we have any battery guys,would like to have your thoughts on this.
                                    BIGMIG 

P.S. chart pictures to follow---

[BIGMIG]

When looking at the "charge times and currents" its shows the "charging current---AMP's" for the 7.2V--6.0V--and 9.6V batterys.Makes sense to me for the 6 volt and 9.6 volt batterys as the charge rate is 1.5 AMP's,which is not much amp's to put into a battery.
The one that surprises me is the 7.2 batterys,as according to the chart it is supplying "8 volts" into these batterys. That falls in line more with a big 12 volt battery.  I kept looking for a decimal point along with the 8----but there is none and it is apparent it is blasting these 7.2 batterys with a full 8 volts.I'll see if I can put the volt meter on it and see if this proves the case and will post the results if I can get it to work on this charger.

                      BIGMIG 

Sorry about four of the same pictures but mabe one will be clear enough to see on the moniter's  ::)

Just put the multi-tester on this charger and it shows 2.2 ----But this may be a false reading as it internaly reccognises what battery is being charged and may not be putting out the right amperage as it would for the 7.2 volt battery----un-sure of the results-- not sure if a battery would get as hot as it does with 2.2 amps going into it,possible I guess but I'm not that up on battery's and charger's.