trickle charge question

[jhouse01]

HI,

I'm a new user & just got a rapid charge battery charger (Powerhaus). It charges the batteries & then goes to a trickle charge, it doesn't say how much the trickle is. (Directions very sketchy).

Should I just leave the batteries in the charger after fully charged for an indefinite period of time, or remove them from the charger? They are cool to the touch. The charger is quite basic, just a green light to say they're charged, no meters or readouts.

Thanks for any info.

J House

[MPileggi]

Okay, what does it mean by Trickle charge? :confused:

[Robert Besen]

You don't say what kind of batteries, but I assume you are using NimH. As long as the batteries are cool, you probably won't damage them, but I don't know what leaving them on trickle charge will do to the life of the batteries. I understand the appeal of leaving them in the charger, and as long as you are not leaving them in the charger for months you should be ok.

To answer MPileggi, trickle charge means that after the charger finished the charge cycle it reduces the current into the battery to a low level to keep the battery topped off. NimH cells will loose charge fairly rapidly when not used.

Lithium-Ion batteries in general should not be trickle charged.

Hope this helps.

[jhouse01]

thanks, that's what I was looking for!