Battery Chargers

A Battery charger is a device that was designed to put energy into a secondary cell to recharge a battery.

How does it work?
First you have to make sure you have the right type of battery that allows for recharging. From here, you connect the battery to the charger unit. Once a current starts to flow, the electrodes that have depleted out of the batteries are essentially reversed and recharged back to their original state at which point they fill up and cut off charging once maximum capacity is reached. A typical rechargeable battery can be charged many times.
Overcharging is generally worse than undercharging. The extra energy causes heating up and building up pressure inside, which can make them rupture, leach chemicals or gas and sometimes even explode.
Different types of rechargeable batteries respond best to different types of charging, therefore being able to pick a charger suitable for one type of battery many not work well with another. In other words, we should not charge a mobile phone with a car battery charger, but neither should we charge NiMH batteries with a nicad charger.

Types of Batteries Charged:
Lead- and lithium-based chargers operate on constant current constant voltage (CC/CV). Nickel-based batteries charge with constant current and the voltage is allowed to rise freely. There are battery chargers available for standard sizes, for example, AA, AAA, C, D and 9V. There are also battery chargers available for larger lead-acid batteries.
Some battery chargers have slots for the smaller cells to be placed into for charging. These often fit straight into a plug socket for power. Other battery chargers come with crocodile clip connectors to connect to larger, lead-acid batteries.

Features and benefits
• Cost effective
• Eco-friendly for the environment
• Charge several chemistries including lithium-ion, NiCd, NiMH
• Some will work in your car if they have an adapter
• Fast charging times
• Handy lights that change colour to indicate completion