battery charger C's and D's on AA's

[phazei]

Is the only difference between a AA and a C or D NiHM battery dimentions and total mAh capacity?

Safety/electrocution issues aside, if I built a (safe/insulated) adapter to fit a NiHM C or D bettery into a AA charger, would it charge fine as long as the charger was able to handle the mAh capacity?

Most AA are around 2000mAh and I've seen the C's and D's at 10,000mAh. But I've seen AA chargers that say they are future proof up to 20,000mAh capacities. So I just wanted to confirm that an AA charger of that type would be able to charge a C or D if it would fit.

Thanks,
Adam

 

[mdocod]

what you are describing should work fine in most cases....

The only issue might be weather the charger will be able to detect the end of charge.

For example, lets say your charger charges at 1 amp, and you use it on your 2000mAH cell, then it probably charges your cells in around 2-3 hours usually depending on how dead they were before the charge. In that short time the voltage of the cell rises rapidly and then when it's full it will have more erratic voltage behavior, the charger looks for this behavior to know when to stop charging. When you take a 1 amp charge and hook it up to a 10,000mAH cell, you are now charging at a 0.1C rate,. there will probably be no way for the charger to detect when the charge is complete (as the voltage rise will occur very slowly and the erratic voltage fluctuations will be so faint that it will not register).

So the big question is: what charge rate is your charger?

 

[rizky_p]

the slow overnight D/C cell charger might work on AA cells but it all depends on the charging current since AA has lower ideal charging current than D/C cells. The fast 1 hour charger WILL not work on AA.

 

[phazei]

I was going to use this charger. It's supposed to be super smart and can handle batteries up to 20,000mAh according to their FAQ.

 

[Marduke]

Just don't buy this one for charging C's and D's, as they will not fully charge high capacity ones.

 

[SilverFox]

Hello Phazei,

You may find this informative on the changes made in the C-9000 since it was first released. The FAQ and manual were not upgraded with the most recent information.

Tom