Pulse Chargers vs linear chargers

[imjonah]

I ocassionaly see the advice make sure it is a linear charger
not a pulse charger. I also saw a note in once in charger's spec sheet that said it used linear charging up to 5 amps and pulse charging from 5 to 10 amps.

How do you tell weather a charger is linear or pulse?

I rarely see pulse or linear mentioned in the spec sheets.

Is it mostley cheap chargers which are pulse? or is it mostly smaller chargers.


If it is not to complex what exactly is a pulse charger and why is it a negative?
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[I am guessing it has something to do with getting a higher amp charging rate out of smaller power supply]

I assume by 'pulse' they do not mean the brief polarity reversal circuit that some chargers had that supposedly helped when used ocasionally with nicad packs.

[crimson eagle]

Hi,

I run the Pro Trak (I also am the Pro Trak contact in the US) which offers many varieties of charge type, linear or various types of pulse. I have found that when racing I use Linear as it gives better punch. When I'm just cycling my cells I use Soft Pulse, as I recall this uses a rest period of 1/4 of a second every second, this is supposed to help with the internal structure and stress in the cell but it takes 25% longer to charge, when I'm cycling this is not an issue.

There are a few types of pulse charge, one of the pulse profiles will give a discharge pulse instead of a rest period, the will obviously take even longer to charge.

[SalvadoriRacing]

you can charge your nimh pack with a pulse charger.....

simply check if the charger make a BZZZZ noise.....

if your charger DOES it, it'll hurt nimh cell because this noise means that the pulse current is too high.....