nuttcase21

i've got an astro 109/110dx hybrid charger (which i built) for all of my battery needs. thing is, i just bought some hot packs from fusion and i want to make sure i'm using the best thing for them. i just charged a new 4 cell world pack at the recommended 5 amps and it took 3954 mah!!!! i'm a little worried by this number. the pack was hot when done, but no more than any other nimh pack i've charged with it. i regularly charge my gp1100 packs and they take over 1350 mah every time (about 40 cycles now). bad thing about the charger is that you can't change the peak detection voltage. is it going to kill my packs or what? thanx in advance guys.

futureal

On the one hand, I'm not sure I would trust a charger like that with brand new NiMH packs. On the other hand, I have seen plenty of brand new GP3300 packs take a charge of even as high as 4000mAh the first few times. I would watch the temperatures; as long as you are not overheating the cells, you should be OK.

However, since you invested in new packs, I would really recommend getting an adjustable digital peak charger that is more suited to NiMH cells. The Duratrax ICE, for example, sells for around $130 and will do everything you'll ever need. There are many other options from Reedy, LRP, APS, Competition Electronics, and so on, that all sell for about the same.