Originally Posted by
sschultz
Question about nimh's.
I have some aa's I use around the house. I have a battery holder that holds 4 of them and that's how I charge them. I'm sure they are not "balanced" with each other. What if I hooked them to a bulb and dis charged them completely? Would that kill em? Or should I just charge them 1 at a time?
Most home AA chargers are not peak chargers, it's just trickle charging them so balance doesn't matter.
Basically when a NiCd or NimH get's fully charged, it can't hold any more juice so the excess turns to heat. This is why a fast charger needs to shut off because the cell will just get hotter and hotter until the thing explodes. With a slow trickle, the heat is able to dissipate easily so things don't go boom.
Now if you are fast charging them with a peak charger using a 4 in series holder, yes you might want to find someway to get them close before charging them. If you don't charge them until all four have gone dead in whatever device you use them in, then they are probably close enough for a below 1c charge.