recharging a custom-made battery pack

[[email protected]]

Is it possible to recharge a custom-made battery pack?

Details:

I've used a four-AA batter case from radio shack to build a battery
pack for electronic devices (walkmans, MP3 players, digital cameras,
etc.)

Every time I need to reacharge the batteries, I must unscrew the batter
case, remove the four AA Energizer 2500mah batteries, place them in a
charger, and then reassemble everything several hours later.

I would like to be able to find a way simply to connect the battery
pack to a standard 5-hour battery charger. I figured I could do this
by creating some kind of dummy battery with leads connected to the
battery pack. The dummy battery could be placed in one chamber of any
good quality battery charger that senses when to turn off oro trickle
charge.

My big question:

Is this possible without creating any special circuitry?



Thanks for the help.


Edward

 

[kell]

Is it possible to recharge a custom-made battery pack?

Details:

I've used a four-AA batter case from radio shack to build a battery
pack for electronic devices (walkmans, MP3 players, digital cameras,
etc.)

Every time I need to reacharge the batteries, I must unscrew the batter
case, remove the four AA Energizer 2500mah batteries, place them in a
charger, and then reassemble everything several hours later.

I would like to be able to find a way simply to connect the battery
pack to a standard 5-hour battery charger. I figured I could do this
by creating some kind of dummy battery with leads connected to the
battery pack. The dummy battery could be placed in one chamber of any
good quality battery charger that senses when to turn off oro trickle
charge.

My big question:

Is this possible without creating any special circuitry?

You won't need any special circuitry, but you have to get the right
charger. You have a 4.8 volt 2500 mAH battery that you need to charge.
Is it Ni-Cad or NiMH? Find a charger for the same kind of battery.

 

[Jasen Betts]

Is it possible to recharge a custom-made battery pack?

Details:

I've used a four-AA batter case from radio shack to build a battery
pack for electronic devices (walkmans, MP3 players, digital cameras,
etc.)

Every time I need to reacharge the batteries, I must unscrew the batter
case, remove the four AA Energizer 2500mah batteries, place them in a
charger, and then reassemble everything several hours later.

I would like to be able to find a way simply to connect the battery
pack to a standard 5-hour battery charger. I figured I could do this
by creating some kind of dummy battery with leads connected to the
battery pack. The dummy battery could be placed in one chamber of any
good quality battery charger that senses when to turn off oro trickle
charge.

My big question:

Is this possible without creating any special circuitry?

if you can find a charger that will charge the 4 cells while they're
connected in series it is,

many chargers only charge pairs of cells.

Bye.
Jasen

 

[[email protected]]

Thanks for your replies.

I've got a good battery charger that will charge AA, D, C, and AAA of
any mah. It charges pairs in series, but I don't see why it wouldn't
charge 4 batteries in series; it will just take double the time.

ES

 

[ehsjr]

Thanks for your replies.

I've got a good battery charger that will charge AA, D, C, and AAA of
any mah. It charges pairs in series, but I don't see why it wouldn't
charge 4 batteries in series; it will just take double the time.

ES

The problem is the 5 hour spec. If you are willing to go for
14 hours, you can make a charger with 4 parts:
an LM317 IC, R1 a 5 ohm 1 watt (or higher) resistor, D1, a
1N400x diode and a heat sink for the LM317, plus a 12 V wall
wart.



in ------- out
+12 -------| LM317 |-----+
------- |
|adj [R1]
| | D1
+---------+--->|--- To Battery plus

Gnd ------------------------------ To Battery negative


You can add a mechanical timer and plug the wall
wart into it if you want, to set the charge time to
14 hours. The charger is designed for 2500 maH cells.
Do not use it for cells of a lower rating.

Ed