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Charger compatibility for 12 V 8Ah Lead Acid Battery

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bogiedreamer

Mechanical
Apr 14, 2005
57
Hi,

I have a 12V 8Ah Lead Acid Battery. I bought a 12V charger that was on Sale but I am not sure if they are compatible.

The Charger indicates:

"High Performance Ni-cd Battery Charger"
Input: AC 117V 60 Hz
Output: DC 12V 6W 600mA

Thanks,
 
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Ni Cd is not equal Pb. Are you trying to tell me that it won't work?

Thanks,
 
Well, silly me, but I would think that if someone built a charger that could charge both NiCd and lead batteries, that they would say so on the package or in the manual.

Likewise, were I to buy a charger for a lead battery, I wouldn't be looking for a NiCd charger.

TTFN

FAQ731-376
 
bogiedreamer; Sorry no, that charger will absolutely NOT work.

The entire method of charging is different and the actual voltages are different in subtle and important ways between those two battery types.

Keith Cress
kcress -
 
Charging voltage for most lead acid batteries is approximately 2.27V per cell which equals 13.62 for a 6 cell battery which you have.
Charging voltage for most Nicad batteries is between 1.42 and 1.45V per cell. This would equate to 14.2 to 14.5V (12 volt charger would charge 10 cells at nominal value of 1.2V)IF it was a single level charger.
As Ni-Cad batteries can accept value of up to 1.7V per cell for quick charge which is 17V this would seriously overcharge Lead acid cells.
So without details of how your Ni-Cad charger actually works with regards to voltage levels I would definately advise that it should not be used!

UPS engineer
 
thank you for you advice, i bought a lead acid battery charger.
 
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