Interesting Issues with Nexcell Battery Chargers

We have found a bit of a flaw with all the newer 3-LED Nexcell NiMH/NiCad battery chargers. These chargers use a programmable mircochip for controlling the charging process, but the overvoltage cutoff point was set too low to fully top up and balance Nickle Cadmium battery packs. The image from our testing station below clearly shows the difference between using the old and the new chargers:


The newer chargers terminate early at 61V rather than waiting for either a significant temperature rise or voltage drop that occures when the cells are allowed to overcharge slightly. This means the cells don't get a chance to balance out and causes a greater likelyhood of cell reversals developing over time. It's not a critically serious issue, but we have had more than the regular percentage of batteries coming back to us for which this was identified as the source of the problem. If you have a 3-LED charger and NiCad battery, we should have replacement microchips available soon for upgrading the charger parameters.