Battery Question
 

Just got a rifle with battery and charger included. No manual. Batteries are 1.2v 1100mAh * 7 (8.4v mini). Type Nimh. It came with a charger 8.5v 500ma output. Batteries says standard charge 14-16 hrs on at 110ma.

Any ideas how long I should charge the battery for?

Any recomendations for a smart charger (plug it in and forget about it)?

Duratrax Piranha: http://www.duratrax.com/caraccys/dtxp4005.html

You can probably find it for $80 or so. Only charger you'll ever need unless you go above 9.6V.

Not sure if this helps, but try reading over the battery FAQ.

http://www.airsoftcanada.com/showthread.php?t=25656

1100mah at 500ma is about 2.6 hours charge time. This is a slow charger. Hopefully it uses Delta V to cut down to 50ma when it detects a full battery, but if there is no indicator, I would not count on it. I would put it on for 2.6 hours and then pull it just to be safe. If a charger has Delta V cutoff they will usually brag about the feature, otherwise presume its a straight slow charger.

Go to http://www.bbbastard.com for information on my NPT fast chargers. It has two charge modes both are fast depending on the battery capacity, they use NPT to regulate the charge process (see website for description) and use delta V cutoff and go to trickle mode when done, all indicated by an LED. Dead simple.

Thanks for the feedback. It is just a crappy wall charger so no, it does not have a trickle charge mode. Bought a trickle charger at a hobby shop instead.