Can I charge lipos with a nimh charger?

[bl-is-future]

Originally Posted by jhautz

NO!

Lipo requires a lipo specific charger. Doing what you sugest is a recipie for disaster.

K well i will shed some light! Lipo chargers are only lipo specific because they monitor cell counts and are preprogrammed with what voltage each cell should be. The max a cell should be is 4.2v. ex if you have a 4s batt the charger will stop at 16.8v or if it is advanced and allows for capacity, it will stop when capacity is reached. The lowest a cell can go, according to most chargers is 3.0v. so if you plug in a lipo that is below 3.0v per cell it wont charge it. So with a trusty multi meter you can use any charger you like but never and i repeat NEVER skimp out on a balancer. This will keep your pack life good and the risk of explosions to a minimum.

Just follow this when charging:
Never charge to over 4.2v per cell (ex 4s = 16.8v max)
Never dis-charge to under 3.0v per cell (4s = 12.0v minimum)(i use 3.2v per cell to add some overhead)
Always Balance the pack.

If any body else disagrees with this so be it but a charger puts out volts no matter what. The lipo specific are just pre programmed to monitor this stuff