What to do with el-cheapo chargers?

[BrianG]

Everyone has 'em, either those wall-wart crappy style, or maybe one of those so-called "high-end" chargers that will charge 4 AA/AAA or one 9v cell. I had a RadioShack "4 hour" charger, but it always either undercharged or overcharged my NiXX cells. When I got my R/C chargers, this started to gather dust. But since I still have all the NiMHs around the house in various items (toys, tv remotes, etc), I figure I could still use it with a little modification.

So, I opened her up, removed the transformer, 120v AC plug prongs, and main circuits. Then, I modded the PCB by cutting the traces (need the PCB since the battery terminals are attached), soldered new wires to put each cell in series, and then added screw terminals. As they say, "this thread is useless without pictures", so...

The first one showing the finished product. Each numbered screw corresponds the the cell right below it. There is also a 9v port that can be used.



The innards showing PCB mods and added wires.



Hooked to a charger. I just put the negative charger clip on the ground screw, and the positive charger clip on the highest cell count I'm charging. If 1 cell, it goes on 1. If 4 cells, it goes on 4.



Now I can charge AAs/AAAs and a 9v cell without resorting to a crappy setup.