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Okay, if I read you right...NO MATTER how high the Charge rate you use, the batteries will accept ONLY a certain level (based on internal resistances) and the rest is translated into heat.
So to find the MAX, SAFE Cx I could probably set my Peak Charger (it's capable of 100mAH up to 5A, in 100mAH increments) to say 500mAH and while the batt is charging, I'll have my DMM on there and monitor how much the batteries will accept (assuming it'll be lower than 500mAH)...
For the sake of argument; Let's say I have a 100mAH rated, NIMH battery connected and I found that as I was charging at the 500mAH rate, my DMM was only reading 250mAH. That means for this particular battery, the 'threshold' is 250mAH.
With that, I could charge at a relatively 'safe' rate of 200mAH or I could push it further at 300mAH (to hit its threshold) and deal with the heat of the wasted 50mAH.
This is actually GREAT to know, I've got plenty of AA and AAA cells. Some are reputible name brands, and others are no-names. Doing these tests would let me know just how hard (but still safe) I could charge them at.
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