I have a bunch of IC3 batteries, but my charger died, so I have to replace it. Since Ray-O-Vac has discontinued these, all that are left are for a very hefty price $40 -$50 or more. I'm not willing to pay that price, and if I must, I will buy a new charger and batteries of a long charging period. If I do that, is it possible to safely charge my old batteries with it, or must I throw them away? I don't like wasting anything, especially these batteries, because they weren't cheap when I bought them.

Hmm, I had searched Ebay before, but I tried some different keywords, and came up with a page full of different 15 minute chargers at reasonable prices. The question now is whether all 15 minute chargers are equal, or whether I need one specifically labeled for IC3?

I reckon you'd be able to pick up a good deal on Newegg.

How thoughtful of you.

Yep, as always.

FWIW, IC3 doesn't mean anything ... it's just a marketing term. NiMH is what you want ... check the other specs. Or, just plug those suckers into a Sony charger and pray it doesn't explode. What's the worst that will happen?

Check out:

Buy Battery Charger, Rechargable Batteries, Charger Kit at Newegg.com

*cough*

Newegg Bans The Bible

Aww, come on guys. Seeker asked a valid question. Give'em a break

I'm sure that any charger rated for NiMH type batteries will charge your IC3's. But the charging performance may not be anywhere near the same. It may take up to an hour or two with some other chargers.

You might be right about the terminology, but I bought a generic battery charger from Harbor Freight, and from the charging specs it seems clear that there is something significantly different between IC3 and NiMH. The mAHs of the IC3s are 2000, and some 15 minute batteries are 2200 or more. The rating for NiMH is only 1300 for AAs. I know that using the wrong charger can cause batteries to explode, although I doubt that would happen with this. At best, it would take much, much longer to charge the batteries, and may effect the lifespan.

What do you mean by that? NiMH's can be up to 2500 mAh. IC3's are just a brand of NiMH. You should be fine.

I wouldn't worry about the new charger making them explode. Generally, that's if you tried to mix and match NiMH and NiCd, for example. I've put a lot of different batteries into a lot of different chargers, and as long as you charge the same batteries together, it should be fine (i.e. don't mix and match capacities on the charger at the same time).

I was going by the numbers that I found in the instruction sheet of my charger, apparently they are arbitrary. Actually, I just Googled and found some at 2700 mAh, so in that respect you are correct. You may well be correct on the rest, but I was going by a discussion with a Radio Shack salesmen, who I had trouble to get him to even admit that their brand of IC3s would even charge properly in my old Ray-O-Vac charger. That and the fact that one article that I Googled on this type of charger, said that it had some kind of automatic switch to sense IC3s which delivered the current at the same voltage but at a higher efficiency...whatever that means.

With the charger that I have, it takes 8 hours to recharge the 1300 batteries, so I would guess that would come to about 16 hours for 2600. Obviously, the 15 minute charge time for my old batteries would only be a thing of the memory if I used that charger. From your comments, I would assume that a 15 minute charger of a different brand would be good to go, so I'm going to find one.