Re: [pen] actual techish question

[Brian Bezanson <bezanson@xxxxxxx>]

You quoted the battery as 4.8 V, 500 mAh.  500 mAh has nothing (well, 
little) to do with the maximum current that the battery can provide.  If 
it can discharge in half an hour, that means that it can provide 1 A 
continuously, for example.  Your battery probably wouldn't like to 
discharge that fast, nor would it like to charge that fast.

All you need to do is pay attention to the battery while it charges and 
make sure it's not getting too hot.  If it starts to get too warm, 
disconnect it.  Find some smallish resistors (maybe tens of ohms?) and 
start putting them in series with the battery and power supply until the 
battery charges but doesn't get too hot.  You might need an ammmeter to 
determine if the battery is charging noticeably.  I'd guess that around 
50-100 mA would be an acceptable current.

Bunsen