To see if a charger is compatible with your battery there are just 2 main things to check.

• Can the charger charge your battery's chemistry type (eg. NiMH or LiPo)
• Can the charger charge at your battery's voltage (eg. the charger might only be able to charge up to 11.1v but your battery is 14.8v)

If you've checked both of these things then all you need to do is ensure you select the correct connector and charge it on the correct setting (if the charger is adjustable)

No, not really but if you get it wrong, you can easily have a fire on your hands. There's no danger if you use some common sense and the right settings! Here's a simplified version of how to use them.

Most of these chargers have 4 buttons.

• Stop
• Down
• Up
• Start

Navigate through the battery types with the up and down buttons then press the start button to select your battery type. Then, press start to start adjusting the voltage and then adjust it to match your battery's voltage with the up and down buttons. Once that's done, do the same for the mA and then hold down the start button to start the charging process.

If you want to know how to charge them in detail, read your manual and watch the video on how to charge a LiPo battery below.

When you're starting out there are basically two main options to choose between. You will either get a fairly basic non-adjustable charger or a smart (also known as a 4-button charger).

Basic chargers

These are a great option as they are cheap and don't require any adjusting/programming to charge. The downside is they are limited to a specific battery type and are generally pretty slow to charge (2+ hours).

If you have a NiMH battery with a basic charger to suit, and then upgrade to a LiPo, you'll need a new charger that is compatible with LiPo batteries to charge it safely.

Smart chargers

The smart chargers are very versatile and basically every hobby enthusiast has one of these as they can virtually charge any battery this hobby throws at us and charge it as quickly as possible (about an hour). However, of course, they require the user to select the battery they are wanting to charge (it's pretty easy once you know how).