Charging specs for a good charger for a 14.4 volt battery

[Magnum]

I have a Craftsman 14.4 V. rechargeable drill that uses NiCad
batteries.

It has no ready light, just a charging light.

The manual says it may take up to 6 hrs. to charge.

I left it on overnight.

What are the consequences of that?

It has screws, so I may be able to replace the batteries.

Is there some place that would help me in
determining what a good charger would charge it at?

I looked around and could not find anything.

I tried to find a manual for a Makita universal charger which looks like a good quality charger,
but all I could find was a parts manual.

Thanks,

Andy

[caseys]

you may left overnight it doesnt affect the battery. thats a 2.0amp battery? if you want to charge more quickly you may go and have a look for a 3amps battery charger or universal  0.5-3A. just be sure to discharge the battery fully before using 3amps charger.

[dedndave]

many of these batteries have temp sensors that tell the charger when they are done charging
that is why there are more than 2 contacts between the charger and the battery

[clive]

http://www.batteriesplus.com/

A lot of Craftsman/Sears stuff is built by Ryobi

http://www.angelfire.com/electronic/hayles/charge1.html

[dedndave]

from old-school methodology   :P

we used to use a charge rate that was 10% of the battery capacity (with a bit of term-mixing)

so, if you have a 500 mAH battery, we would charge it with a 50 mA constant current source until full-charge is reached
this is probably old info that has been out of date for decades - lol
but, it might give you a starting place

obviously, if yours reaches full charge in 6 hrs, they are using a little higher current - maybe ~20%