I picked up a 9.6v Ryobi at a garage sale to leave at the shop. But it didn't have a charger. Anyone got one laying around. Was planning on getting 2 new batteries, and a charger. But if anyone has one they are not using...

Thanks for scaring up a drill! That's something I've really missed when piecing things together from wood.

I presume these are NiCad battery packs? If so, then the official charger is probably not very "smart", and simply charges at a controlled current. This is the kind where you are supposed to remember to remove the battery after "about 8 hours" for best results.

If so, we could easily do much better with a timer-controlled arduino-based charger. I'm picturing a small LCD readout of how long the battery has been charging and how long it will continue to charge. After any battery has been in the charger for about 8 hours, it cuts off (or down) the charge current. Otherwise I'm sure the batteries on the charger will be left there for days and weeks on end due to the realities of a group work environment.

The main thing to be researched would be what an appropriate voltage and current is to safely charge the packs, and for how long.

Please let me know if you find a good reference for these volt/amp specs for the myriad of chemistries.

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Love the idea of a home brewed charger (even better if we can charge 9.6, 14.4, and 18V all with the flick of a switch)
What do we need to make it happen?