To get back in the topic, about the charger.

I put an objctive: NO fancy ICs. The one I mentioned at the beginning, the Maxim one, fully integrated, automatic cycles, 5 pin to solder.. puah! too easy..

Super current sensing? ideal constant current source? bla bla bla... can't afford!! Everything must be made from scraps/low grade parts, this is the first goal of the design (dot).

..even if I found that assembling such charger from common components.. is somewhat a mess

And for common, I mean pnp are already too exotic

No well, I just don't feel I want to BUY new components just like that - living outside the city leads to expensive shipping cost AND it's not yet the time to make a cumulative order.

I decided the charge current to be 500mA, and I don't have a pnp able to handle currents of that size so this takes out grounded load solutions - but I don't want to tell you all about the details now

Using poor parts, it works, oh really.. the circuit is crude and Spice got to solve the simulation using the "alternate solver" cause the standard one was stalling :\

I'll test all the parts of the charger, one by one, but they should work just fine together!