"Wayne Chirnside" wrote to "Joe Paulson" (29 Oct 02  19:04:00)
 --- on the topic of "Re: BATTERY PACKS"

 WC> Or you could zap them with a short high current pulse and clear the
 WC> dendrites that form inside the bad cells shorting them out.
[,,,]
 WC> A simple zapper can be made with a 50 - 80,000 Uf capacitor rated for
 WC> about about 50 volts and charged with a DC rectified transformer
 WC> rated at 35 volts or so, it'll float higher on such a light load
 WC> as you'll present.
 WC> Chose a resistor to place inline before the cap to limit
 WC> charging current to 1/10th of individual cell
 WC> capacity and put a heavy open style knife switch single pole
 WC> single throw between the cap and the battery pack.

A rather heavy knife switch, I might add, like the kind you see in
Frankenstein movies. 


 WC> Leave the cap to charge with the switch open and the pack connected
 WC> for a minute and than close it zapping out the short.

I guarantee lots of nice sparks (UV) and ozone smell. Now do it the safe
way and use a large SCR instead of the Frankenstein props! The SCR is
probably cheaper than the knife switch too and it won't become pitted.
BTW you do realize that playing with 50 volts worth of 80 milli-Farads
is right at the very limit of becoming a little worrisome safety wise?
Trust me, it's a lot less stressful without all the pyrotechnics... 

 Mike
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