-=> JASEN BETTS wrote to WAYNE CHIRNSIDE <=-

 JB> Hello WAYNE.

 JB> 11 Sep 04 06:40, you wrote to me:

 JB>> yeah, great for replacing old NiCad batteries.

 WC> Replacing?
 WC> My NiCad's are 15 years old.
 WC> Do I need to replace them?

 JB> If you are satisfied with ther performance they don't need
 JB> replacing.

 JB> in my experience NiCads don't last forever, and the more often
 JB> and harder they are used the sooner they fail. some techniques
 JB> can extend the life of them a bit.

 JB> Many manufacturers claim a life of 1000 charge-discharge cycles.
 JB> For a flashlight that's only recharged once a week that's a life
 JB> of 20 years for tradesman's tool that's recharged daily it's
 JB> about three years. if you're using them to power a remote control
 JB> and only recharging every 2 months they's live longer than you.
 JB> (and most likely outlast the appliance too)

Well they started out in an AA battery halagon flashlight 
spending a year or three there.
Then there was multiple misc. mostly in a Walkman.
Then I lost them discovering them after four - five years 
and they took a charge just fine and used them in a Sony portable
CD player.

Now they sit in the remote control and 
I get more than 2 months easy.

Homemade charger consists of nothing more than a 450 MA. center tapped
24 volt transformer with each leg charging a separate cell through
a bayonet based low voltage bulb selected for a tad under 1/10 current 
capacity and voltage drop.

This way I can select different current bulbs for differing 
cell sizes AA - D.

Dirt simple all one need do is remember to turn it off in the
morning after a charge cycle.

I used to ZAP cells as well with a 50 volt charge in a 50,000 uF
capacitor to clear internal shorts mostly for others
who abused NiCads as they didn't understand them.

Don't think this pair has ever been zapped though.

Checked under load they still appear pretty much to specification
and *very* closely matched.

I think they've been worth the investment ;-)
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