Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!yale!cmcl2!phri!cooper!gene
From: gene@cooper.cooper.EDU (Gene (the Spook) )
Newsgroups: sci.electronics
Subject: Re: reviving nicads
Message-ID: <3051@cooper.cooper.EDU>
Date: 9 Nov 90 01:48:05 GMT
References: <1990Nov6.195112.11285@infonode.ingr.com>
Organization: The Cooper Union (NY, NY)
Lines: 22

in article <1990Nov6.195112.11285@infonode.ingr.com>, fordke@infonode.ingr.com (Keith Ford x8614) says:
> 
> I once worked for a fellow who showed me a way to revive a nicad
> battery.  I think it involved pumping a high current through for
> a few seconds.  Can anyone expand on this or provide other useful
> information.  Please email if possible.  Thanks!  -kef/MM-

To get rid of a short, you can "zap" the NiCd from a capacitor and a
higher-than-normal voltage source, just as you described.  A few thousand
microfarads and about 6V or so would probably be enough to blow the short
like a fuse.

When NiCds "forget" that they were charged, usually from being lightly
discharged and then recharged, over and over, the best way to "fix" that
is to deep-discharge the cell almost down to nothing, and then *slowly*
recharge it at about half to a quarter of its usual charging current,
and then repeat this deep-discharge/slow-recharge cycle twice or thrice.

Hope this helps some...

							Spookfully yours,
							Gene