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From: ray@cs.rochester.edu (Ray Frank)
Newsgroups: sci.electronics
Subject: Re: NICADs
Message-ID: <1762@sol.ARPA>
Date: Sat, 29-Aug-87 11:44:26 EDT
Article-I.D.: sol.1762
Posted: Sat Aug 29 11:44:26 1987
Date-Received: Fri, 4-Sep-87 05:30:45 EDT
References: <8708040222.AA14785@ucbvax.Berkeley.EDU> <646@gec-mi-at.co.uk> <36f19f36.b8ab@apollo.uucp>
Reply-To: ray@cs.rochester.edu (Ray Frank)
Organization: U of Rochester, CS Dept, Rochester, NY
Lines: 18

In article <36f19f36.b8ab@apollo.uucp> rees@apollo.uucp (Jim Rees) writes:
>The best way to treat nicads is to fully discharge them once a month,
>stop the discharge immediately when the weakest cell drops below a
>volt, then charge them completely at a 1C rate for 16 hours.
>
>This is all based on personal experience and manufacturer's literature.

Won't a great deal of heat result in a 1C charge for 16 hours?  Won't this
heat result in a possible exploding battery or at the very least a damaged
battery especially if the battery is not vented?
You mentioned that a charge over 1C should never be used but in nicads used
in RC cars, a 3C charge rate is common and in fact a quick charger bought
at the local hobby stores charges the batteries at 3C. 
If you have a battery pack that has four cells and one of them has accidently
been reversed charged, or internally shorted as you say, when these cells are
fully charged what will the shorted cell read on a volt meter?

ray