3 Nov
1999
3 Nov
'99
12:04 p.m.
Tony Duell wrote:
[NiCd batteries]
Some people try much the same trick with a car battery and not an bench
supply. DONT!. The current is essentially unlimited (and may reach
1000A), and an explosion is quite likely.
I've done it with no problems so far. Of course, I once took a shotgun shell
and pounded the primer out with a nail too (no, it didn't explode ...
fortunately!) YMMV :)!
In a more serious vein, I understand there are ICs built specifically for
charging NiCads. The basic idea is to zap the cell, wait a bit, check the
voltage, and repeat as necessary. An engineer I know built up a circuit
using this particular chip, and was able to recover and use NiCads that had
been dead for a number of years.