Nickel Metal Hydrids

Hi I would guess that your method is most likely the best. Keeping them at full charge tends to create those metal fingers inside that short them out. Discharging them as packs tends to reverse charge some of the cells causing out gassing and cell rupturing. I don't know if the NiMH I had was drained by load or just by sitting around. It is an old machine ( about 13 or 14 years old ). I would guess that these cells have a similar problem if fully discharged as a battery stack. The laptop had no normal signs of wear like a similar one that I had ( video is failing ). It may have only been used for a year or so and then just placed in storage. Most times when I come on NiCads that have zero volts, I find the cells to have an internal short. Either NiMH have something that keeps this from happening or I was real lucky. I do know that wet NiCads ( those with vents ) are usually shipped with a shorting bar. I would guess that if one individually drained the NiCad cells, they could be stored a long time. I'll let you guys know how things are after a couple more days. Hopefully the battery will remain useful. Dwight