First of all, you've gotta know that I know nothing about the machine in question, except that folks have learned a good deal about NiCd batteries since those were designed into the DEC application. Allison's right on the money with her proposal of discharging a hefty charge through a "grown-short" in the battery. The charger design I've liked best so far is one that uses a series capacitor rather than a resistor or whatever in series with the AC to charge the battery in a way that won't support the presence of those cillia that eventually short the cells. I built a switched constant-current sink to charge several batteries at once, with an average current equal to the maximum that the battery is supposed to source, but at a 10% duty cycle and 10 KHz. It's being compared right now by the guy who built the one with the cap just to see which one provides better results. The CAP design is MUCH simpler. Dick ----- Original Message ----- From: "Chuck McManis" <cmcmanis(a)mcmanis.com> To: <classiccmp(a)classiccmp.org> Sent: Saturday, December 23, 2000 9:25 PM Subject: Lifetime of VAX NiCd packs? when :-)