[Vwdiesel] Nicads That Live In Packs Will Die!

[jon]

Now, it's important to realize there are two very very difference type of 
NiCds.

1) The standard NiCds that you use in your cordless phone, power tools, 
etc. The non-wet type of NiCds. Like Mark says, these are prone to memory 
and "whiskers". I have saved many an AA, C, and D NiCds with a pulse of 12 
volts to blow out the "fuse" (Whisker).

2) Then, there are the wet NiCds, like the phone company uses. These 
resemble Edison cells, but, of course, the chemisty is different. Wet 
NiCds live quite nicely in packs.

Jon

On Wed, 9 Mar 2005, Mark Shepherd wrote:

> All series multipacks of Nicads are destined to die
> prematurely. The only exception to this would be either if
> they were electrically identical or kept within strict
> limits of charge.
> Why?
> If you have a 'string' of Nicads then when discharging
> through use their power suddenly dips when near exhaustion.
> Other batteries in the gang will still be showing 'near full
> power' and so are forcibly discharging through the already
> discharged 'weakling' This sends the dead battery into
> another chemical state where it would not go if discharging
> naturally.
> Nicads also grow whiskers!
> These are metallised shorts that limit charge levels. IIRC
> the whiskers can be burnt off (sometimes) with a burst of
> relatively high voltage say 12V (Don't quote me on this 'V'
> though) I think its done + to + but I'll have to check if I
> can find the old forum source for the info.
> Mark-The-Miser-UK
> 
> _______________________________________________
> Vwdiesel mailing list
> Vwdiesel at vwfans.com
> http://www.audifans.com/mailman/listinfo/vwdiesel
>