[net.consumers] NiCd memory

msb@lsuc.UUCP (Mark Brader) (07/06/85)

>      A solution to this problem is occasionally to let the battery discharge
> completely, e.g. by leaving the batteries in a radio that's on for a day,
> and then recharging them completely. ...

This is safe for NiCd CELLS, but you have to be careful doing it with
BATTERIES, i.e., two or more cells in series, which is to say, what you
use in most applications.  See, if one of the two cells is weaker than
the other, and it runs out first, the current forced through it by the
stronger cell can ruin the weaker one permanently.

I'm still using the HP-21 calculator I bought in 1976 (I think it's The Perfect
Calculator, and am sorry to see it disappear); its "battery pack" consists of
two NiCd's, about AA size, in a plastic cartridge.  About 5 times during its
life I've left it turned on for a long time, so that the battery discharged
completely, and on at least 3 of those occasions I then had to go out and
buy another battery pack.  (Fortunately, they still sell them.)

When I wanted to discharge the NiCd D-cells I use in my bicycle lights,
I wired each one across a separate resistance (light bulb).  No trouble.

Mark Brader