[sci.electronics] About to buy radio... actually about NiCds

rusty@cadnetix.COM (Rusty) (09/20/88)

In article <26117@ucbvax.BERKELEY.EDU> bks@ucbarpa.Berkeley.EDU.UUCP (Brian K. Shiratsuki) writes:
>... a lot of stuff about radios.... deleted<
>i put nicads into the case, and clipped some plastic off the case
>which prevent use of the charger.  this gave me an extra pack for
>$26; we'll see if i have to make up the difference or more later.
>
The most recent issue of Ham Radio Magazine had a really nifty
article about NiCd batteries and how to charge them correctly.
There is a lot of info in the article about sintered-plate
NiCds which I will not go in to here.  Lets just say that,
after my experiences with NiCds I believe him.  Also, for those
of you who agree with me that NiCds are the pits and almost
don't last long enough to make their cost worth it... He has
a sintered-plate nicd battery which is quite old (from
a very poor memory I remember considerably more than 5 years
old for that battery), and it will still start a car!

Anyway, the article gives a VERY easy to build NiCd charger
which is claimed to not ruin your NiCds, and which is claimed
to be able to un-reverse reversed cells (as long as the
batteries are not already ruined by overheating, I assume).
I have an 8-cell pack for my Kenwood 2M transciever which has
2 reversed cells... I will report back to the net how it goes
with the attempt to reverse the cells.

The only problem I had with the construction of the project
was with the quality of my junkbox parts (some of my high-current
diodes were bad), and discovering that those pesky little tantalum
capacitors like to short out when you hit them with the output
of an overloaded (i.e. oscillating) LM317.  Poof, smoke, stink!
(One of these days I will get the right size fuse! :~>  )
				(  holding my nose  ^  )

(If this works, I'm gonna have to build a BUNCH of these buggers!
Each one designed for the battery pack it is to recharge.....
Who knows, I might even start liking NiCds again!)

-----
Rusty Carruth   UUCP: {uunet,boulder}!cadnetix!rusty  DOMAIN: rusty@cadnetix.com
Cadnetix Corp.  (303) 444-8075x296 \  5775 Flatiron Pkwy. \ Boulder, Co 80301
Radio: N7IKQ    'home': P.O.B. 461 \  Lafayette, CO 80026

gmg@hcx.uucp (Greg M. Garner) (09/22/88)

I don't know if this is possible, but I am involved in the electronic
scale business, and we were having battery problems, so we just pitched
the factory batteries and started using gel cel batteries!  These 
lasted about 10 times as long as the original batteries ( I don't know
if the originals were nicads or not), and they never stopped working.
We were very satisfied with them.  Radio Electronics published a nice
article on how to build a gel-cel charger using a lm317 and some other 
stuff, and we built several of these and sold them to our customers!  Try it1

Greg Garner
gmg@hcx.uucp

sjs@phobos.cis.ksu.edu (Stephen J. Schallehn F88) (09/26/88)

>I don't know if this is possible, but I am involved in the electronic
>scale business, and we were having battery problems, so we just pitched
>the factory batteries and started using gel cel batteries!  These 
>lasted about 10 times as long as the original batteries ( I don't know
>if the originals were nicads or not), and they never stopped working.

  Is it possible to use such gel cell batteries in a small package as a Handi-
Talkie?  Could you also give a source for such batteries? Thanks.

                                              - Steve Schallehn 

gmg@hcx.uucp (Greg M. Garner) (09/27/88)

In article <122@deimos.cis.ksu.edu>, sjs@phobos.cis.ksu.edu (Stephen J. Schallehn F88) writes:
 
  [I wrote this part \/]
> >I don't know if this is possible, but I am involved in the electronic
> >scale business, and we were having battery problems, so we just pitched
> >the factory batteries and started using gel cel batteries!  These 
> >lasted about 10 times as long as the original batteries ( I don't know
> >if the originals were nicads or not), and they never stopped working.
> 
>   Is it possible to use such gel cell batteries in a small package as a Handi-
> Talkie?  Could you also give a source for such batteries? Thanks.
> 
>                                               - Steve Schallehn 

The source for the batteries that we are using is Active electronics. They
can be reached at 1-800-343-0874. The batteries they have range from 1.0
amp hour to 10.0 amp hour (rated for 20 hour discharge). Prices range from
16.19 to 57.99. They have both a 6 volt and 12 volt version. I am not
sure if these would fit in a handi-talkie, but they would fit on your 
belt, as I have seen some hams do.  I highly recommend these batteries.
If you cannot find the radio-electronics article on the gel-cel charger,
send me mail or call, and I will look up the exact date for the project.

Good luck!

  Greg Garner 
  gmg@hcx.uucp
  501-442-4847