Nic Cad battery life

[woolybanana]

Can anyone tell me whether Nic Cad batteries from a battery drill die if not used for a long time (several years), svp? If so, is there any way to get them back to life?

[Anton Redman]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A5k0ljHLF58

Other possibilities are freezing but make sure it is fully back to room temperature before charging.

Zapping with 24 volts DC on 12 volt battery.

[Quillan]

You need to zap them with something like an electric welding machine.

http://www.instructables.com/id/Bring-Dead-Ni-Cad-Batteries-Back-To-Life/

NiCad batteries need to be stored in a discharged state. You normally discharge them and put a 1 Ohm resister across each cell. Alternatively leave them in the drill and hold the trigger on. If you don't have a button to lock it use a use a tyrap. To recharge them you need a long charge like overnight, never half charge them then use them. You will normally have to fully charge them and discharge them for about two or three cycles. Just in case you wondered why it's to do with crystals forming round the electrodes and the charging and discharging  dissolves them.

[woolybanana]

Thank you guys, that's interesting. I'll try charging it all night and see what happens.

[dave21478]

If that fails, plenty of places can either re-cell your old battery or just sell you a replacement outright. I have had stuff from http://www.gbattery.co.uk/index.htm before...fast service and they post to France.

[Quillan]

Wooly, don't forget to discharge it and recharge it, you need to do this about three times. Each time you do it you will feel the battery getting warm (which is good as it is heat that gets rid of the crystals) and also you will note it takes longer to discharge each time. Next time you store it make sure the battery is flat but leave it in the drill with the trigger locked on as I described.

[Chancer]

Is it really several years since you last did any DIY Wooly?

Mine get used pretty much every day and last for years until I take a holiday [:(]

The drill I leave in the UK always has flat batteries when I return and take a few cycles to become useable so I will try completely discharging them as suggested but on you head be it Quillan if it doesnt work, one of the batteries is the original Elu 14.4v that came with my first drill, they were subsequently bought out and rebadged Dewalt, this battery must be at least 15 years old and still works fine apart from the self discharging it morticed in a couple of door locks and keeps this week without recharging.

So be warned Wooly, use it or lose it and that applies to all tools [:P]

[Quillan]

When I first joined the RAF we went on several short course about different equipment fitted to aircraft. We spent about two hours in the battery shop listening to the battery guy there give a lecture.  At that time military aircraft used acid gel batteries and Ni Cad batteries. I always remember the two basic rules he told us, acid batteries stored fully charged and Ni Cad ones fully discharged, the latter with a 1 Ohm resistor across each cell. Ni Cad battery tools were not common back then but the Ni Cad batteries were around and used is such stuff as R/C models. It was him that explained about 'memory' and how to get over the problem. You used to be able to buy a box that cycled your batteries to fix the memory problem, I don't know if you still can. Basically they did about three or four cycles of fully charging and discharging the batteries. I know the comment about zapping them with a welder to be true but it is not something I would attempt myself.

[woolybanana]

Well, it has come back to life after the overnight charge and has just been run down completely, so I shall now recharge overnight again, then repeat the process twice more.

In fact, it is a very good drill but a bit heavy and bulky and had been forgotten as I have another, thought the batteries in the latter areb showing the same signs of not charging.. As I was getting kit ready for Emmaus, I wondered if it ought to go, but now it is starting to love me again, I'll keep it and use it.

Thanks for the advice guys.

The mower on the other hand is 13 years old, never has a service, never a clean or anything, always worked perfectly, but may finally have reached it end of life, though I'll give it a clean plug and a bit of, love, otherwise, it is out. Pity, we had a good relationship, and 13 seems so young to be on the scrapheap.

[AnOther]

I agree that zero charge is the proper way to store Ni-cads (not sure about the 1ohm resistor and what purpose it might serve) but there is a difference between self discharge and deliberate. Self discharge generates crystals which you don't want so if you are going to store them then positively discharge first.

You most certainly can buy chargers which cycle batteries, I have one although TBH I have very little use for individual Ni-Cad batteries these days, my cordless phones are the only things which use them.

[woolybanana]

An update on the battery situation.  I charged the thing overnight and it ran a full charge. I then recharged the empty battery again and it ran for precisely two seconds! So I persevered and it ran for precisely two seconds.    Does this mean it is knackered? It is not a high value drill so re-celling not really worthwhile, so it looks as it will join the billions of other wasted objects going for recycling or is it landfill!

[Quillan]

Have a look on EBay and see how much they are. Quite often the cheaper drills use the same batteries i.e. they design the drill round the battery. I bought my Black and Decker ones via EBay from a chap in the UK who just sells batteries and it cost something like £25 plus postage. I contacted the chap and asked if he would post to France, no problem. I could have bought Titan batteries at half the price but I wanted original ones. Before anyone says anything they are exactly the same when compared to the old ones.