Old Ni-Cd's

DemonWolf

Newly Enlightened
Joined
Aug 3, 2007
Messages
6
Location
New Jersey
So I found an old Streamlight SL-20x (5 or 6 years old, never used) in my uncle's basment yesterday. Of course it didn't turn on, so when I got home I plugged the charger in. Instructions said to charge for 10-14 hours, so after about 10 hours of charging I went to go check on it.

When I approached it I heard a quick hissing noise and and very loud pop. It scared the hell out of me lol. I quickly unplugged it and found out that the first battery's top blew off the rest of the pack into different peices and completely exposed the first battery, you could see right into the battery.

I realized it was a Ni-Cd pack and that it is extremely toxic, I immediately threw it away and washed my hands.

I learned to just throw away really old rechargeables and buy new ones. :oops:
 

SilverFox

Flashaholic
Joined
Jan 19, 2003
Messages
12,449
Location
Bellingham WA
Hello DemonWolf,

Welcome to CPF.

The hissing you heard was the cell venting. When it could not vent fast enough, the end blew off. This is usually caused by having a cell or two out of balance within the pack.

With battery packs that have been stored that long, it is better to have a charger that can do a 16 hour 0.1C timed charge. This will balance the pack and then it may be in good enough shape for normal charging.

Tom
 

SilverFox

Flashaholic
Joined
Jan 19, 2003
Messages
12,449
Location
Bellingham WA
Hello DemonWolf, UK Caver and Bill,

Oops, you are both correct. I was thinking of the SureFire charger.

That Streamlight charger charges at 220 mA, which is pretty close to a 0.1C charge rate.

This would suggest that one (or more) of the cells had shorted. This would result in a higher voltage to the other cells, causing venting, or top blowing.

Tom
 

DemonWolf

Newly Enlightened
Joined
Aug 3, 2007
Messages
6
Location
New Jersey
Thanks for the link metlarules, I ordered that battery along with the Empire charger Thursday and received it the next day.

It's a great combo, fully charged in about 4 hours and over 100 minutes of runtime. :)
 
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