Battery storage questions

[777qqq]

I just finished cycling many AA, AAA, C, and D NiMH and NiCd batteries that I had in storage for years. Most of them are probably below 80% of their labeled capacity, but I'm keeping all of them for now.

This is what I've decided to do to maintain them:
1. I discharged all the NiCd's with my 23-425 Radio Shack charger and will just leave them be indefinitely because I have only been using AA and AAA NiMH's for years.
2. I will cycle the NiMH's in storage every six months. When cycling them should I use the refresh function on my BC-700 charger or discharge then charge fully then discharge down to 1.0v? Does the 23-425 fully discharge cells? Fully discharging NiMH's is bad.
3. I will never cycle the NiMH's that I use regularly.
4. I'll store the C and D size NiMH's at 1.20 volts measured with my voltmeter because the 23-425 does not have a display.
5. I'll group the C and D's by voltage and the AA and AAA's by capacity.

Are these the correct procedures? Thanks for any replies.

 

[SilverFox]

Hello 777qqq,

A good way to keep NiMh and NiCd cells in storage is to charge them, then discharge them. Store them discharged and subject them to a charge/discharge cycle periodically. To keep them "vibrant" you would cycle them every 30 days, but if they are below 80% of their initial capacity they are beyond "vibrant" so your six month cycle should work fine.

If you put them back into everyday service you may need to do a few charge/discharge cycles to bring them back to the best they can be.

If they were my cells I would recycle those that are below 80% and move on to new cells.

Tom