I finally start to clean up my place after a fire at my house, and I come across some of my old stuff. I used to be into R/C cars, and I have a lot of the 6C battery packs for them. They've been sitting around for probably 10 years now, is there any way of reconditioning them to make them work? What would be the best way of doing this? I remember trying one a few years ago, it held a charge, but not for very long. I think I still have the chargers and maybe a discharger laying around.
Reconditioning Old Nicads
- Thread starter InTheDark
- Start date
vcal
Flashlight Enthusiast
You might find that some of those cell are "dead"-no voltage, and the charger refuses to try to charge them.
To get those to respond again, connect the dead cell in series with 3-4 strong other batteries [use a holder] but REVERSE the dead cell and hold it connected in that series for 5 seconds. (positive-to-positive). That will reactivate even the oldest, deadest cell to allow for proper recharging.
The above trick will not really recondition the battery, though....
To get those to respond again, connect the dead cell in series with 3-4 strong other batteries [use a holder] but REVERSE the dead cell and hold it connected in that series for 5 seconds. (positive-to-positive). That will reactivate even the oldest, deadest cell to allow for proper recharging.
The above trick will not really recondition the battery, though....
Deleted member 684
Flashlight Enthusiast
Charge em with high current till they are nearly fully charged, den trikle charge em for 2 days.... to bring any dead cells alive..
Thanks for the input. Since they're so old, the charger I have is a timed charger, not a smart charger, so it'll charge whatever I hook up to it. Will deep cycling them or trickle charging them bring them back to life? I remember reading a website somewhere about restoring old batteries, but I can't find it anymore. I've also heard shorting them a few times through a 1-2 ohm resistor (or any type of really high 20A load) after charging them will erase some of the memory.
vcal
Flashlight Enthusiast
<font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial">IME-the only way to try to really recondition the battery (says the military) is to put the battery on a light load and sloowly let the loaded voltage run down to .5V., and then recharging fully. Repeating this procedure 4-5 times will work about 50% of the time.
All that said, the newer rechargeables have become so superior to the older designs, most of the time you're better off just replacing those old cells with highly improved performance, instead of operating a battery hospital.
And the cost of the much improved new cells has come waay down.
Older cells, even those of the same nominal capacity purchased at the same time, may have widely varying capacity now. If you put them in a charger that functions on two or more batteries at a time in serial be very careful with the charger's discharge cycle. Even my two cell 400 mA discharge function on my R/S multicharger isn't smart enough not to drive so low as to occasionally reverse polarity on the weaker cell.
It's a real gamble to use this multiple cell discharge function. I'd love to find an inexpensive multiple battery individual cell discharger that stops somewhere between 0.6 and 0.8 volts per cell.
It's a real gamble to use this multiple cell discharge function. I'd love to find an inexpensive multiple battery individual cell discharger that stops somewhere between 0.6 and 0.8 volts per cell.
Deleted member 684
Flashlight Enthusiast
How bout just getting a 5 ohm 10 watt resistor and putting the battery on it and connecting the leads from teh resistor to the battery. that's what I use to do.
dano
Flashlight Enthusiast
Simply put, a 10yera old Nicd cannot be successfully re-conditioned. They MAY charge, but the capacity and performance would be poor. Most likely, the internal plates are corroded, and the cells probably vented over the years (look for a crystalline discharge coming from the small holes on the positive side of the cell.
Also, there is no such thing as a "memory" effect, it's a long standing myth, which actually refers to Nicd cells that have been damaged by misuse, and the cells partially vented, losing some capacity.
--dan
Also, there is no such thing as a "memory" effect, it's a long standing myth, which actually refers to Nicd cells that have been damaged by misuse, and the cells partially vented, losing some capacity.
--dan
Hmmm...you're probably right, I guess I shouldn't waste my time on those. It's just that I put all those $2.97 RS flashlight together, and I needed 30 C size batteries to fill it up. I was hoping I wouldn't have to go out and buy them.
dano, nice car. you on I-club too?
dano, nice car. you on I-club too?
i have reconditioned 30 year old nicads without a problem.
got some f cells at mendelsons 6 years ago with 72! date codes.
i had to cycle them about 6 times to get the run time up.
they are rated 7 ah and a few weeks ago i tested some on the 777plus2.7.75 ah.
so i would try anyway.
got some f cells at mendelsons 6 years ago with 72! date codes.
i had to cycle them about 6 times to get the run time up.
they are rated 7 ah and a few weeks ago i tested some on the 777plus2.7.75 ah.
so i would try anyway.
dano
Flashlight Enthusiast
Hell, it can't hurt to try, but R/C packs usually suffer abuse and a harsh death...
Yup, I go over to I-club every once in a while...
--dan
Yup, I go over to I-club every once in a while...
--dan
NightStorm
Flashlight Enthusiast
I used to restore 2 cell nicad tool batteries [electric screwdriver] by using a 12v automotive battery. I would run a wire from the positive terminal of the car battery to the negative terminal of the tool battery. Then I would connect a wire to the negative terminal of the car battery and momentarily touch the positive terminal of the tool battery a couple times. This would be followed by normally charging the battery. The theory behind this was that the reverse voltage [or current] would remove any crystallization from the plate area of the tool battery. Believe it or not... it seemed to work, about 70% of the time.
Dan
Dan
