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Dan K
 
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Default How to recharge new NiCad battery


wrote in message
oups.com...
How to recharge new NiCad battery
I bought a new 18 volt cordless drill-driver
that has 1200 mAh recharceable NiCad battery.
What is the best way to get longest battery
life out of it?
Alzerimers setting in? Can't remember if you
completely discharge first or fully charge to
get longest life.


Your getting a bunch of different answers, so here's mine: Its been my
experience that store bought chargers have one object in mind, to charge the
battery fast. They really don't care if your battery dies a year from now.
I've had store bought chargers that actually get a battery hot when its
charging. I've thrown out my store bought chargers or modified them to
charge at a reduced rate. Always start with a discharged battery (don't
charge a battery that doesn't need charging) and put it on a timer so you
know how long its been charged. I too have just gotten a couple new 18v
drills with 1200 mah battery's. These are the first cordless drills I've
owned. The charger said to charge for 5 hours and I measured a charge rate
around 350 ma. Do the math: 5 hrs at 350 ma = 1750 mah into a 1200 mah
battery. Not too bad, but I modified mine with a 13 ohm resistor to get the
charge rate down to around 200 ma and will charge them for 8 hours (beacuse
I just happen to have a nice 8 hour timer). I'll keep one of the chargers
un-modified and use it to quick charge if necessary for an hour or two, but
the 8 hour one will be what I use most of the time.