Joe Bemier wrote:

I read the responses below that state you should not drain the battery
but when I googled
*NiCad Batteries Drain Completely*
there are articles that state you should drain them.
Here are a few of the articles....
http://www.nyu.edu/its/pubs/connect/...rdslaptop.html
http://www.ehow.com/how_3037_battery-life-laptop.html

Frankly, I have no idea which is correct (and I did see some articles
to the opposite) but if I'd suggest calling Panasonic tech service.

Draining a NiCd or NiMH cell completely means to remove essentially all
the energy it contains. This requires discharging it to a cell voltage
of about 1.0 volt. Doing this, then recharging, is the way to reverse
"memory" (voltage depression) effects. If the battery has 6 cells or
fewer and they're reasonably well matched, you can usually safely
discharge the battery to 1.0 volt times the number of cells (e.g., 6.0
volts for a 6 cell battery) without risk of reverse charging one of the
cells. If the battery has more cells, this becomes increasingly risky
and the only safe way to do it is to discharge the cells in groups of
4-6. This of course requires getting into the battery pack.

The folks cautioning against trying to discharge down to 0 volts are
absolutely correct. It just about guarantees reverse charging one or
more cells, which will permanently damage those cells. Those cells will
then have even more reduced capacity, so they'll go into reverse charge
even earlier in the battery cycle the next time. There's never any need
to discharge a cell below 1.0 volt. A well designed tool or electronic
device intended for NiCd or NiMH power should quit operating and drawing
battery current when the pack voltage reaches 1.0 volt per cell.
Unfortunately, a lot aren't in this category.

Roy Lewallen