"todd" wrote in message
. ..
That is very good advice, providing your goal is to kill the cells
entirely. You should not completely discharge NiCd batteries. Read
http://www.repairfaq.org/ELE/F_NiCd_...ICDBATTERY_005 for a
reasonably technical discussion of this and other properties of NiCds.

todd

I have two drills, a Makita and a Sears. The Makita is over 10 years old
with the original two Batteries, the Sears is about 6 years old with the
same two batteries. I always let the drill run down to where it stops
turning or pretty close to stopping before recharging. Who knows, but it
worked for me. I didn't do this at first, and after about 2 years one of
the Makita batteries stopped holding a charge. From something I read on the
internet (what the hell, it was worth a try) I took the 12 volts from my
car battery charger and quickly touched it on the baterry contacts a couple
times, sure enough the battery started working again, and it still works 8
years later! Regardless, I will make sure my next drill uses Nimh
batteries.