DIYbanter - View Single Post - Laptop/ drill rechargable batterys.. methods for longer life?

krw[_4_]

In article ,
says...
krw wrote in
t:

In article ,
says...
"William Sommerwerck" wrote in
:

I have some from the '60s that still work (I may have finally thrown
them out in the last move). As long as they're stored flat they
should last virtually forever.

What about them drying out?

I don't believe the electrolyte is water-based.
I also don't believe that about "stored flat they should last virtually
forever",as they will still grow crystal spikes that short out the cell.

It's my understanding that dendrites grow in the presence of an
electric field. If they're totally flat there should be no growth.

define "totally flat",or just "flat".

Are you saying -zero- volts per cell?

Yes. That's flat. They'll self-discharge all the way to zero in a
year or so.

If there's -any- charge on them,they'll grow dendrites.

There won't be charge in them long.

In my experience,NiCds that aren't used regularly go bad quickly.

Either you buy incredibly crappy batteries or you're doing
something bad to them.