On Jan 9, 2:44*pm, "
wrote:
On Jan 9, 11:10 am, Steve Turner
wrote:

These days I'm to
the point where trying to track down "the answer" on Google just makes me
cross-eyed and grouchy, and I *still* don't trust the result.

With good reason. *I used to remark or post in response to something
that was specifically in my field of work or experience if I knew it
was wrong. *Now, I watch the tone of the thread and see if the OP is a
first time poster, or if the thread turns to politics. *Then I don't
bother.

The internet is still a vast treasure trove of information, but it
still needs to be viewed with a suspicious eye. *I am like to find
something that piques my interest that is presented as a "fact", just
to store it away in the back of my mind for further use.

I cannot imagine any other medium that has spawned more experts on any
subject than the internet.

Anyhow, at the risk of sounding like one of those know-it-alls, this
is a neat piece of work that details out some of the workings of a
NiCad battery. *If you read this carefully, you can see why the NiCads
fail. *The crystals that form inside the batteries from normal use
make it harder and harder for the battery to fully charge.

The crystals are formed at a much faster rate when the NiCads aren't
properly charged, then discharged through normal use, or stored, then
discharged and recharged. (See page three of the pdf).

http://www.ee.ryerson.ca/~phiscock/p...ad-battery.pdf

The guys that claim to be able to revive a NiCad battery have had some
luck doing it.

http://www.roaddevils.com/forum/showthread.php?t=6005

They break down the crystalline structure inside the battery by
"shocking" the battery, restoring its ability to receive and hold a
charge. *This blitz conditioning is supposed to work well about half
the time, depending on who you talk to. Interesting that someone
figured that out, but it held no interest for me. *Money is tight for
me... but not that tight.

A buddy of mine bought some instructions on how to do it on eBay for a
few bucks, and he said it worked fine - brought some dead batteries
back to life. I'll try it at some point on some old tools I don't use
anymore, and haven't in years. If it brings those back, well, Lazarus
walks again!

R