lid wrote in message . ..
On Mon, 10 Nov 2003 22:07:43 GMT, "James Sweet"
wrote:


"Jerry G." wrote in message
...
No matter what you do, they will chemically degrade. The max shelf life is
about 2 to 3 years. Freezing them, infact may cause some internal
corrosion
and damage over the long term.

--

2-3 years? I have some that are older than that and still working fine, but
then they get somewhat regular use.


Are you suggesting that it would be better to use them than to store
them?

The ones in solar lights seem to degrade after about three years of
use, but in storage, NiCd last decades if they don't corrode. NiMH can
sometimes get a pseudo-memory disease if used after long storage which
goes away when they are correctly cycled a few times (loss of
capacity). This is always advisable with Nixx cells - a simple
capacity meter may be built from a clock and 2.5 ohm resistor
(www.repairfaq.org)

If the cells have the white powder disease this may not be terminal,
clean off with solvent of your choice on cotton bud then distilled
water (vinegar seems to work) and test, they usually work fine. Dry
properly before use!


-A


Thanks to you and Jerry for the replies.

Tom