Mike,

Draining a nicad battery will not destroy it. In fact, nicads
have a memory effect, through which the battery thinks it is
discharged, when it isn't. The best way to deal with that
situation is to completely discharge the battery once in a while.

Nickel metal hydride batteries, on the other hand, do not have a
memory and can be recharged after only a partial discharge.

Ken


Michael Daly wrote:
On 17-Mar-2005, Dave Hall wrote:


Surprisingly this is exactly what my 18 volt XRP DeWalt drill manual
says.("As soon as you detect that the tool performance is diminished,
it's time to recharge.")


There is always some ambiguity in what "fully discharge" means.
To some, that means wipe out any power the battery may have, to others,
it's drain until it is not particularly useful. Draining the battery
of all power will destroy it. Discharging it until it's not useful
(as in "performance is diminished") won't damage it.

Mike