Just wondering what the typical initial voltage is of a new aa or aaa
nicad battery before the first time you charge it. I just bought some
and the voltage ranges from .9 to .99 volts which seems too low to me, I
know it is very bad to let batteries full to this voltage normally but
what about when they are brand new, are these voltages ok then,as
anybody else measured the votlage on new batteries before charging them
for the first time. I wonder if the ones I bought have been on the shelf
too long.

rolling rolling@along writes:

Just wondering what the typical initial voltage is of a new aa or aaa
nicad battery before the first time you charge it. I just bought some
and the voltage ranges from .9 to .99 volts which seems too low to me,
I know it is very bad to let batteries full to this voltage normally
but what about when they are brand new, are these voltages ok then,as
anybody else measured the votlage on new batteries before charging
them for the first time. I wonder if the ones I bought have been on
the shelf too long.

May be fully discharged. New NiCds don't mind being near 0 V.

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On 23 Mar 2005 21:25:22 -0500, Sam Goldwasser wrote:
rolling rolling@along writes:

Just wondering what the typical initial voltage is of a new aa or aaa
nicad battery before the first time you charge it. I just bought some
and the voltage ranges from .9 to .99 volts which seems too low to me,
I know it is very bad to let batteries full to this voltage normally
but what about when they are brand new, are these voltages ok then,as
anybody else measured the votlage on new batteries before charging
them for the first time. I wonder if the ones I bought have been on
the shelf too long.

May be fully discharged. New NiCds don't mind being near 0 V.

There's nothing wrong with discharging nicads all the way. The problem is
with batteries (cells in series); there will always be one cell weaker than
the rest and when it gets discharged to zero, it'll then get charged in reverse
from the others ramming current through it.

I was once told that NiCd batteries should come fully discharged and have a
much longer shelf storage versus once they receive their initial charge. I
do not know if this is indeed true or not, but it seemed to make sense to
me. I do know that fully charged and fairly new NiCd batteries will fully
discharge on their own without any external current drawn over a period of
2-3 months.

Bob



"rolling" rolling@along wrote in message ...
Just wondering what the typical initial voltage is of a new aa or aaa
nicad battery before the first time you charge it. I just bought some
and the voltage ranges from .9 to .99 volts which seems too low to me, I
know it is very bad to let batteries full to this voltage normally but
what about when they are brand new, are these voltages ok then,as
anybody else measured the votlage on new batteries before charging them
for the first time. I wonder if the ones I bought have been on the shelf
too long.

TCS wrote:
On 23 Mar 2005 21:25:22 -0500, Sam Goldwasser wrote:

rolling rolling@along writes:


Just wondering what the typical initial voltage is of a new aa or aaa
nicad battery before the first time you charge it. I just bought some
and the voltage ranges from .9 to .99 volts which seems too low to me,
I know it is very bad to let batteries full to this voltage normally
but what about when they are brand new, are these voltages ok then,as
anybody else measured the votlage on new batteries before charging
them for the first time. I wonder if the ones I bought have been on
the shelf too long.


May be fully discharged. New NiCds don't mind being near 0 V.


There's nothing wrong with discharging nicads all the way. The problem is
with batteries (cells in series); there will always be one cell weaker than
the rest and when it gets discharged to zero, it'll then get charged in reverse
from the others ramming current through it.

Thanks to both of you for those helpful replies.

Bob Shuman wrote:
I was once told that NiCd batteries should come fully discharged and have a
much longer shelf storage versus once they receive their initial charge. I
do not know if this is indeed true or not, but it seemed to make sense to
me. I do know that fully charged and fairly new NiCd batteries will fully
discharge on their own without any external current drawn over a period of
2-3 months.

Bob



"rolling" rolling@along wrote in message ...

Just wondering what the typical initial voltage is of a new aa or aaa
nicad battery before the first time you charge it. I just bought some
and the voltage ranges from .9 to .99 volts which seems too low to me, I
know it is very bad to let batteries full to this voltage normally but
what about when they are brand new, are these voltages ok then,as
anybody else measured the votlage on new batteries before charging them
for the first time. I wonder if the ones I bought have been on the shelf
too long.




They don't charge 'em cause the process time to do so would bring the
production line to a crawl. There are probably other secondary issues.
mike

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