Posted By TonyWalsham on 06/17/2008 5:59
I much prefer NiCd to NiMh for a number of reasons.
Primarily because they usually have twice the recharge cycle capability compared to NiMh. In plain English they last twice as long.
Also NiCd batteries do not self discharge as rapidly as NiMh do. That is mostly the reason why Sanyo no longer make AA size NiMh cells. They changed the chemistry to a mixture of NiMh and Alkaline and now guarantee their AA size cells to hold 85% of their charge for 1 year.
Tony, Del, et al:
These are the same as the findings of the study I mentioned above at work, charge life of the thousands Vs. hundreds, more stable in storage, longer running, etc. Guess it applies to trains too, and what I will consider when it comes time to battery power my choo choos.
Your charger comments are one of the items we are contending with at work, people not dis-charging, over dis-charging, over charging, short vs. long charing, leaving/storing batteries in the hot/cold, etc. All killers over time.
Reportedly, either a good charger like you mention Tony or, if that does not work, a few cycles of full discharge/recharge will supposedly break the memory.
The other comment in the study was how to test for dead cells, if you (right after charge) 1VDC or more lower than the rating of the full pack, you have a dead cell. Over dis-charging is one cause of dead cells reportedly.
Interesting stuff!