<The first thing to try is to charge a large electrolytic capacitor
<(say 10000-100000 uF) to about 20V. Now discharge it through the faulty
<cell. If you are lucky, the cell voltage will rise, at which point charge
<the cell as above.
This is the beast bet as cells fail with internal shorts and the cap will
dump enough energy to open them without cooking the cell.
<What you do is use a current limited PSU of about 10V and 8A. 'Blip' it
<across the cell for a fraction of a second - just tap the wires on.
This is ok if the cell is hard starting, I don't recommend it. The better
approach is the LARGE cap charged to 12-20V and follow with 1/4 the cell
capacity for a few minutes (NOT LONGER).
<I have seen one article which suggests doing the same thing with a car
<battery as the power supply. DON'T!!! . The current is far too high, and
<the NiCd is likely to explode.
Extremely dangerous.
<manufacturers used standard-sized cells, so it is possible to rebuild old
<battery packs.
Often far cheaper than a new one.
Allison
Received on Fri May 07 1999 - 17:43:02 BST