Schottky diode Question.

From: Marvin <marvin_at_rain.org>
Date: Wed Nov 3 20:04:06 1999

Tony Duell wrote:
>
> [NiCd batteries]
>
> Some people try much the same trick with a car battery and not an bench
> supply. DONT!. The current is essentially unlimited (and may reach
> 1000A), and an explosion is quite likely.

I've done it with no problems so far. Of course, I once took a shotgun shell
and pounded the primer out with a nail too (no, it didn't explode ...
fortunately!) YMMV :)!

In a more serious vein, I understand there are ICs built specifically for
charging NiCads. The basic idea is to zap the cell, wait a bit, check the
voltage, and repeat as necessary. An engineer I know built up a circuit
using this particular chip, and was able to recover and use NiCads that had
been dead for a number of years.
Received on Wed Nov 03 1999 - 20:04:06 GMT