Nickel Metal Hydrids

From: Dwight K. Elvey <dwight.elvey_at_amd.com>
Date: Mon Jan 17 13:32:49 2005

Hi
 I thought I'd pass on some info about these batteries.
I received a laptop with a "dead" battery. The voltage
as read from a meter was "0" volts. I mean dead!
I first stuck it into the laptop but quickly noticed
the smell of hot resistors ( bad idea ).
 I then connected it to a bench supply running at about
200ma. I watched the level of the voltage until it
gradually came up to about 12v ( 14.4v pack ). I placed
it back in the laptop and allowed it to charge until
it indicated a full charge.
 I ran it down once to the battery low level and repeated
the charge. That was last night. Leaving it for 8 hours,
it seems to be maintaining its charge.
 Moral of the story, don't give up on these batteries.
They are remarkably tough. Most NiCads batteries would
not recover from such a level.
Dwight
Received on Mon Jan 17 2005 - 13:32:49 GMT