TOT Ni-Cads and NiMh

We were somewhere around Barstow, on the edge of the desert, when the
drugs began to take hold. I remember Bill Wright
saying something like:

I had some small offcuts of aluminium sheet left over from when I made a
cooking wind shield for camping purposes (not for me I hasten to add).
The dustbinmen carefully removed it from the cans recycling box and took
the trouble to knock on the door to tell me that 'it was the wrong sort
of aluminium.'

Same here when I tossed a couple of PC cases into the recycling bin. The
dustman tossed them back out - ffs, there's nothing more recyclable than
steel.

On Apr 14, 12:52*pm, "alexander.keys1"
wrote:

Replace them with NiMH,

Agreed. Also use low capacity cells (800mAh / AA) rather than high
capacity 2000+, as they seem to have better charge holding and overall
lifetime.

"Grimly Curmudgeon" wrote in message
...
We were somewhere around Barstow, on the edge of the desert, when the
drugs began to take hold. I remember Bill Wright
saying something like:

I had some small offcuts of aluminium sheet left over from when I made a
cooking wind shield for camping purposes (not for me I hasten to add).
The dustbinmen carefully removed it from the cans recycling box and took
the trouble to knock on the door to tell me that 'it was the wrong sort
of aluminium.'

Same here when I tossed a couple of PC cases into the recycling bin. The
dustman tossed them back out - ffs, there's nothing more recyclable than
steel.


I dismantled several old videos, folded up the pressed steel tops and
bottoms, which were little more than a thicker version of an ordinary tin
can, popped them into the green recycling bin along with the Quality Street
toffee and baked bean tins (which were deemed OK), however like yours all
rejected.

On Thu, 14 Apr 2011 05:57:36 -0700 (PDT), Andy Dingley wrote:

On Apr 14, 12:52*pm, "alexander.keys1"
wrote:

Replace them with NiMH,

Agreed. Also use low capacity cells (800mAh / AA) rather than high
capacity 2000+, as they seem to have better charge holding and overall
lifetime.

Interesting, that - I saw a battery supplier's site where that sort of
capacity was recommended for DECT 'phones, rather than the cells of 3x the
capacity.
--
Peter.
The gods will stay away
whilst religions hold sway

On Thu, 14 Apr 2011 15:48:27 +0100, Ian Field wrote:

My reason for wanting NiCds was to replace the one's in my shaver - I
conducted various bench tests with both NiCd and NiMh cells that I had to
hand, for comparative running time tests 2200mAh NiMh cells ran almost 3x
longer than 800mAh NiCds, but the NiMh batteries didn't cope with the higher
current draw of actually shaving - I only got 5 shaves compared to about
15 - 20 from new NiCds.

Cells such as Eneloop low-self-discharge have lower capacity but much lower
internal resistance, so the high current isn't wasted so much on heating the
cell itself.
--
Peter.
The gods will stay away
whilst religions hold sway

On Apr 14, 12:52*pm, "alexander.keys1"
wrote:
On Apr 10, 3:41*pm, Bob wrote:

I have been asked to check a load of those solar powered lamps that come
with spikes for sticking into the garden.
Some have leaked but most seem to have completely dead batteries.
Problem is I don't have any ni-cads, only nimhs, will these charge in
the lamps or do I have to buy new nicads?
It would be just as cheap to buy new lights and bin the old lot in that
case but I hate to throw away repairable stuff, seems such a waste.
Any thoughts?

Bob

Replace them with NiMH, I've done it with a solar lamp and two wind-up
radio's, and they work fine. The problem is that the supplied
batteries seem to be rock-bottom quality to keep the cost down, they
have a very short lifespan, and fail to hold a charge after not many
cycles IME.


I think really you could use any old things in this app.


NT

"Tabby" wrote in message
...
On Apr 14, 12:52 pm, "alexander.keys1"
wrote:
On Apr 10, 3:41 pm, Bob wrote:

I have been asked to check a load of those solar powered lamps that
come
with spikes for sticking into the garden.
Some have leaked but most seem to have completely dead batteries.
Problem is I don't have any ni-cads, only nimhs, will these charge in
the lamps or do I have to buy new nicads?
It would be just as cheap to buy new lights and bin the old lot in that
case but I hate to throw away repairable stuff, seems such a waste.
Any thoughts?

Bob

Replace them with NiMH, I've done it with a solar lamp and two wind-up
radio's, and they work fine. The problem is that the supplied
batteries seem to be rock-bottom quality to keep the cost down, they
have a very short lifespan, and fail to hold a charge after not many
cycles IME.


I think really you could use any old things in this app.

I have just replaced 6 cells in mine.
You just need cells that don't suffer voltage depression (memory effect) as
they get short charges in winter and long charges in summer and you don't
want them to lose capacity through repeatedly short charging them in winter.

I put some Duracell rechargeable in as I get them cheap (4AA + 1hr charger
for £1 when Staples stopped selling Duracell stuff two weeks ago, everything
was priced as £1 so some stuff was a better buy than others). I don't really
expect them to last any longer than the originals.

On Apr 14, 7:47*pm, "[email protected]" wrote:
"Tabby" wrote in message

...



On Apr 14, 12:52 pm, "alexander.keys1"
wrote:
On Apr 10, 3:41 pm, Bob wrote:

I have been asked to check a load of those solar powered lamps that
come
with spikes for sticking into the garden.
Some have leaked but most seem to have completely dead batteries.
Problem is I don't have any ni-cads, only nimhs, will these charge in
the lamps or do I have to buy new nicads?
It would be just as cheap to buy new lights and bin the old lot in that
case but I hate to throw away repairable stuff, seems such a waste.
Any thoughts?

Bob

Replace them with NiMH, I've done it with a solar lamp and two wind-up
radio's, and they work fine. The problem is that the supplied
batteries seem to be rock-bottom quality to keep the cost down, they
have a very short lifespan, and fail to hold a charge after not many
cycles IME.

I think really you could use any old things in this app.

I have just replaced 6 cells in mine.
You just need cells that don't suffer voltage depression (memory effect) as

NiCds suffer the memory issue, but are fine for the job. Memory effect
is much overhyped, IRL its seldom a problem.


NT

PeterC wrote:

Cells such as Eneloop low-self-discharge have lower capacity but much lower
internal resistance

So with an external short circuit they are more likely to provide enough
current to start a fire?

Bill

"Tabby" wrote in message
...
On Apr 14, 7:47 pm, "[email protected]" wrote:
"Tabby" wrote in message

...



On Apr 14, 12:52 pm, "alexander.keys1"
wrote:
On Apr 10, 3:41 pm, Bob wrote:

I have been asked to check a load of those solar powered lamps that
come
with spikes for sticking into the garden.
Some have leaked but most seem to have completely dead batteries.
Problem is I don't have any ni-cads, only nimhs, will these charge
in
the lamps or do I have to buy new nicads?
It would be just as cheap to buy new lights and bin the old lot in
that
case but I hate to throw away repairable stuff, seems such a waste.
Any thoughts?

Bob

Replace them with NiMH, I've done it with a solar lamp and two wind-up
radio's, and they work fine. The problem is that the supplied
batteries seem to be rock-bottom quality to keep the cost down, they
have a very short lifespan, and fail to hold a charge after not many
cycles IME.

I think really you could use any old things in this app.

I have just replaced 6 cells in mine.
You just need cells that don't suffer voltage depression (memory effect)
as

NiCds suffer the memory issue, but are fine for the job. Memory effect
is much overhyped, IRL its seldom a problem.

I think you will find that its a problem on solar lights as the solar cell
is never big enough to fully charge the battery and its capacity just gets
lower and lower. They seldom last two years, I expect nimh will


NT