NiCad Battery Life ?

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aboxer@midwest.tr.com - 24 Apr 2007 18:26 GMT

I found a batch of Nicad batteries that are over 10 years old that
were never used or charged.
Can they safely hold a charge or should thye be scrapped ?

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MJKolodziej - 24 Apr 2007 18:54 GMT

I wouldn't trust them to something that could crash and I'm pretty cheap.
mk

>I found a batch of Nicad batteries that are over 10 years old that
> were never used or charged.
> Can they safely hold a charge or should thye be scrapped ?

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Ed Paasch - 24 Apr 2007 19:47 GMT

I'd check them out on a battery cycler and see if they're still capable of
delivering their rated capacity under load. Even if they tested good, I
probably wouldn't trust my latest, most favorite project to 10 year old
batteries while airborn, but you might find them useful for other
applications.

>I found a batch of Nicad batteries that are over 10 years old that
> were never used or charged.
> Can they safely hold a charge or should thye be scrapped ?

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Poxy - 25 Apr 2007 00:56 GMT

> I found a batch of Nicad batteries that are over 10 years old that
> were never used or charged.
> Can they safely hold a charge or should thye be scrapped ?

I have a NiCad flight pack that is about 15 years old and works just fine -
if you can, do a few charge-discharge cycles and see how many mAh are going
and coming out - if it's close to the rating of the cells then you shouldn't
have a problem.

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Ed Forsythe - 25 Apr 2007 13:10 GMT

Condition a battery by charging it at C/10 for at least 18 hours. Monitor
to insure that it doesn't overheat (just warm is OK). Then cycle to insure
that it reaches it's rated capacity. If it doesn't after 4 cycles dispose
of the battery. 4 cycles is my maximum Red may disagree. ;-)

>I found a batch of Nicad batteries that are over 10 years old that
> were never used or charged.
> Can they safely hold a charge or should thye be scrapped ?

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Red Scholefield - 25 Apr 2007 05:24 GMT

We usually use a discharge of C/5 (or as close as you get) for capacity
determination. Depending on how close you want to push it some say 80% of
rated is the cut off point for discarding. It kind of depends on the value
of the plane. I would want top performance in something I really value and
relegate sub par capacity to something I just bang around with.

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Red S.
Red's R/C Battery Clinic
http://www.rcbatteryclinic.com
Check us out for "revolting" information.

> Condition a battery by charging it at C/10 for at least 18 hours. Monitor
> to insure that it doesn't overheat (just warm is OK). Then cycle to insure
[quoted text clipped - 4 lines]
>> were never used or charged.
>> Can they safely hold a charge or should thye be scrapped ?

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Six_O'Clock_High - 26 Apr 2007 02:13 GMT

Different folks have different ideas for older less capable equipment. I
cycle my NiCad's about once every 6 months to keep up with their condition
because eating aircraft just is not as nice as eating steak. When my
batteries drop to less than 90% of rated value, they get replaced rather
than moved to a less valuable airframe simply because I really hate seeing
my R/C plane flying on its own and will do all I can to prevent that. That
is one of the most terrifying sights I know of in this hobby because
implicitly other people are in danger and there is nothing I can do about
it.

YMMV

Jim

> We usually use a discharge of C/5 (or as close as you get) for capacity
> determination. Depending on how close you want to push it some say 80% of
[quoted text clipped - 11 lines]
>>> were never used or charged.
>>> Can they safely hold a charge or should thye be scrapped ?

Reply to this Message

Model Forum / Radio Controlled / Air Models / April 2007

NiCad Battery Life ?