> Date: Thu, 31 Aug 2000 12:08:44 -0400
> From: Chad Fernandez <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
> Subject: Re: CMOS battery replacement
>
> John Tomany wrote:
> > Using four new zinc/carbon "D"-size batteries (I repeat: NOT
> > alkaline, nicad, nor any rechargeable), you'll throw away that
> > computer before replacing the battery pack... about a dozen years
> > from now.
>
> Hello, I'd like to have room for my hard drives still!
Aren't we talking about "survivor" PCs? (i.e. - Big honking ISA-bus
machines, where you could rarely, if ever, fill all eight ISA card
slots? The kind of machine that acts as a very large base for your
monitor, and is usually powered by an old 286 or maybe a 386?)
;-)
> I don't think the lithium batteries are rechargeable,
They aren't.
> but the NiCads are. Most of mine are NiCads. NiCads will go bad
> eventually just like any other battery, However.
Not really. I have NiCads I've been using for twenty years or more.
The secret is that they must be (nearly) completely discharged
before recharging. If you use up, say, only ten percent of a NiCad's
capacity, then recharge it, it won't provide full capacity next time.
If you repeat this sort of thing, eventually, the battery will have a
MAXIMUM of only 20% or so available. (The "Nicad memory"
syndrome...)
However, almost all of them can be restored to full capacity after
a series of DEEP discharge, full charge cycles. (Put it in a
flashlight, and leave it ON until the bulb goes dark. Turn it off
for an hour or so. Then turn it back on again. When the bulb goes
out the second time - it won't take long! - the battery can usually
be considered "fully" discharged, and *NOW* it is time to recharge
it... then do the whole thing over again a few times. It will
restore most "dead" NiCads.)
This doesn't apply to those with internal shorts, however - but there
even is an often-successful procedure for "shocking" those back to
life! ( Don't try this - but you can sometimes "whack" one back to
normalcy with a BIG capacitor charged to about three times the
battery's normal voltage. The problems: the connecting wire is
sometimes welded to the final battery connection by the spark, and
the case might rupture as the internal short vaporizes...)
BTW - even very old, common, cheap, low-capacity zinc/carbon
batteries
can be recharged 3-6 times before they refuse to provide reasonable
current output. Don't recharge alkalines (e.g. - "energizer") - they
*WILL* burst and leak. (Please don't ask me how I know this !)
- John T.
Chad Fernandez
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