I remember in a magazine a few years back that someone had built a device for fully discharging a NiCad battery to avoid the 'memory' problem. I can't seem to find the article anywhere. I am actually going to use the schematics to build a discharger for cordless tool batteries (they really seem prone to memory problems). Thanks, Scott

-- Scott Baldwin (ssbaldy@juno.com), March 11, 1999

Answers

A light bulb makes a very inexpensive "discharger". Pick one suitable for the battery voltage. A simple resistor of the right value and wattage is also fine (and cheap!). There are more complex schemes, but you don't really need them.

BTW most NiCad manufacturers now claim that "memory" effects are minimal (or don't even exist) with current generation cells. Cells do wear out, so some of what might seem to be a memory effect might just be the cell getting old. A full discharge/recharge cycle won't hurt though and might even help with some cells.

-- Bob Atkins (bobatkins@hotmail.com), March 13, 1999.