Nimh/nicd ponderings...

[glassdoctor]

Originally Posted by hoober

Generally no amount of "cycling" will help any pack. It will simply use up 1 more life cycle. Many are deceived into thinking that the "cycling" directly increased the capacity since the capacity continued to rise at every subsequent cycle.

It usually stems directly form the forced overcharge that is hung on the tail end of the "full mark" and is rather from the cells being "balanced" rather than from the cells being "cycled"

Try it, you'll like "cycling" once better than many times over. Here's the best that one can do:

Take the discharged pack and allow it to set for a long time (it can be dead shorted for prolonged periods as well) Charge it at c/10 for 15 hrs +. The pack is at it's fullest and best balance already. Use normally. OR simply do a c/10 charge for 15 hrs and use or test.

This would only apply with packs that are in good condition and have been in service.

One charge/discharge cycle on an old cell or pack may only yield 10% capacity. Sure, the capacity and performance will increase with each use... but who wants to waste time trying to "use" a battery that's working like crap. It's better to let a cycling charger do it's thing automatically and then you can use the battery once the performance has improved.

And it's not a myth... cycling can and does yield increased performance in some circumstances and it has nothing to do with the cells being balanced. We used to "balance" the cells in our packs after each use by discharging each cell independently.

Cycling at higher rates (charging at 1-2c and discharging at 20-30A) did increase performance with nickel cell packs.

Sure, there were some practices that may have been merely snake oil... or maybe even detrimental... but plenty of our battery care 101 was real and effective.