Hate to get way off subject here but I just did something that always amazes me that is not really common knowledge and might come in use to some of our "techie" types some day. The ole cordless phone uses a ni-cad battery pack and if I forget to charge it for 7+ days it will run down and refuse to accept a charge. Now old ni-cads will develope this problem in addition to their more common "memory effect" problem wherein if you recharge them before fully discharging they don't fully recharge. But back to the can't charge at all problem, when ni-cads do this they have developed an either an internal chemical open or short condition and there is an easy trick to getting them back. Simply take a 1000uf capacitor or so (big) charge to 25 VDC or so and discharge through battery by just touching to terminals for an instant. If said capacitor is not available rigging up a way to touch the terminals for a split second to a good 5-10 amp 12VDC battery charger will produce the same effect. You burn through the problem and can recharge normaly saving you $15 for a new battery pack. This is a common model airplane trick. So recovered the battery pack should be good a long long time. You must only contact the power source for a split second (brush the terminal for 1 good spark). A car battery would be suitable as well. OF COURSE IF YOU ARE AN IDIOT DON'T DO THIS AS A PROLONGED APPLICATION OF CURRENT WILL LIKELY BLOW THE BATTERY SKY HIGH. John vwbus@tcpbbs.com
|
Please note - During the past 17 years of operation, several gigabytes of
Vanagon mail messages have been archived. Searching the entire collection
will take up to five minutes to complete. Please be patient!
Return to the archives @ gerry.vanagon.com
The vanagon mailing list archives are copyright (c) 1994-2011, and may not be reproduced without the express written permission of the list administrators. Posting messages to this mailing list grants a license to the mailing list administrators to reproduce the message in a compilation, either printed or electronic. All compilations will be not-for-profit, with any excess proceeds going to the Vanagon mailing list.
Any profits from list compilations go exclusively towards the management and operation of the Vanagon mailing list and vanagon mailing list web site.