MAKE: Blog: HOW TO - Revive Nicad batteries by zapping with a welder

HOW TO - Revive Nicad batteries by zapping with a welder

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Here are the video versions of Tim's revive-a-battery-with-a-welder how-to...

Nicad batteries often die in such a way that they won't take a charge and have zero voltage. This usually means they're shorted out by crystal dendrite growth.

Here's a method of bringing them back to life by zapping those shorted crystal dendrites away with too much current and/or voltage. We'll use a welder as a power source. You could also use a car battery, a DC powersupply, or almost anything with some voltage. Charged-up capacitors are popular for this because you can get a very fast pulse out of them and still limit the power. it's a lot safer that way.

You can also download the video (MOV) here - Link. It should download in to iTunes or whatever podcatcher you use.

Comments

Oldest comments listed first.

Posted by: Tercero on December 18, 2006 at 12:12 PM

Seems like an extremely dangerous method to save yourself a couple of bucks.

Posted by: Oracle1729 on December 18, 2006 at 4:11 PM

Agreed Tercero. Back in the NiCd days, I used to do this all the time with my bench power supply. Using a welder seems like a fatal accident waiting to happen.

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