Re: NiCd Battery Storage

["Tesla list" <tesla-at-pupman-dot-com>]

Original poster: "Gary Peterson by way of Terry Fritz <twftesla-at-qwest-dot-net>" <glpeterson-at-tfcbooks-dot-com>

> The problem with charged
> cells is that they internally discharge, growing dendrites which
> eventually short them out. I'd discharge them to the point where one
> cell hits a volt . . . .

Think I'll use the new pack until it's discharged to about .8 V/celland keep
the old one charged for general use.  (I store batteries in the fridge.)
Both have 8 cells about "C" size, the old one w/ cells shrink-tubed together
3-2-3.  The new pack is a camcorder battery in a black plastic case.  BTW, I
found a little slip of paper in the new one's box w/ words to the effect
that nicads should be stored discharged.

The driver circuit came from Gary Johnson and incorporates an H11L3GE
optoisolator and a single IRF820 MOSFET.  The secondary tunes from 200 kHz
w/ no topload to about 107kHz with maximum topload.

Thanks all,
Gary