How do you "fix" a NiCd battery that won't charge?
I've seen youtube videos of people using Arc Welders to "juice" an old battery that previously wouldn't hold a charge. Of course I know this is dangerous, and could result in explosion or fire. I have heard that there is a way to do this that doesn't involve a welder - maybe a car battery or a dry cell or something (still dangerous, I know). Has anyone ever done anything like this? How? How did it work?
What size battery?
If it's household batteries, some of the really good chargers (Lacross 800/900/etc) have a fancy cycle that can bring back dead rechargeables if they're not beyond resurrection.
Look at Amazon's reviews on the rechargers or even rechargeable batteries, and read over NLee The Engineers posts.
Hope something here helped.
If the battery is totally flat, you may be able to give it enough of a kick with a DC power supply to get it to charge again but I wouldn't count on it holding much of a charge. NOTE: make sure that you have your polarities correct and only use the rated voltage of the battery
recycle
Sorry all, I was talking about NiCd batteries that are used in home power tools. I have a lacrosse battery conditioner and it is indeed awesome, but I'm trying to fix a power tool's NiCd battery pack.
@sirlouie: recycle and replace = fixed
You can (allegedly) have the packs rebuilt with new cells at places like BatteriesPlus.
I freeze my rechargeable Xbox battery packs when they won't charge.
Freeze em for a few hours, let them thaw and then charge. Works majority of the time.
This is a fix that I came up with that works great, I get about 4+ hours charge from battery packs that refuse to charge immediately.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QXaIlyjvvSE
If it works for you, please upvote, would like more people to know instead of buying $14 replacement packs.
Enjoy,
FraviaSeeker
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