Dropping some Voltage.

[stoneshirt]

Hieverybody...
Can someone Post me up a Line or Two on this.My ExCal Battery(KellyCo Pro-1600) It's around 3.5 Yrs old.It's feeling kinda' Puny...Can I/should I put a small(?) 12 Volt Auto Bulb on it, and drain it down(how far?)..I have the dedicated Charger for it... I thought that might "Rejuvenate" it somewhat....I have never ran it down since new.
stoneshirt.....Thanks..

 

[giuhalftrack]

it depends on the battery technology, different batteries have to be managed in different ways... is the battery a LIPO a NIMH or ...

as any component the battery is not an ideal component and with age it shows a series resistence so the amount of current that you can draw is limited in respect to the original value.

In your case if i understand, you don't have any problem but you want do some maintenance on it, right ?

in any case, whatever load you connect to the battery to discharge (in your example a light buld) this load must NOT draw an amount of current higher of the battery capacity/ time

I think the most safe way to do this is measure the normal draw of current from the battery when used by the detector and then set a load to draw this current.