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Rejuvenating my Battery.

S

stoneshirt

Guest
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..
 
You shouldn’t kill it of course. If it’s lith. And that’s a smart charger it may not recognize it if drained to low. In that case I’d use an old charger and slow charge it. Personally... I’d get one of the RNB 3000 and call it a day.....for many years in fact.
 
Hi,dewcon4414 (so formal)...
Hey. that Batt. Pac is NiMH from Kellyco.I was reading somewhere (Battery specialist Site) about Dis-charging Batts.I think it was for NiMH."Drain down with Auto Taillight Bulb(check for heat) until dead,and then leave it for another 30 Minutes or so,to make sure the cells are all drained evenly? rinse,and repeat.What do ya' think? By the way,dew,I live in Santa Marta, Colombia,and it's not just a matter of stepping out and getting something.I'm doing my best to keep this old Blue Ex working.Lots of Epoxy,and super Glue,and a home spun Coil Cable Etc. Ect stoneshirt.
 
Here is what critterhunter had to say about batteries some years back. I have never tried it but I did communicate with him from time to time and he always had some good information to share

If you have a pack that no longer holds a charge well or won't take one, here's the way I've recovered nimh or nicad packs in the past. Hook it up to a aftermarket charger and blast charge it at say 1C (1 hour charge). This will break down crystals of resistance that can form in the pack that the normal slow charging process doesn't get rid of. In fact, many cheap chargers that come with detectors or such won't even charge a pack that is this way, while a good aftermarket charger will force it to take a charge. Some guys will even blast charge at say 2 or 3 times C to insure the crystals are broken down good. I do NOT recommend doing that because you could easily have the pack explode or catch on fire. If anything, if I risk doing that high of a charge rate to break down any crystals I only do it for a couple of minutes and then stop, because you are asking for trouble IMO at that fast of a charging rate.

After charged then hook a car tail light bulb to the pack to drain it. After the light goes out let it sit hooked up to the bulb for another 30 minutes or so. This will insure all cells are at equal discharge. Re-charge the pack again at 1C. Repeat the process 3 to 5 times or so. Now charge the pack a bit slower, 1/2 C or even use the stock even slower charger to charge it. Chances are that now the pack will have good capacity again, or at least increased capacity, and will work well again. I like to do this charge/discharge exercise 2 or 3 times to my nimh or nicad packs about once or twice a year to exercises them as it increases their capacity.
 
What I have always done and never had a problem with them lasting, I have done this for others around here and they are well happy.
I use a Sun Ray SR 12 charger and know of others that work good too from the battery place that sells batterys and chargers. The Charger I have when hooked up has a function that discharges the battery to a safe level and then recharge it again to a safe level and goes into a trickle pulse charge. I run it trough 2 or 3 times doing this and they seem to work good. I had some brought to me to do this too and they were total discharged and were leaking and some would not take a charge, s be careful not to totally discharge them or you might have a problem.
I beleive my charger discharges at 300 Mah and charges at 700 Mah and if you have time to check it and see how long it take to charge and discharge you can tell how good your battery is.


Good luck

Rick
 
Hi. Excali NIcd batteries can be safely discharged, up to 1 volt. then you can quickly charge it for one hour at 1C. Repeat steps two or three times and then a very slow charge. That method works very well for me.
Greetings
 
Sorry. NiCd batteries can be safely discharged, down to 0.85 volts.
A pack of the excali, there are ten batteries. Which is the same at 8.5 volts minimum
 
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