How To Revive NiCad Batteries With Car Battery Charger

restoring rechargeable batteries with auto chargerNiCad battery or a nickel based battery is a rechargeable type of power cell that can be very useful for a lot of users. However, this type of battery is a power cell that can suffer from the so called “memory effect” and most of them ends up on trash once they are dead.

But if you are one of those people wondering if there is a way to revive this type of power cell, then you are in the right place. Because this article is all about rechargeable batteries and it will provide you a complete overview on how to revive NiCad batteries with a car battery charger.

This article will also provide you a lot of useful information regarding nickel based power cells. It will define what really NiCad batteries, it will also provide significant information about memory effect as well as how revive this type of battery. So before we proceed to our main business, let me first define and get to know the what is a NiCad battery and understand what is memory effect.

What Really Is A Nickel Cadmium Or NiCad Battery?

A nickel cadmium or NiCad battery is a rechargeable power cell that nickel oxide hydroxide as well as metallic cadmium as electrodes to provide power. It was invented in the year 1899 and it instantly became the choice for plenty of applications due to its ability to maintain steady voltage.

This type of power cell had been a very reliable power source for a lot of manufacturers because of technology behind it. It is also a great power source because they can use to power a variety of devices for a long period of time. However, there is a downside on this type of battery. This is the risk of suffering on the so called memory effect which is the main reason why a lot industries and manufacturers are switching to other types of batteries.

Understanding Memory Effect

Memory effect is condition where most of NiCad batteries suffer. This condition happens overtime where the batteries tend to lose its charge faster than batteries usually does. When a battery is suffering this condition it will display a full 100% charge although the battery only has 60% charge.

When this happen as a routine, then the battery will tend to provide lesser amount of power compared to the usual amount that it is expected to provide. This condition is usually caused by overcharging the battery without fully discharging it.

To try to avoid this condition from happening make sure to fully discharge the nickel based battery before recharging it. This will make sure that battery complete the whole charge and recharge cycle that will prevent the condition to happen.

Restoring NiCd Batteries With An Auto Battery Charger

(Watch how this guy do to fix the problem).

If you are wondering if there is way on how to revive a Nicad battery, the answer is YES. There are several ways that you can do to recondition a dead nickel cadmium battery. However, in this article, i am going to talk about how to do it with a car battery charger. Listed below are the correct steps on how carry on with the process properly.

Step 1. Determine If The Battery Has Some Charge Left

To carry on with the process, the first thing you have to do is to see if the battery still have some charge left in it. You can do this by simply using a tester, a multimeter or a voltmeter to check whether the battery still have some voltage left in it. Just connect the ports of the device on the positive and negative terminals of the battery and then check the reading of the device. This step is done to prepare the battery for the step that will follow.

Step 2. Completely Drain The Battery And Use Up The Remaining Charge

The next step that you have to take is to completely drain or use up the remaining charge of the battery until it has 0 charge or voltage. This is to make sure that the battery will begin on a clean slate or start the discharge and charge cycle of the battery from the beginning. This is also a very important step to prepare the battery for the final step of the process. This step is also done to make sure that the battery still has the capacity to receive and store charge.

Step 3. Use The Car Battery Charger To Try To Charge The Battery To Revive

Finally, you have to make use the car battery charger to try to charge the NiCad battery that you want to revive. In some guides available online, there’s an extra step that you have to do before this. That is to freeze the battery for a while. But i think proceeding to this step will not make any difference. So in this final step, you will try to if the battery that you are going to revive will still have ability to receive charge.

If the battery doesn’t take in the voltage, then the battery needs to be replaced. You can do this step by simply connecting the ports of the charger to the respective terminals of the battery and let the device do its work and do the magic. If the battery takes in the charge or the voltage that device feeds it, then you are successful with the process. Otherwise, the battery is already dead and it needs to be replaced.

Conclusion

That is how you try to revive NiCad batteries with a car battery charger and those are the information that you have to know when it comes to nickel based batteries. There are other ways to revive nickel cadmium batteries and i am going to give them to you on our other blog posts.

Just wait for them and keep checking out my site. However, you can keep all of these information in mind because it will help you on a lot of situation that has something to do with NiCad batteries.