jump starting old Nicad batteries for cordless tools

By sbcmweb (****)

Date 12-04-2008 17:20

I have an 18 volt battery I'm going to try this with. I'll let everyone know how it turns out. S.W.

By jwright650 (*****)

Date 12-04-2008 17:43

I have a couple of those too....I'll hit em' with my Hobart 135 when I get a chance and see what happens.....LOL

By raftergwelding (*****)

Date 12-06-2008 20:31

I wonder what would happen if i hit it with my sa 200 i danot hqave a small mig machine KABOOOOOOOOOOOM I suppose

By Kix

Date 12-04-2008 17:46

Yeah, let us know!

By sbcmweb (****)

Date 12-04-2008 21:05

I'll be wearing my PPE FOR SURE!!!! :-) S.W.

By Lawrence (*****)

Date 12-04-2008 17:43

Dr. Destructo !

By jwright650 (*****)

Date 12-04-2008 17:51 Edited 12-04-2008 17:55

Maybe I should have the video camera rolling in case something happens and my wife and kids could cash in on the $10,000 from funniest home videos.

edit: on a serious note, I've seen what a car battery will do when it explodes,(it is pretty scary when it explodes in your F-I-L's face and you have to lead him to the house by the hand because he can't see) but that is a wet cell battery with alot more plate surface area.

By ctacker (****)

Date 12-05-2008 02:55

I had a car battery blow on me once too, when magnetizing them little driver bits, fortunately for me only a couple minor burns and a new set of church clothes!

By Kix

Date 12-04-2008 21:30

I like captain destructo better, it has a cooler ring to it.;-) Him and Captain obvious, would be a duo.. lol

By ctacker (****)

Date 12-05-2008 02:50

I have taken a 6 volt DC transformer and recharged watch batteries, had one blow up but with gloves on there was no damage, I think one of those would do quite a bit more damage though!

By cmays

Date 12-08-2008 02:21

And remember kids, Ask your parents how to not electrocute yourself with a welder.....HAHA couldnt miss that little part

By Hutchinson Date 12-15-2008 13:37

Ni-cad batteries develop a "memory" after a while and won't charge up to their full capacity. They need to be fully discharged in order to get their full capacity back.

To do this, go to radio shack and get an approx. 50 ohm resistor of any wattage, hook one lead of the resistor to one end of the battery, hook the other lead of the resistor to the other end of the battery and let it sit overnight, then hook a piece of wire across the battery the same way so that the battery is shorted out, and let it sit for an hour. The purpose of this is to completely drain the battery without shorting it out while it has a charge, if you short it out with the wire while it has a partial charge, you could damage the battery or the wire will get so hot it will melt or start a fire.

After the battery is completely discharged, it's ready to charge up again and it should have it's full capacity back. If it doesn't, it's time for a new battery.

This also may work with some types of batteries other than ni-cad.