Subj : charging NiMH
To   : BEN RITCHEY
From : TOM WALKER
Date : Mon Jun 20 2005 09:16 am

BR>After reading everything posted recently, it's obvious a trickle charge conc
BR>is a poor choice :( , so my question is this: I will have a NiMH battery pac
BR>that will be sitting up for weeks if not months at a time, then it will
BR>suddenly be needed on short notice (possibly minutes, normally a few hours),
BR>how do I maintain the batteries to have the freshest state possible when use
BR>as noted?

BR>Also, If I can quickly (i.e. minutes) discharge to a known state (R?) then
BR>apply a full charge (say 25% of rated AH for four hours max, or something
BR>better?) how do I determine the state of the batteries?

 In that case you need an Automatic Charger, perferabibly desigend for
 the pack. There is no less expensice practial option. The automac
 chargers monitor the battery voltage(which is a rouhg state of
 charge indicator) and when they detect a certain voltage depression
 they go into Charging mode. Thyis cycle continues as long as the
 batteryis in the charger.
 When talking about NiMH battereis there is no problem recharging before
 they are significantly discharges and the discharging befor charging
 is not necessary..
 That problem only bacicly applies to NiCAD batteries. And that is why
 the Automatic Discharge/Charging units are pouplar for NiCads.
On the standby NiCAD packs I used to take caree of I had to do a
Charge/Discharge/Charge cycle every month.
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