Quote:
Am I completely wrong in assuming that all these need is a trickle charge to get them started?

My father was an electrical engineer for a company that produced satelites. Cool dad to have for electronics projects.
With his help we 'revived' many 'junk' Ni-Cad batteries for various toys and gadgets. He told me about a phenomenon that occurs in those batteries where fine needle-like strands grow between the layers of chemicals in the cells. When the needles touch they ruin the capacity of the cell. 'Popping' the cell with a jolt of higher voltage or from a larger battery would burn away the needles and restore life to the cell.
Ah- wikipedia agrees:
Quote:
Dendritic shorting
NiCd batteries, when not used regularly, tend to develop dendrites (thin, conductive crystals), causing internal short circuits and premature battery failure, long before the 800–1000 charge/discharge cycles claimed by most vendors. Sometimes, applying a brief, high-current charging pulse to individual cells can clear these dendrites, but once dendrites have begun to form, they will typically recur soon thereafter.

They like to be 'deep cycled' in order to remain 'healthy'.
Not true for Li-Ion, though.
I love wikipedia!
_________________________
10101311 (20GB- backup empeg)
10101466 (2x60GB, Eutronix/GreenLights Blue) (Stolen!)