Can I bring my NiCd batteries from the dead?
NiCd cells which have developed internal short circuits can sometimes be “zapped” back to life by a high-current pulse, which burns out the metal whiskers which caused the short. This is usually done by charging a good- sized capacitor up to 5 volts or so (from a DC power supply, through a series resistor), and then “sparking” the NiCd cell from the capacitor… the sudden current surge will vaporize the whiskers. The cells should be removed from the battery [pack] before this is done… don’t try to “zap” the cells while they’re still connected to one another or to any other equipment.
