Weird science and NiCad batteries

Feb 21, 2006 5 Replies
T

Hi all.



OK, I am humming the "X files" theme here.



I just did an experiment involving "nuking" a defective NiMH mobile phone pack.



Interestingly, the voltage shot up from 4V (this was a 4.8V pack) to over 5.2V and the pack appeared to charge somewhat (it powered the phone for a while, and accepted a charge)



My speculation is that somehow it fused out those dendrites on every cell (due to the high current flow) far more effectively than the usual tricks like applying high voltage pulses.



Anyone have any insight on this?



...



(DO NOT try duplicating this experiment, you risk the battery exploding violently scattering bits of metal at speeds exceeding that of a bullet, this is far more dangerous than "zapping" bad cells with a capacitor!!!!)



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B

What, exactly, did you do?

Bob M.

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B

In that case, I strongly suspect that this "nuking" did absolutely nothing significant, and any change you saw in the battery's behavior was coincidental.

Bob M.

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C

Think I'll get laughed at if I walk up to the network analyzer with a NiMH cell and say I want to measure S11?

I guess it probably would be safe to do with a cap to block the dc...

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C

Hmm, you may be right, depending on the shape of the battery the RF may not have penetrated very far. Most likely would stay entirely on the outside of the metal can. But I guess beaming a few hundred Watts of RF into an electrical device MIGHT do something, I'd be tempted to try it if I had a dead NiMH and a microwave I planned to throw away, and a lot of bricks to pile around it.

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