In message , taz
writes
I Beg to differ with you.
I have on occasions, and know friends who have damaged
Ni-Cad batteries. They were damaged by partial depletion
then recharging. They were in sealed waterproof torches
and over a period of time the batteries were damaged by
that method of charging. I now always run my batteries from
full to empty no mater what type.
taz.


Top-up charging is the best regime for NiCd's used in a torch. Full
discharge every time simply wears out the cells unnecessarily.

Of course cells vary enormously in quality and it is virtually
impossible to buy decent ones from retail outlets.

--
Keith Lewis

I agree Keith there are a lot of variables to batteries and the way
they are charged. The trouble with most set-ups IMHO is one cell
will fail in the battery and then the battery as a unit starts to perform
badly. Good cells are hard to get hold of and can easily be damaged
by incorrect use. In my experience if a cell is sold with the label good for
2000 charge cycles I've found that, that number can be reduced by half
if not even 3/4. So in real terms a battery that should be good for 2000
charges sometimes only last for 500 maybe 1000 charges.
Not a scientific answer just my own experience.
taz.


Agreed

Cells are extremely variable and the ones on retail sale tend to give
good ones a bad name. Many are in "D" size cases but are only around
1200 mAH as opposed to an average of 4000 mAH for those available to
OEM's

We've been manufacturing NiCd powered lighting for over 20 years and
have been giving a 3 year guarantee for that time. We do however fit
rather good ones:-)
--
Keith Lewis