Premium chargers provide a discharge cycle enabling you to recondition cells.
Patented in 1986 by Stanford Ovshinsky, founder of Ovonics, Nickel-Metal Hydride --- commonly called "NiMH" --- batteries use nickel-hydride as the anode, and alkaline potassium hydroxide for an electrolyte. The typical cell voltage for a NiMH battery is 1.2 volts. The process of conditioning these cells has proven to extend the life of the battery, enabling it to perform many more successful cycles.
Instructions
1. Use the battery until completely empty. One of the drawbacks of NiMH batteries is known as "cell memory," which refers to the battery's reduced performance due to it remembering a reduced voltage from previous charges. Reconditioning the cell can erase cell memory.
2. Plug the charger into the wall, then insert the cells you want to recondition. Set the charger to discharge with a restriction to reflect the minimum voltage requirement of the battery --- in this case, 1.2 volts. Allow the charger to empty the battery until it is back to its minimum voltage.
3. Wait 30 minutes, then turn the charger back to charging mode. Charge the battery gradually at C10 --- meaning 10 percent of the battery's full capacity; in other words, if your battery has 100 mAH, charge it at a rate of 10 amps for 15 hours. If you want to do it quicker, charge the fully discharged battery at C3.33 for five hours.
4. Repeat the cycle of discharge and recharge four times over to completely recondition your NiMH battery.
Tags: battery until, cell memory, minimum voltage, NiMH batteries, NiMH battery