Re: Who makes the best NiCads?
 

It is amazing how many old documents people leave lying around ;)

In Autosub's case we would prepare the sub in a warmed container so they would have been at 15-20 degrees when they hit the water and their self heating (due to the few hundred watts taken by the propulsion motor) would keep them at higher than ambient temperatures during a mission. Later versions of the vehicle used Kokam Lithium Polymer cells but these haven't been used under ice (although they have been used in the deep ocean where the temperature is mostly around 2-4 degreesC).

Re: Who makes the best NiCads?
 

I've found NiCd difficult to get hold of now, but when they were widely available the Sanyo Cadnica in Yellow were superb.

I use NiMh now and have sampled a few brands, but I've had best results & longevity from the Sanyo or Panasonic Eneloops (same thing) - but beware of counterfeits.

Re: Who makes the best NiCads?
 

You can still get the old Sanyo Cadnica NiCd cells. Panasonic bought out the rights to the Sanyo name.

https://uk.rs-online.com/web/p/c-rec...eries/3777933/

Still lots of advantages to NiCd cells: easy to charge, reasonable self-discharge rate, pretty reliable and work in very low temperatures, almost impossible to knacker. I used them for years in radio control stuff and CB equipment.

EU is cutting down on them though; you can't ship them in new products. Only available as replacements now. This is due to the nice oodles of toxic cadmium in them. Can still recycle the things; no one wants to do it though.

Now we have low self-discharge NiMh like Eneloops, things are quite a bit nicer environmentally. Considerably more of a dick to charge though.

Oh need to add something here: NiCd cells don't have a memory like everyone thinks they do. I have experimented with this extensively with probably 100 or so NiCd cells from Sanyo towards the end of the 1990s and there is no evidence to support this actually happens.

Re: Who makes the best NiCads?
 

Ni-Cds and low temperatures. Maybe the chemistry improved over the years but those folk interested in Clansman radios will know that they use Ni-Cd batteries and the radios came with a battery extension lead for use in "low" temperatures when the poor squaddy was supposed to stuff the battery inside his jacket to keep it's temperature up. A Clansman battery inside one's jacket must be the most uncomfortable thing I can think of!

Gordon

Re: Who makes the best NiCads?
 

I as under the impression that whilst fast charging of Ni-Mh batteries needs to be done intelligently trickle charging them does not and as such can be treated just the same as Ni-Cd batteries, I'm free to be corrected though.

Another good source of Ni-Mh are LIDL, cheap and high capacity, 2300mAh low sef discharge and 2500 normal Ni-Mh AA/AAA's 4 for £2.99, or 6 for about 4.99 or so of the multi coloured ones.

Re: Who makes the best NiCads?
 

Hello.
The Lidl ones are better than the offerings from Energiser and Duracell. They are marked Tronic, some of the earlier ones failed quite quickly but any I have bought in the last two years appear to be from a different source and are greatly improved.

Re: Who makes the best NiCads?
 

Ni-Cads and other "toxic" batteries were banned from import into the EU in 2008, so I'm surprised that some are still available.

If you really need to read up on it:
http://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-conte...EGISSUM:l21202

Re: Who makes the best NiCads?
 

No discussions about the EU please. It's a very divisive subject in the UK.