|
General Vintage Technology Discussions For general discussions about vintage radio and other vintage electronics etc. |
|
Thread Tools |
10th Aug 2018, 9:17 pm | #21 |
Hexode
Join Date: Jan 2011
Location: Aberdare, South Wales, UK
Posts: 403
|
Re: Nickel Cadmium vented cell battery, advice sought
NiFe cells were also used on Class 321 four car trains as back-up power for lighting. I was recently gutted when working on these trains at Milton Keynes where they had hundreds destined for scrap. I wanted quite a few for my solar PV project but couldn't get them because I don't have a waste disposal license or transport. If i'd known before the job finished I probably could have had the lot. All they needed was a clean up and fresh electrolyte. I hope the scrap dealer who got them knew what they are worth.
__________________
Richard |
10th Aug 2018, 9:20 pm | #22 |
Heptode
Join Date: May 2015
Location: Bradford, West Yorkshire, UK.
Posts: 512
|
Re: Nickel Cadmium vented cell battery, advice sought
I had one of them NiFe cells, it came from a mines backup lighting system, I just got the one for lighting glowplug on a model engine.
__________________
worried about the electrons entering the circuit and the smoke leaving Andrew |
10th Aug 2018, 9:23 pm | #23 | |
Hexode
Join Date: Jan 2011
Location: Aberdare, South Wales, UK
Posts: 403
|
Re: Nickel Cadmium vented cell battery, advice sought
Quote:
__________________
Richard |
|
10th Aug 2018, 11:08 pm | #24 |
Dekatron
Join Date: Dec 2007
Location: Haarlem, Netherlands
Posts: 4,203
|
Re: Nickel Cadmium vented cell battery, advice sought
Shouldn't that be the other way around? In any case, the voltages are very similar so it might not be easy to identify them that way.
|
10th Aug 2018, 11:27 pm | #25 |
Hexode
Join Date: Jan 2011
Location: Aberdare, South Wales, UK
Posts: 403
|
Re: Nickel Cadmium vented cell battery, advice sought
You could be right.
__________________
Richard |
11th Aug 2018, 11:59 pm | #26 |
Dekatron
Join Date: Jan 2012
Location: Brentwood, Essex, UK.
Posts: 5,349
|
Re: Nickel Cadmium vented cell battery, advice sought
Just had another look through my 1940's book ("Accumulator Charging", W.S.Ibbotson, Pitman, 7th Edition, 1941). Confusingly, the Nickel-Iron cell is referred to as the "Edison Nickel-Iron Alkaline Cell", or Edison cell for short, while the Nickel-Cadmium cell is called the " "NIFE" Nickel-Cadmium Cell ", or "NIFE" cell for short. "NIFE" always appears in quotes, suggesting it might at that time have been used as a trade mark for Nickel-Cadmium batteries and not, as the letters in quotes suggest, Nickel-Iron batteries. It is therefore possible that the NIFE batteries that other posts have mentioned as having been used in electric vehicles were actually Nickel-Cadmium batteries. Externally, they seem to be pretty well identical.
Last edited by emeritus; 12th Aug 2018 at 12:09 am. |
12th Aug 2018, 11:08 am | #27 |
Dekatron
Join Date: Feb 2007
Location: Leominster, Herefordshire, UK.
Posts: 16,536
|
Re: Nickel Cadmium vented cell battery, advice sought
So "NIFE" was a trademark used for various chemistries but NiFe is specifically Nickel Iron.
Presumably NiFe couldn't be registered as a trademark any more than ballpoint as opposed to "Biro".
__________________
....__________ ....|____||__|__\_____ .=.| _---\__|__|_---_|. .........O..Chris....O |
12th Aug 2018, 12:31 pm | #28 |
Hexode
Join Date: Apr 2017
Location: Buderim, Queensland, Australia.
Posts: 428
|
Re: Nickel Cadmium vented cell battery, advice sought
If I remember correctly, a few Australian aviation ground DME's used a 42 volt battery of "NIFE" brand wet nickel cadmium cells, some up until about 1990, as standby power.
They were rugged and reliable, and would last almost forever. They were about 30 x 100 mm and about 250 mm high, in a light blue plastic case. I had to clean up a bank once in North Queensland. I seem to remember they had terminal posts with an unusual thread (for its day), ie BSF, as I had to buy a tap and die-nut. And we refilled the electrolyte. A special hydrometer was used, not so much for checking state of charge, but to make up the replacement electrolyte. |
14th Aug 2018, 11:41 am | #29 |
Heptode
Join Date: Oct 2009
Location: Melbourne Australia
Posts: 901
|
Re: Nickel Cadmium vented cell battery, advice sought
I'd recommend pipetting over electrolyte to keep plates covered. You really do need to SG measure each cell to determine if it is just evaporation over time (my expectation). You have to use a clean pipette and if SG is high then add battery grade deionised water. The cell voltage and temp and SG will confirm the cell type.
NiCd like these were used in some high-grade applications, back in the days when 20+ yr service life was a requirement. |