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https://www.askthetrades.co.uk/cgi-bin/yabb/YaBB.pl DIY Forum >> Electrical Questions >> NiCad and the cold https://www.askthetrades.co.uk/cgi-bin/yabb/YaBB.pl?num=1292269105 Message started by wozzy on Dec 13^th, 2010, 7:38pm

Title: NiCad and the cold
Post by wozzy on Dec 13^th, 2010, 7:38pm

does the cold have adverse effects on nicads?

mine seem to need to be warmish to start to take a charge and have one go duff on me. these batteries are fairly old and have taken a real battering but i will bring them inside if it makes a difference! :-?

Title: Re: NiCad and the cold
Post by LS on Dec 13^th, 2010, 8:49pm

I think the extreme cold does affect most batteries, although not sure which are more severely affected, I have bosch lithium ones and they were so cold from the van they refused to charge until they'd warmed up for a while, then the charger would charge them.

Title: Re: NiCad and the cold
Post by Lectrician on Dec 13^th, 2010, 9:53pm

My Makita 18v charger shows "Temperature Fault" when trying to chrge a battery early on a cod morning.

Title: Re: NiCad and the cold
Post by big_all on Dec 13^th, 2010, 10:01pm

yep you have to warm them up often as not

although makita take it to a new level selecting according to the dish off the day ;D ;D
probably charges ok on a full english breakfast ::)

Title: Re: NiCad and the cold
Post by CWatters on Dec 14^th, 2010, 7:28am

All batteries use chemical reactions to make electricity and chemical reactions go slower or even stop at low temperatures.

NiMH are more affected than NiCad. Lithium batteries are better than either and I believe they will work down to 0C if previously charged at warmer. Don't leave batteries to cold soak in the van overnight at -2 and expect them to work.

Title: Re: NiCad and the cold
Post by LS on Dec 14^th, 2010, 10:26am

Yep that all makes sense what you said CW, explains some problems I had getting batteries to charge and with them not lasting as long outside. Mind we were working in -3 for 8-hours so you can't complain (about the batteries at least!) :P

Lectrician wrote on Dec 13^th, 2010, 9:53pm:

My Makita 18v charger shows "Temperature Fault" when trying to chrge a battery early on a cod morning.

Yep, that's what the Bosch 36V charger said too with a red light, so had to leave the battery disconnected for an hour or so then tried again and it was fine.

Title: Re: NiCad and the cold
Post by CWatters on Dec 14^th, 2010, 1:42pm

For some model aircraft competitions they draw 250 Amps out of the batteries in short bursts and need to be very sure the batteries are operating optimally. To do that they pre-warm the batteries to just the right starting temperature using home home made heaters..

http://www.f5b.co.uk/?q=node/134