Memory effect in PbA and in NiCd

["Max Hall" <maxo iname com>]

Oh learned tractoristi, is this true? that in Nickel-Cadmium batteries the
memory effect has to do with the fact that energy is stored by the creation
of a crystal structure and you wind up with funny conditions when you have
little pieces of crystal structure interposed with non-crystallized
structure; and that full discharge, or collapse of the crystal, allows the
crystal to be uniform on recharge instead of patchy?

And then, y'all, how does memory in Lead-Acid batts work?

Now, off to the batteries with my distilled water and a funnel....

-Max Hall
-maxo iname com
-Plywood Guy, Scooters, and what-all: http://www.maxmatic.com

>David already answered this, and he is right about how they work in
parallel
>(unless you do some other regulation tricks, but that involves some active
>elements), but I do want to point out that NiCad's and lead-acids have
>different memory effects.  I am told are due partly to chemistry and
>partly to geometry.  Newer NiCad's are better in this regard, but part of
>what you see on old NiCad packs is memory.  They don't like to be
>fully charged after a partial charge.  In a series wired pack, one of the
>cells typically doesn't get a full charge once, and has more of a problem
>the next time.  Bummer.