Re: (ET) Bumping up the charge voltage a tad

[CZ <cz alembic crystel com>]

On 6/18/2015 4:21 AM, David Roden wrote:
> "Blow the oxygen off the plates"?  Never heard of such a thing.  Last I
> heard, oxygen was a gas.  Gases don't usually stick to stuff.

The oxygen and hydrogen in the water of the cell chemically combine and 
bind to the plates. Specifically:

2NiO(OH)+Cd+2H2O->2Ni(OH)2+Cd(OH)2.

Note the H2O "vanishes" into the nickel and cad plates during discharge. 
This is why the water level goes to almost nothing on a totally flat 
battery and why water magically "appears" when you charge them. Also why 
you don't add water unless fully charged.

Overcharging blows the remaining Hydrogen and Oxygen off the associated 
plates and it recombines in the batteries to become water.

Kind of cool.

> You aren't harming yours by undercharging them.  In fact you're probably
> extending their already long lives.  If they have enough capacity to do 
> what
> you need done, don't mess with success.

Abusing them should get me 50 years or so. Don't overheat them is the 
key thing. If I take better care of them they should last 100 so my 
grandkids can die mowing the lawn :-)

I'll look at the FR info after work, very interesting stuff there.

C