NiCad batteries w/o memory effect?

[JEDI]

http://www.blackanddecker.com/...ls.aspx?ProductID=4530

i'm about to buy a 18V cordless drill. it has a "no memory" nicad battery.

Is it a marketing scheme? or is it as good as NiMH?

 

[Jugernot]

500 complete charges is still half of what a good nimh battery can do.

IMO, look into getting the new B&D VPX, they are lithium powered and not that much money. More expensive than nicad drills, but will last you MUCH longer assuming no mechanical failure.

 

[Captante]

Unless it has some kind of circuitry in the charger that 100% drains it every time I can't see how you can avoid an eventual memory-charge effect with a NICAD ... its just inherent in that type of battery.

Incidently NIMH will also memory-charge, they are just a bit more tolerant ... Jugernot is correct & its worth spending more to get lithium-Ion batteries instead.

 

[Jeff7]

I think the biggest problem with batteries is if they're discharged to the same level repeatedly. I seem to recall reading that the memory effect became popularized with the Hubble. It orbited the same orbit every time, and discharged the same amount each orbit. Result: the batteries formed a "memory" of that nearly-identical discharge state.

Bonus of lithium-ion these days - you might be able to turn your drill into a heat gun, though it only works once that way.

 

[Mark R]

To be pedantic, no consumer batteries have a 'memory'. The NiCd 'memory effect' is a laboratory curiosity not seen in practice.

That said, NiCd batteries do, under some circumstances, appear to have 'memory' - but this is primarily because of low-grade chargers and inadequate battery charge management.

For drills, NiCd is a much better choice than NIMH because they are much more tolerant to abuse: overloading, overheating; dropping, etc.; and because NiCd can deliver much higher bursts of power (even though the total energy storage capacity is less). Modern high capacity NIMH are physcially quite fragile, and dropping one even a couple of feet can seriously damage the cells inside leaving them unable to hold a charge properly.

That said, the performance of new lithium nano-technology batteries is amazing. The B&D VPX series use the latest 'nano phosphate' technology, and there is no technology that comes anywhere close to it on the market. Power burst handling far ahead of NiCd. Cycle count far ahead of NIMH. Shelf life and charge retention way ahead of Li-ion.

 

[JEDI]

Originally posted by: Mark R
To be pedantic, no consumer batteries have a 'memory'. The NiCd 'memory effect' is a laboratory curiosity not seen in practice.

That said, NiCd batteries do, under some circumstances, appear to have 'memory' - but this is primarily because of low-grade chargers and inadequate battery charge management.

For drills, NiCd is a much better choice than NIMH because they are much more tolerant to abuse: overloading, overheating; dropping, etc.; and because NiCd can deliver much higher bursts of power (even though the total energy storage capacity is less). Modern high capacity NIMH are physcially quite fragile, and dropping one even a couple of feet can seriously damage the cells inside leaving them unable to hold a charge properly.

That said, the performance of new lithium nano-technology batteries is amazing. The B&D VPX series use the latest 'nano phosphate' technology, and there is no technology that comes anywhere close to it on the market. Power burst handling far ahead of NiCd. Cycle count far ahead of NIMH. Shelf life and charge retention way ahead of Li-ion.

$35 for 1VPX 7v drill @ walmart.

$35 for 18v drill (200lb torq) at lowes.

nicd drill better value, if it has no memory?

 

[Jugernot]

Originally posted by: JEDI

Originally posted by: Mark R
To be pedantic, no consumer batteries have a 'memory'. The NiCd 'memory effect' is a laboratory curiosity not seen in practice.

That said, NiCd batteries do, under some circumstances, appear to have 'memory' - but this is primarily because of low-grade chargers and inadequate battery charge management.

For drills, NiCd is a much better choice than NIMH because they are much more tolerant to abuse: overloading, overheating; dropping, etc.; and because NiCd can deliver much higher bursts of power (even though the total energy storage capacity is less). Modern high capacity NIMH are physcially quite fragile, and dropping one even a couple of feet can seriously damage the cells inside leaving them unable to hold a charge properly.

That said, the performance of new lithium nano-technology batteries is amazing. The B&D VPX series use the latest 'nano phosphate' technology, and there is no technology that comes anywhere close to it on the market. Power burst handling far ahead of NiCd. Cycle count far ahead of NIMH. Shelf life and charge retention way ahead of Li-ion.

$35 for 1VPX 7v drill @ walmart.

$35 for 18v drill (200lb torq) at lowes.

nicd drill better value, if it has no memory?

Seems you are set with buying the 18v Nicad.

It's $35... it's not going to bankrupt you if it doesn't last.

 

[dartworth]

for $35...its disposable...