Thread: What cells can be used in NICD battery for Bosch GSR 9.6V

What are your soldiering skills like?
Do you own a decent soldiering iron?

You would need 8 X 1.2v cells. Check ebay, you should be able to pick up a brand new battery to suit delivered cheaper than the cost of buying the cells to do it yourself.

Dear Kyle,
Thank you for your post.

I enjoy DIY from time to time )

Kind regards,
Guy

A friend had the cells in a Festool battery replaced with sanyo cadnica cells. He also bought a new Festool battery at the same time. He reckons the repaired battery has longer life than the new Festool battery.

You need 8 nicad cells connected in series. The amp-hour rating of the battery will be equal to that of a single cell. I.e. 8 x 1000mAh cells in series will yield one 9.6V 1000mAh battery. Good luck.

Dear Jack,

Thank you for your post.
That has been very helpful.

Kind regards,
Guy

As long as the voltage adds up to 9.6V, current is more than or equal to 1000mAh and fits in the unit you wil be fine. Remember - in series add the volatage, in parallel add the current. If your old battery is 1000mAh then there is little value in exceeding it.

You might also find NiMH more readily. These batteries do not suffer from the well known charge memory problem although if you always run your NiCd battery flat it will last just as well.

Do not get hung up on NiCd vs NiMH. The charge regime and charge profile are identical, and both can be charged in a standard NiCd charger.

Buy the cheapest.

Thank you vk3ru,
On another forum I was advised against using non-NiCd batteries as my charger "is most likely only designed to charge 'Ni-Cads'".

Are you sure about "NiCd" chargers compatibility with NiMH?

Kind regards,
Guy

The choice betwen NiCad an NMHI is not as simple as that.
A lot depends on how you will use the device.
If you charge it up and don't use it for days or weeks at a time the NiCads will hold their charge better than NMHI will.
However if you use it everyday like a tradesman might then NMHI is able to be charged at any time that is convenient and does not need to be discharged right down before charging .
You need to buy solder tag batteries to make it easy to solder up.

Thank you Retromilling,
That's an important note.

Do you know if NIHI (I get it it's the same as NiMh?) can be charged with my Bosch NiCD charger?

Kind regards,
Guy

Yes , I have charged both types in the one charger. They both are 1.2 volt cells . However don't mix the type of cells in the one charger unless it has seperate charging for each cell. Which some do like this one Powerex Wizardone Charger

Look at this link . It is a charger and does both types and many sizes . Powerex 808 Charger
You are right the correct abreviation is NiMh , I get lazy sometimes. Shalom.

Thanks again Retromilling,

Shalom to you too
Guy

Guy,

Trust this old ham there is not a lot of difference between NiCd and NiMH at our level and you can charge either (rather than both together) in the same charger. Retromilling is right there is a charge life difference, especially as you get along the life of the battery but NiMH has much greater capacity. If you are looking for reliability you should use solder tags to join them up to avoid intermittents.
You might also have a look at the Batteries America website as they seem to have replacement packs for lots of applications and at sensible prices but as you like to home brew (and good on you) it may not suit.
For supplies suggest a trip to your local Jaycar store where you should find a solution providing your batteries are not some mungrel size. Failing that Ebuy.
If you still do not believe me and trusk Wiki, read this or use the G search function.
Nickel
Also
NiMH vs NiCd
Dave

Hi vk3ru,
Thanks for your reply.

It was not at all an issue of believing. I got a contradicting response on another forum and wanted to make sure.
Unfortunately I don't have any local Jaycar, nor do I know it as I live in Israel
Cost of living is much more expensive here than the states and most things are by far cheaper ordering stuff from EBay than buy locally.

Anyway, now that I got your affirmation as well, I got all the answers I was looking for and can go for the fun part.

Thank you all.
Guy

GUy,

What the others didn't say was that you may find that you cannot get batteries of the right capacity ,:IE 1000Ma.

I have this issue with a handheld VHF radio, the batteries were 1.2V 600Ma , new ones will be 1.5V 2000Mathese will take longer to charge but operational life will be much better.

.Jeff
VK4FNRS
also a ham.

The so called memory effect in NiCd batteries is mostly myth, happily quoted by sales assistants as it gives them a 'no, its not us, it's you' excuse...it's caused by overcharging and cell reversal, both of which can be mostly avoided by proper recharging. Golden rule - don't overcharge!

Deep discharging the battery regularly can do more harm than good, as it can produce cell reversal.

Sci.Electronics FAQ: No NiCd memory... dammit

Dan's Quick Guide to Memory Effect, You Idiots

Sci.Electronics FAQ: NiCd Battery FAQ