On Tue, 04 Sep 2018 18:08:37 -0700, you wrote:
Hi Adrian,
I was interested to see your suggestion of substituting NiMH sub-C cells for the original NiCds in the J16. Are you using the original battery charger? According to the J16 manual the charger is simply a mains power cord, then transformer and voltage doubler rectifier with no charge control. The J16 battery pack is simply 4 NiCds in series and a fuse, so no charging control there.
I've replaced the NiCds in my J16 twice over 20 years and they need it again. I have always been a little disturbed about no active charging control apparently provided. Have your NiMH cells tolerated that charging method?
I've heard several people say that NiCd cells tolerate a larger float
current than NiMh. Since older equipment used NiCd, the float charge
current (typically the way the cells were charged, say a 15 hour
charge at 0.1 C), was too much since the NiMh cells expected a smarter
charger that turned that charge rate off and went to a (say) 0.05C
trickle rate.
I have a 214 I may eventually do something to in terms of a smarter
charger.
Harvey
John Hunt
Portland, OR
