Deborah asked: I believe that NiCad batteries have a memory – so they should be completely discharged occasionally.
What is the best way of doing this? I have sometimes put the NiCad batteries in a torch, and left it switched on for 24 hours, but this does not completely discharge the batteries.
I also have a fairly ordinary battery charger, which has a switch that you can put to charge, discharge or test position, but this works so slowly that it is not worth doing.
What I really need is a simple device that I can put the NiCad batteries in to drain all the current out of them in a reasonable length of time. If I could buy this device, I would, if it is not too expensive. I don’t want to make my own device, unless it is foolproof, in case it it is dangerous when discharging the batteries. I have looked in catalogues (Maplins, etc) but cannot find anything that would do this job.
Alexander