A couple of years ago I was given a cordless drill that
wouldn't charge. I found that one of the cells in the pack was
dead flat and was stopping the others charging up. At the
time I was told how to break down the high resistance
inside that flat cell, which I did, and the drill has been as
good as new since. But I can't remember the details of
what I did. I seem to recall applying 12 or 15V to it for a
few seconds, keeping an eye on when the meter swung
from 0 to a rapid charge (indicating that the insulating
dendrite barrier had been punched through) and then
removing said 12 or 15V and putting the pack into its
normal charger. Have I got it right ? There are one or two
appliances around here with what I think are dead cells
and I'd like to get them operational. As always, the cells
are an odd size and would be expensive to replace with
the manufacturer's "recommended" spare part

TIA

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