"Immediately the voltage starts to rise
     you disconnect the 15V."

'splain to me how this works again - minding
Ohm's Law?

See - the 'shorts' these cells develop still
show some resistivety (my expereince) and indeed
show some voltage drop when a charging current
is 'forced' into them ... an attempt to 'flow'
whatever current a power supply set for 15 volts
will, I think, given my experience, IMMEDIATLY
show a voltage in excess of 1.5 V with a current
well over an Ampere or two - in fact, at the limit of
the supply I might add!

This limited-current (be it 2, 3 or 4 Amps) still
won't approach what the 'Cap Method' is capable
of and is, IMO, dangerous insofar as the potential
for explosion of the cell under such conditions ...

The Cap Method provides a fairly controlled zap
(in both the amount of energy to be used AND the
peak currents) in contrast to something a human
being could guage by 'dead reckoning' and simple
observation. I don't believe this is a case where
I want a "Human in the Loop" ...

Jim



----- Original Message -----
From: "Jinx" <joecolquitt@CLEAR.NET.NZ>
To: <PICLIST@MITVMA.MIT.EDU>
Sent: Saturday, June 01, 2002 6:38 PM
Subject: Re: [EE]: Laptop battery fading


> >     "An alternative to zapping is that you can apply
> >      a high (eg 15V) voltage to the cell while
> >      keeping a very close eye on a voltmeter."
>
> > I'm not going to recommend nor try this approach
>
> I understand your caveat. It does work but you DO NOT
> wander off and make a cuppa or answer the phone.
> Immediately the voltage starts to rise you disconnect
> the 15V. Zapping is a safer option
>

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