Reconditioning Lithium Ion Batteries

Correct word: Electrolyte.. the catalyst that makes the electrochemical reactions work

FYI: cellulite

Ahem, that would be cellulose.

Nope, not cellulose either. ;-)

Not sure which word you're looking for, but the loss of capacity in NiCd cells is due to formation of large(r) Cd crystals at the anode. These crystals reduce the surface area the battery has to work with, and can even do internal damage. Doing a full discharge (or zapping the batteries) gets the Cd back to the preferred micro-crystalline state.

Here's a nice illustration of what happens.

Not that this is *only* for NiCd (and perhaps Nimh) batteries. Lithium batteries use an entirely different chemistry.

There's a chance it might not do anything but get warm. But lithium as it is as a material on the periodic table, it's chemical properties are VERY unstable. Early lithium batteries (1960's era) were solid lithium batteries, like solid lithium metal, not powdered lithium that's in batteries now. They were found to be very unstable with charging, but had capacity capabilities that are supposedly even better than current lithium batteries (that's a first). But sadly because of fires and whatnot, that's why they searched for an alternative and that's what we have now. This is why there were so many problems with "exploding laptop batteries" a while ago, while the explosions were caused by manufacturing defects in the battery, if they weren't lithium batteries, they wouldn't have burst into flames like they did. Again, it's very unstable even today.

So just to add to this which is really better nicd NiMh or Li-Ion

It really depends on the application bro. I still personally think Li-on batteries are the best other than price range and charging can be a little tempermental. Ni-cad batteries are shite, they don't have that many charge cycles and heat is an easy destroyer of Ni-cads. Ni-mh batteries are kind of similar but heat doesn't affect them as badly as Ni-cd, also they have 1000-2000 charge cycles.

Thanks for the info. but still have to buy a new battery

Li ion batteries are *very* finicky about charge & discharge parameters! To quote Wikipedia (emphasis mine):

A stand-alone Li-ion cell must never be discharged below a certain voltage to avoid irreversible damage. Therefore all Li-ion battery systems are equipped with a circuit that shuts down the system when the battery is discharged below the predefined threshold. ... This is also one of the reasons Li-ion cells are rarely sold as such to consumers, but only as finished batteries designed to fit a particular system. ... Short-circuiting a Li-ion battery can cause it to ignite or explode, and as such, any attempt to open or modify a Li-ion battery's casing or circuitry is dangerous. Li-ion batteries contain safety devices that protect the cells inside from abuse, and, if damaged, can cause the battery to ignite or explode.

That's why I made the quip about "put that screwdriver down" in my earlier post. You simply cannot discharge Lithium batteries in the same way you might NiCd ones. And even if you did, it would only damage the battery, rather than making it work better.

(I assume the reason Lithium batteries have so many contacts is because of the built-in charge/discharge and capacity gauge circuitry. Probably also has a temperature sensor.)