Bring Dead Ni-Cad Batteries Back To Life

Step 2 What you will need for battery zapping...

I recommend using capacitors as they give a powerful pulse discharge.
Other power source like car batteries and welders are not a good option. Because as they give out a continuous discharge, the wire can be accidentally get welded to the battery terminal and cause them to over heat and possibly explode... You can use car batteries or welder, just be careful what you are doing.

The capacitor type you should use is somewhere about 100,000uF 60v. Unfortunately, that capacitor with an extreme ratings are just way too expensive...

So in this case to avoid paying a chunk of change for a big capacitor, I use disposable flash camera's capacitor instead for this project. Why? Because they are suitable for pulse discharging, and best of all, they are FREE! But they are more dangerous...

So, what you will need for this project are...

• A disposable flash camera
• Dead Ni-Cad batteries
• Wires
• Battery holder for the dead Ni-Cads (You can use size AAA, AA, C, or D, depending what battery you want to zap. I am going to use an AA battery holder for this instructable.)
• Small switch (I used a slide switch)
• High power switch (I used a push-button switch)

You can get free disposable flash cameras from photo developing places like Wal-Mart and such.

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And for the tools, you will need:

• Soldering iron (You might be able to get away with out doing any soldering by twisting wires in place.)
• Wire cutters
• Wire strippers
• Flat head screwdriver
• Pliers

Right, hopefully, you got everything, so lets get to work!