The piece we posted a couple of weeks ago on how to recharge non- rechargeable batteries got a lot of links o’ love. Here’s another cool battery hack. This one’s on “jolting” nicad battery packs back to life using an arc welder as a DC power source. What you’re doing is over-powering the cells which breaks up the crystal dendrites that build up and cause the cells to short. You can also use a car battery, a DC Power Supply, or even high-charge capacitors — any DC power source with decent juice. This operation is obviously not without danger, so you should know what you’re doing, wear proper protection, etc. But as you can see from the video, a little Frankenstein action is just what these batteries need to be brought back to life. Cool.
[Via Make]
