I have built trays holding 5 cells each, now I can check each cell and
determine which cells will be suitable to use.
To start with after laying around for months I figure if they are at least
1 volt they are candidates for use.
putting 10 of these at a time .....when I have 20 ready
I will be using 15 .
So they are charged and when they read 14.00 , I take each one
and write on the side of the cardboard tube what their voltage
is ....when I have finally selected 15 of them that read at least 1.37
or 1.38 ....(after laying around for a day they drop down to about 1.34-136
the closer the readings to each other the better. they are ready for testing
putting them all in a PVC tube
and connecting to an 18 volt cordless drill I run the drill with no load
until the voltage is 18.6.
Now I write on the side of each cell their voltage .....all cells must be
close to the average any cell lower than the groups average is set aside
and another that I have on hand that is close to the average
recharge and check until they
all read 1.38 .
Now for the final test .
I take these and run the drill here are the results:
run drill 1 minute no load with 3 min. rest after each minute:
20.3
19.90
19.40
19.00
18.93
18.90
18.82
18.70
18.40....here is where it slowed down to about 1/2 speed after 30 seconds
18.00 ...now about 20 seconds and it slowed down quickly.
it was ready for a recharge !
Now after installing them in a battery case they should be ready for their final test .
Norm.