I realize this is probably an odd question, but I'm looking for some AA-sized Ni-Cd cells, preferably flat top without tabs(I have a battery spot welder to add my own as needed).
For this specific application, I'm not comfortable using NiMH because the charging circuit is relatively simple and primitive and basically takes advantage of the ability of NiCds to handle overcharge better than NiMH.
The original cells are rated at 500mAH, so anything I fit will be an upgrade since the smallest I seem to find are 600mAH. There are 1000mAH cells out there, but they scare me a bit-everything I've seen and experienced with NiMH is that the ultra-high capacity cells seem to have reduced service life compared to more modest capacity cells. BTW, this particular pack I'm rebuilding is dated to 1995 and actually still works-it's just at the lower end of acceptable performance when freshly charged and falls off rapidly. I have 4 or 5 of these(dated from the 90s up into the 2000s) and this is the only one I have that's even worth considering rebuilding. If anyone cares for particular details, it's a Metz 45-40 battery pack for the 45-series camera flashes, and my metric for acceptable performance is in flash recycle time(how long it takes for the flash to reach "ready" after a full powered flash). 4 seconds is actually what I've seen a perfect condition pack do, but I consider 7 seconds acceptable.
NiCds are certainly available, but I don't see a lot of brands I recognize even available. I've used Tenergy branded Sub-C NiMHs and so far they've been fine, so I'm inclined to go with them but also don't want to have this thing back apart in a few months.
Does anyone have any experience with this or a different brand of current manufacturer Ni-Cd cells?
For this specific application, I'm not comfortable using NiMH because the charging circuit is relatively simple and primitive and basically takes advantage of the ability of NiCds to handle overcharge better than NiMH.
The original cells are rated at 500mAH, so anything I fit will be an upgrade since the smallest I seem to find are 600mAH. There are 1000mAH cells out there, but they scare me a bit-everything I've seen and experienced with NiMH is that the ultra-high capacity cells seem to have reduced service life compared to more modest capacity cells. BTW, this particular pack I'm rebuilding is dated to 1995 and actually still works-it's just at the lower end of acceptable performance when freshly charged and falls off rapidly. I have 4 or 5 of these(dated from the 90s up into the 2000s) and this is the only one I have that's even worth considering rebuilding. If anyone cares for particular details, it's a Metz 45-40 battery pack for the 45-series camera flashes, and my metric for acceptable performance is in flash recycle time(how long it takes for the flash to reach "ready" after a full powered flash). 4 seconds is actually what I've seen a perfect condition pack do, but I consider 7 seconds acceptable.
NiCds are certainly available, but I don't see a lot of brands I recognize even available. I've used Tenergy branded Sub-C NiMHs and so far they've been fine, so I'm inclined to go with them but also don't want to have this thing back apart in a few months.
Does anyone have any experience with this or a different brand of current manufacturer Ni-Cd cells?
