How to Jolt a Nicad Battery Back to Life
- 1). Wear all proper safety equipment. Set your volt-meter to the proper range for your battery. Hold the red lead on the positive battery terminal, and the black lead to the negative terminal. Read the meter: If the tested voltage is under 90 percent of the voltage labeled on the battery, then it needs to be jolted.
- 2). Separate the alligator clips from the 12-volt battery charger so they are not touching anything conductive. Turn on the battery charger. Hold the red/positive clip to the positive terminal of the worn battery. Tap the black/negative clip against the negative battery terminal 10 times, taking care not to hold a connection. Repeat this process for each worn nicad battery you have.
- 3). Test each battery again: if the reading is still below 90 percent, repeat the jolting process until a desired reading is achieved. Shut off the battery charger. Recharge the refurbished batteries in their respective chargers for the factory recommended amount of time.
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