Hello
I have Ryobi 18 volts battery pack found 3 bad sub -c battery in the pack.
The battery don't have any marking say if it is a nickel -cadmium or nickel metal hydride battery,
Since I don't know what kind of battery is in the pack ,if I were to mix in the pack with nickel -cadmium and nickel metal hydride battery, will battery pack work,take a charge?:
There is total 15 sub-c @ 1.2 volts battery in the pack connected in series .
Since only 3 battery is bad I hate to buy all new battery.
There is two issue one don't know what kind battery in the pack,second issue is can I mix two different type battery in the pack ( nickel -cadmium and nickel metal hydride battery together)
Thank for the help
mrel

 

The lesser batteries will steal charge from the new batteries. You should replace all.

 

Yup, don't mix 'em. Even if they were all NiMH cells the differing characteristics would mean they wouldn't charge properly, and the weaker cells could be damaged during discharge in use. NiMH and NiCd definitely don't mix.

You could try reconditioning the rogue cells with a few charge/discharge* cycles, assuming all the original cells are the same type, just in different states of repair. Use an NiMH charger - this will charge both these and NiCd types (not at the same time though!), whereas a NiCd charger won't charge NiMH properly or safely.

* Don't discharge the battery pack below 1 V per cell to prevent "cell reversal", or discharge each cell individually. NiMH cells won't tolerate frequent deep discharges, but will benefit from the occasional deep cycle.

 

I too would advise against mixing NiCad and NiMH batteries. The charging profile for these to batteries are substantially different. If you are interested, you can go to www.batteryuniversity.com and find out more about the differences in the charging strategies for these two different battery technologies.

hgmjr

 

Hello
I have Ryobi 18 volts battery pack found 3 bad sub -c battery in the pack.
The battery don't have any marking say if it is a nickel -cadmium or nickel metal hydride battery,
Since I don't know what kind of battery is in the pack ,if I were to mix in the pack with nickel -cadmium and nickel metal hydride battery, will battery pack work,take a charge?:
There is total 15 sub-c @ 1.2 volts battery in the pack connected in series .
Since only 3 battery is bad I hate to buy all new battery.
There is two issue one don't know what kind battery in the pack,second issue is can I mix two different type battery in the pack ( nickel -cadmium and nickel metal hydride battery together)
Thank for the help
mrel

i know this post is from 10 years ago !!! But now i have same problem with same charger with same battery pack brand , difference is i want to change all battery's , 10 battery's NI-CD 1900mAH and 5 battery's NI-MH 2900 mAH , and all new
Can i mixed them together in same battery pack ?
Thanks all

 

You have a separate thread for this topic.