Problem with Nicads!

[Mark Jenner]

I was wondering if anybody could recommend the best way forward for my ageing Kowalski 1250 speed? I bought it new in the Spring of 2004 and so it has done four seasons diving. I have been pretty good following the manufacturers instructions concerning regular charging/discharging cycles when not in frequent use but recently the torch does not seem to hold as much charge or for any length of time.

The torch is supposed to give 40 mins at 50 w but the best I got when new was about 37 mins. Now it gives about 25 mins but this can be improved by a few charging cycles to about 30 mins - though left a day or so and it drops down to 25 mins again.

Cant fault the quality light beam for a hand held.

Question:

Is this typical? Is the solution a new battery? Does anyone recommend the new Kowalski Maxum 1250 speed with Lithium Ion batteries?

Any advice gratefully accepted

[Timbo]

You need a new battery pack......or someone to re-build it with new cells..
Splash the cash Dude,,,,

[KevinJ]

Mark,

Four years to reach ~70% capacity isn't bad going for NiCads.

New battery pack. Or if you're willing to give it a go make one up yourself.
Sources for the batteries are:

rswww.com — the web starts here
www.farnell.com/uk
www.Maplin.co.uk

There are plenty of sites around that have info on how to build up battery packs - what to do and what not to do.

Regards,

Kevin

[frisky fraser]

good prices for rebuilds here Strikealite.co.uk - Strikealite Resources and Information. give them a phone,they're really helpful.

Fraser.

[steve2056]

This is typical performance of Ni-Cads. The Ni-Cads in my Ikelite DS125 strobes are now starting to show signs of dying.

I will be replacing mine with cells from Rapid Electronics, they are much cheaper than RS or Farnell:

Rapid Electronics - Nickel cadium batteries (industrial sizes)

Note that you must replace Ni-Cads with Ni-Cads, not Li-Ion or NiMHd as the charging requirements are different - unless you wish to change your charger as well.

For those interested, suitable cells for the Ikelite DS125 strobes are order code 18-3848 £1.85 plus VAT each (6 required per strobe). These have a slightly larger capacity (2000mA/hour) than the original 1700mA/hour cells. I wonder what Ikelite would charge?

Steve

[frisky fraser]

re above wrong site please ignore it should read Strikalite Batteries UK - the battery specialists sorry

Fraser