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Crucial things that people don't know about reconditioning batteries

When you look around you and see how many people simply get rid of old batteries that they think have failed, in the easiest way available to them, sometimes even (in the case of lead-acid batteries) paying people to come and take the batteries away, you realize that not many people know about reconditioning batteries. So, here are some things that people don't know about the reconditioning process.

Actually, the people who pay a recycler to come and pickup their batteries, are the considerate ones, because there are many people who throw something like a nickel-cadmium battery into their garbage, which is absolutely disastrous for the environment.

Most batteries contain very hazardous chemicals, and tossing them into the garbage is absolutely not the best way to get rid of them. But then, why should you get rid of them at all? And that's where we come to things that people don't know about reconditioning batteries.

Does the battery reconditioning process do anything for a dead battery, and can it bring a seemingly dead battery back to active service?
The answer to this is that it absolutely can. Even a battery that seems to have failed is not really dead. What usually happens is that the electrical circuit isn't being completed inside the battery for one reason or another.

Either a layer has built up over a terminal of the battery, providing insulation that doesn't allow current to flow within the battery, or else, the battery is shorting itself out somehow. If the battery is shorting itself out, there is little or nothing you can do, but if insulation has built up there are procedures that will break that insulation, thereby restoring the current flow, and thereby restoring the battery.

So, that's what battery reconditioning is - breaking down layers of insulation that have formed through use inside the battery, and restoring the battery to active service.

But, just how hard is it to recondition a battery?
Many people imagine that the process is extremely difficult and virtually impossible for someone with minimal technical skill. But, in reality, it isn't so at all. Battery reconditioning is a simple and commonsense procedure that can be made to work by just about anyone who is reasonably handy with their hands. The simple fact is that thinking that something is difficult without trying it is just an assumption, and assumptions rarely ever stand up to reality.

To prove my point, let's examine the reconditioning process for the nickel-cadmium battery.
Now, nickel-cadmium batteries are extremely hazardous to the environment, so every single nickel-cadmium battery that you recondition means that one less of these batteries needs to be produced, and that in itself, is a big contribution to the environment. Anyway, let's examine how difficult or easy it is to recondition a nickel-cadmium battery.

All you need to do to recondition such a battery is allow it to discharge completely and then charge it again to one hundred percent. After that, you discharge it again one more time, and charge it again.

That's all it takes. The battery is reconditioned and will return to active service.

As you can see, reconditioning batteries is really almost child's play, and certainly something that, anyone with a modicum of commonsense, can easily do.

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