🚀 go-pugleaf

        I'd like to start a little discussion on NiCd memory (notice
little, I don't want to be solely responsible for starting a noticeable
bandwidth flare-up net-wide. Moderate's OK :-)  I know that in 1985 when I
bought my first cordless phone (Radio Shack, ick!) NiCd memory was a thing
known only to Electronics hobbyists and professionals.  It was never really
worried about too much by the general public.  The phone manual instructed
us to leave the handset on charge whenever we weren't using it so it would
be ready whenever we wanted it because it didn't affect the batteries
anyways.  I knew about memory but I ignored it and left it to charge when I
wasn't on the phone.

        As you can imagine, cordless phones are probably _the_ best
"medium" in which to create cases of NiCd memory : on 0:15, charge 30:00,
on 0:30, charge 0:05, on for 0:30 again etc...etc...  I was particularly
bad for this.  Now these batteries are badly memorized or just plain worn
out.  It'll still let the phone standby for 12 hours (which is all some new
manufacturers claim) and talk for a good hour I think.  The Bat Low light
comes on but the phone takes a long time to die after that.

        Now time have changed.  Just as the 'net _seemed_ to declare memory
a fallacy, the cordless phone manufacturers and vendors have caught on! 
I've been shopping for a new cordless phone and I've wasted more time
listening to EVERY salesman tell me over and over to charge the handset for
16 hours, and then not charge it again until the BATTERY LOW light comes
on.   The Panasonic dealers even said that after the initial charge I
should run it down and charge it again before using.  This woman also said
that I should put tape over the chargin contacts if I'm tempted to hang it
up!

        The above seems like an awful lot of bother to prevent an effect
that doesn't exist.  Have there been any further discoveries into : NiCd
Memory : Fact or Fiction (the Saga Continues...). ?  I thought that my
previous battery lasted pretty good and I'm not sure if getting 6 more
months out of a battery is worth always having a 50/50 chance that you'll be
able to finish a phone call on the present battery power.

        I know that some people will say, "You don't want to bother with
it.  Just charge it all the bloody time and don't bother us with it!".  I
don't want to turn this into a strictly cordless phone discussion but it's
just an example.  What's happening with the memory scene?  Even if these
habits do not prevent the maybe non-existant memory, is it better for the
NiCd anyhow?  What about those new rechargables developed in Canada (Yah!).
 I think that they were Chromium something.  (Sorry, I've handed my OAC
Chemistry textbook back already :-)  They claim to have 50% more energy and
are 50% cheaper to produce.  If anyone is familiar with these please post. 
Do _they_ have a rumoured memory?

Disclaimer : I hope I don't have a problem because I metioned Panasonic in
             this post :-) 

--
 Craig Lemon - Kitchener, Ontario. Amiga B2000 UUCPv1.13D.
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