dumb battery/charge Q's

[SPISHAK]

Hi y'all. I got a few 3300 mah 6 cell nimh packs floating around that haven't been used in YEARS. To bring them back to life I believe I'm supposed to slow charge them (C/10) for like 16 hrs. But! I don't have a slow charger anymore. If I were to buy a new slow charger, what would be the voltage output? 7.2? 9? 12?

Then after I slow charge them I have to discharge them. I have an old school discharge unit with 10 automotive brake light bulbs (1157's). I believe that is a 20 amp load. Then I let them sit a day or two and repeat the procedure a couple times to bring the batt back to life. Is this the right technique?

I did a search but it was all lipo. I been out of rc so long I forgot how to do everything! TIA

[SweetAccord]

A 6 Cell pack would be 7.2 volts total, and a battery of 3300 would/should be charged at 3.3 Amps or lower. If they have been sitting around for years they may have discharged so far they may be useless. Even if you can recover them, they likely won't have the punch a fresh modern pack will provide. They may charge but not hold their total rating.

But who knows how they have been stored and the brand, give it a try.

Be cautious and monitor them during the charge as be warned, if they have discharged too far from sitting around, they may gone to a negative reversal state, and when you connect them to charge they may pop, or release gas or just get hot and just never take a full charge.