Can I upgrade a Ni-Cd Battery?

Squashua

I have a bunch of phones around the house hooked to a system and they all use Ni-Cd Batteries.

And they're all pretty much losing all their charge.

Can I safely replace them with a different type of battery?

The phone says "use only battery 3301".

The original battery is
Advanced American Telephnes
3301
Ni-Cd Battery
3.6V 600mAh

A battery I have replaced one of them with in the past (and it holds a crappy charge) is
Radio Shack (saw that coming, didn't you?)
Ni-Cd 3.6V 700mAh

Anyone? Anything? The guy at the store picked the battery, so if he fucked up, he fucked up. I have no idea with the mAh.

Recoil42

Yes.



If you can get ahold of a NiMH; do so, they hold their charges better through frequent use than NiCd's.


But yeah, as long as it has the same voltage, you're fine. The Radioshack battery was theoretically fine.... it's just that Radioshack batteries are crap.

DrFrylock

I have successfully replaced NiCd cordless phone batteries with NiMH batteries many times. Usually the NiMHs cost a couple bucks more. As I understand it, as long as the voltage and connector are the same, you're good to go. A higher mAH rating should just mean the battery stores a bigger charge. I got a 1300mAH NiMH for an old cordless phone and it is quite literally better than new.

Squashua

SO... no explosions or other irrational factors?

robaal

Are the batteries charged by the phone?

I vaguely remember something about different types of batteries are charged in a different fashion which could lead to explosion, or at least overheating if the charger doesn't know when to stop...

Squashua

robaal wrote:

Are the batteries charged by the phone?

I vaguely remember something about different types of batteries are charged in a different fashion which could lead to explosion, or at least overheating if the charger doesn't know when to stop...

Yeah, that's why I'm asking.

DrFrylock

All I can tell you is that, aside from a few small jets of blue fire out the earpiece every once in a while, all my NiMH-for-NiCd replacements have gone swimmingly. The trick is to only hold the phone against one ear so you keep the other one uninjured.

Squashua

So... I can't find a three-pack with the right connectors made of NiMH.

I went out and bought a six-pack of NiMH but they're 2600 or something.

Not that I know what that means.

Anyway, I want to chain them together in the same manner as the ones in the NiCd packs.

This requires a piece of metal, but I'm not sure what type of metal it is that is used to band the batteries together. I'll get pictures up, but I'd like some help.

Squashua

So I went and bought a 9-pack of NiMh AA batteries.

And I cut open one of the old NiCd packs.

Using rubber-handled tweezers, I disconnected all the connectors, all of which seemed to be soldered or somehow otherwise attached to the NiMh batteries.

With electrical tape, I put the connectors together with the NiMh batteries.

I had a hard time keeping it together because it kept moving around and the connectors were short, but it ended up working and now I have working phones with long lives!

Anyone know what type of metal was used for the connectors (shiny silvery metal)? I'd probably go pick up a small roll of it and replace the connectors I used in case any disconnect. I don't like to ask at Radio Shack because they stare at my like I'm an idiot and try to sell me a pre-made NiCd battery pack. Either that or they don't speak English.

All in all, it was cheaper buying a nine-pack of NiMh batteries and re-using the old connectors than buying a single pre-made NiCd triple-pack.