How to discharge a 1500mAH NiCad Battery?

Question

I have a NiCad battery for my airsoft gun and I want to discharge this battery before I recharge it for usage at the end of this month. I've heard about NiCad's battery memory so I thought discharging the battery was a good idea. However, I don't have any money for fancy battery discharging machines so I'm currently going to drain the battery by shooting the gun periodically until the battery becomes dead. If a better way is possible, please say...

Answer 1

a cheap and easy way is to put the battery in a flashlight and leave it on............

but why would you wanna discharge the battery in the first place/\?

A good charger will bring it up to snuff and you should be all set.

the so called memory in a NiCad is a misnomer (also old wife tale) and much misinformation on the marketing departments abound.

When the battery begins to "die", after a thousand charges or so, there are "whiskers" growing from the anode to the cathode, and will eventually shorten the battery and make it useless.There is an old remedy in ham radio and that is to ZAP the whiskers with a very very strong opposite polarity current that will "burn" the whiskers. Just long enough( a second or so) It is a dangerous  way of dealing with it, but it certainly works, I do NOT recommend it if you dont have the proper equipment

Answer 2

Memory Myth Facts

http://www.batteryuniversity.com/parttwo...

http://www.zbattery.com/Battery-Memory-E...

The way to discharge the battery is to place a load on it that don't draw to much power but also can handle the voltage of the battery. I use some old computer fans. I have 4 fans connected in series (red wire of plug to red of first fan, then black wire of first fan connects to red wire of second fan, black wire of second fan connects to red wire of third fan, black wire from third fan connects to red wire of fourth fan, Black wire from fourth fan connects to black wire plug of battery.) I Check the voltage before I start to discharge with a multimeter. Some time I put the multimeter in the circuit and watch the discharge rate. But I log my battery also don't know if its going to help me but time may tell...