NiCad

Trademarked name for a nickel-cadmium battery owned by SAFT America Inc., NiCad is a rechargeable battery made mostly of nickel and cadmium. Compared to other battery technologies, the NiCad variety offer performance at low temperatures, decent capacity, and a good life cycle. Its most significant advantage among competitors is the ability to deliver nearly all its rated capacity at high discharge rates.

A primary complication with nickel-cadmium batteries was that they needed to be completely drained of power before being recharged. If the batteries were not completely emptied, their maximum energy capacity would lower upon each charge/discharge cycle. Although it is no longer an issue today, this problem is known as a memory loss or memory effect.

Battery terms, Computer abbreviations, Li-Ion, NiMH, Refresh