[NTLK] NiCd batteries and EU regulations

> What? I leave in France and I never hear about that. Why EU want to
> kill the AAA battery size?

They do not want to kill the size. They only prevent Nickel-Cadmium cells in that size from being
sold. Which makes sense because Cadmium is fairly toxic and most devices can just as well be powered
from NiMH type cells. The minor problem is that built-in cells often cannot simply be replaced by
NiMH cells because NiCd cells require a charge curve different from that required for NiMH cells.

The EU regulation we are talking about is

        2006/66/EG.

It has undergone a fair amount of extensions and revisions since 2006. The latest (to the best of my
knowledge) is

        2008/103/EG,

the German version of which you'll find here:

        <http://preview.tinyurl.com/danb5p>

Article 2 of this regulation says in a nutshell:

        The EU states will enact the laws and regulations required
        to comply with this EU regulation until January 5, 2009.

Which is exactly what Germany did. To the best of my knowledge no German shop carries these cells
anymore. I've recently bought a couple of new AA size cells at eBay to make sure there'll be some
left for Newton users in need.

This regulation, by the way, does not (yet) apply to large NiCd batteries like those found e. g. in
fork-lifts etc. But it does apply to all standard battery sizes.

Frank

-- Newton software and hardware at http://www.pda-soft.de

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Received on Sun May 3 17:37:34 2009