Telstar 401 Reconditioning Experience

Abstract

Telstar 401 was launched December 15, 1993. It has two 58 cell 50 AH Nickel Hydrogen batteries of the Comsat design. Reconditioning has traditionally been used as a means of maintaining the performance of normal cells and batteries. This paper describes a situation in which reconditioning was used to improve the performance of nickel-hydrogen batteries in Telstar 40. Reconditioning is carried out with relay selected resistors across the entire battery for rates of approximately C/50 and C/100. There are individual cell voltage monitors and the discharge is carried out until the first cell reaches 0.8 volts.