RE: Nicad shelf life
I have had some that lasted for over 15 years and some that failed in less than a year. If storage was at low temperatures, the life is usually very long. Excessively high temps can degrade them quickly. Some tests that NASA has run shows that if they are stored discharged (with a shorting bar across the individual cells) at temperatures around 30 degrees F, they will last a very long time. I also had some wet NiCad's that lasted well over 20 years.