ORIGINAL: jimster43
Don't Ni-cad's suffer from "memory effect"? If you don't fully discharge the battery before charging it, it will only discharge to the point where it was last charged. Perhaps someone else can explain better. Or maybe it is just a myth.
Part urban legend, part fact. Yes, they will develop "memory," but not after one or two cycles. It takes repeated partial discharging to the same place then charging the pack for that to happen. Such as four minute car races. Also, this problem was far more likely in the old days with early generation battey technology. Today's batteries are much better and will last darn near forever with proper care.