Rodney

You can easily get high wattage resistors at most electronic supply stores such as Radio Shack. Do get 5 or 10 watt resistors as they will last longer, are more robust and will not get as hot under load (you will burn your fingers if the wattage value is to small as well as possibly burn out the resistor). Standard values are 3.3, 4.7, 6.8, 10, 22 ohms. On the large sandbars (the slang name for the large square power resistors), the 10 and 22 ohm values are usually more available. Your load need not be an exact 500ma, 1 amp etc.; just as long as a reasonable load is on the NiCad or NiMh (LiPo and A123 do not require a load as open circuit voltage is a good representative of the charge level) to give you a reliable state of condition.