In message , Kay Easton
writes
In article , David W.E. Roberts
writes
The destructions say that you need a full 8 hours of direct sunlight to
fully charge the 'AA' NiCds (doesn't say how many and I haven't taken one
appart) and that prolonged exposure to frost will damage them.

Eeek! Mine don't say anything about frost!! Is this universal, do you
think? Am I going to have to dig mine up and bring them inside for the
winter? I don't do that for plants, I'm damned if I'm going to do that
for lights!

In general yes - the batteries can die horribly in a sufficiently hard
frost. Probably leaking nasty corrosive caustic gunge all over the
innards too. Dissolved salts depress the freezing point so depending on
the electrolyte used it will not fail at 0C but at a somewhat colder
temperature.

However, they are more likely to be wrecked first by a combination of
over and under charging resulting in premature failure of the weakest
cell.

Regards,
--
Martin Brown