A70 Rechargable battery question

[murph00009]

Ok, i just got an A70 for christmas, it works fine, i used some regular batteries and they still worked fine, but i figured i might as well get some rechargeables it would save me alot of money, anyways, i bought some energizer NIMH batteries, but i noticed they didn't hold a charge for that long, i've used them about 3 times so far, and i'm noticing that the ammount of time it holds a charge is increasing, its weird, anyways, will it keep increasing until it can hold a full charge like it's supposed to, or is it messed up, or do u always have to let new batteries run out and let them charge up all the way a few times before they can hold a full charge? thanks for your help

[stduc]

You don't say what the capacity of batteries you have bought is. You don't say what kind of charger you are using. It is true though that NiMh batteries don't reach their full capacity until they have been charged/discharged a few times. It is important to use a good charger that won't overcharge the batteries or make them get hot. Try to use them to exaustion as soon as possible after their first charge. Once the camera refuses to take a picture - i.e. you get the 'change batteries' message See if you can open/close the battery compartment and then power up in replay mode. If you can, put the camera on autoplay until the batteries quit. After a couple of power cycles I find that NiMh batteries don't seem top care whether they are exhausted before a recharge or simply topped up. They don't seem to like being charged and then not used however. If you do this, then you seem to have to start again. I get over 300 pics and a weeks use out of a set of 2200 mAh batteries.
BTW it's also a good idea to keep a set of batteries as a set.

[murph00009]

ok, the battery says 1.2 v and 2100mAh, i'm using a RAYOVAC Battery Charger, it says It recharges Rechargeable Alkaline, NiMH, and NiCd

[putoloiro]

What is BTW?
thank you

[Ikinaa]

What is BTW?
thank you

BTW = By The Way ...

check here...

http://www.netlingo.com/inframes.cfm

[stduc]

ok, the battery says 1.2 v and 2100mAh, i'm using a RAYOVAC Battery Charger, it says It recharges Rechargeable Alkaline, NiMH, and NiCd
And it goes without saying that you put the selector switch in the NiMH position? (Course you did!) - Therefore, give the batteries another powercycle and you should get much better performance. If you don't, suspect the batteries and possibly the charger.

[stoneylonesome]

NiMH batteries usually take about 3 to 4 full depletion and recharges to reach there maximum, after that you should have no problem. I had they Canon A40 and was amazed at how long the battaries lasted, couldn't remember the last time I changed them. :lol: I also invested in a separate rechargeable power pack, real sweet when you are on a long field trip.

seems the last link doesn't work for some reason, this one does

http://www.thomas-distributing.com/maha-powerbank.htm

check it out

[murph00009]

ok, the battery says 1.2 v and 2100mAh, i'm using a RAYOVAC Battery Charger, it says It recharges Rechargeable Alkaline, NiMH, and NiCd
And it goes without saying that you put the selector switch in the NiMH position? (Course you did!) - Therefore, give the batteries another powercycle and you should get much better performance. If you don't, suspect the batteries and possibly the charger.

well i don't think it's the charger cuz i just bought it a few days ago and it seems to be working fine, it's probably just cuz the batteries are new and they need to cycle

[murph00009]

ok, the battery says 1.2 v and 2100mAh, i'm using a RAYOVAC Battery Charger, it says It recharges Rechargeable Alkaline, NiMH, and NiCd
And it goes without saying that you put the selector switch in the NiMH position? (Course you did!) - Therefore, give the batteries another powercycle and you should get much better performance. If you don't, suspect the batteries and possibly the charger.
selector switch? there was no switch

[Taz]

I have been using Ansmann NiMH 2200 mAh rechargeable batteries for about 6 months now & have found them to be very good. They have a one hour charge time & last longer than Duracell M3's.

Hope this is of some help.

Cheers :D

[murph00009]

i think the batteries are getting better, i got 50-60 pictures out of it this time, instead of like 10 - 15 last time

[murph00009]

um, is it normal for the batteries to get hot?

[stoneylonesome]

Yup!

[murph00009]

also, its it possible to overcharge? cuz they seem to not charge for that long, so i put them in again like 5 mins later, and then it chargers for like 3 more hours

[stoneylonesome]

I'm not to sure, I think alot of it has to do with the charger that you use, some chargers shut down when the charging is done... I used to keep a set in the charger all the time and saw no effect...

here is some links that might help

http://www.steves-digicams.com/nimh_batteries.html

http://www.cliffshade.com/dpfwiw/batteries.htm

[murph00009]

i seriously think these batteries are screwed up, i tried them tonight and they only lasted for like 5 pictures

[stoneylonesome]

Could very well be true, They should last more than 5 pictures even at the best setting and using a flash. Like I said earlier when I had the A40 I used the batteries so long I couldn't remember when I had lasted changed them...

[ukcommando]

Sounds like your batteries are duds. NiMH batteries are normally very tough and durable (much more so than Ni-Cd). They don't suffer from memory effect (unlike Ni-Cd) so you can recharge them anytime and generally they hold a charge much longer than Ni-Cds.

I am a bit suspicious of your charger not having any way of selecting the battery type though. Although you can charge Ni-Mh batteries on a Ni-Cd charger, it's not ideal, and you should really use a charger that's either dedicated for this battery type or has a selector. Of course your charger may "automatically" select the correct battery type (or not!). Sorry to sound cynical, but having seen the inside of many battery chargers over the years, I've found that most of them are extremely bad designs (despite the flashy case). I did have some info on the differences between charging Ni-Mh and Ni-Cd for best results but can't seem to find it at present, but no doubt you could find info on the web if you did a bit of searching.

Regards
ukcommando

[Jon]

I think the problem is actually with the Rayovac charger. It's trying to be all things to all people, and it may not be able to recognize the higher mAH NiMH cells you're using. Unless you use Rayovac rechargable alkalines too, I'd suggest you just get a regular NiMH charger. Radio Shack's 23-345 folding charger (http://www.radioshack.com/product.asp?catalog%5Fname=CTLG&category%5Fname=CTLG%5F009%5F012%5F000%5F000&product%5Fid=23%2D345) is inexpensive, compact and does well for my NiMH cells. And if the batteries are getting hot while recharging, they're being stressed and it will shorten their life.