batteries @#$%^&* !!!

[RDSTR99]

I just bought an A40 & NiMH batteries and charger. I charged them until indicator on charger was green- they lasted about three minutes in the camera. Do these have to charge overnight? I read the short note in the manual about needing to drain and charge several times before they hold a charge ? Can someone fill me in on this?? Thanks

[Laurie]

I purchased a Rayovac 1 hour charger and batteries. When you first start to charge them the lights are green and when they are done charging the lights turn off. My batteries lasted over a week in my A40. I would not use those same batteries in your camera since the 'memory' of the charge is drastically shortened from what you did with them.

Laurie

[Conk]

Just return them. I use Panasonic rechargables and they last a long long time.

[RDSTR99]

Laurie- Did your batteries take a full charge the first time you charged them? The manual says that batteries may have to be charged and discharged several times before they will take a full charge. It is good to know that once I get the batteries going they will last for a week or so one one charge. Thanks for your reply. Don

[Laurie]

Don, I assume I got a full charge because the batteries took exactly a full hour to charge. I bought an 8 pack and will keep an extra set of 4 always charged on hand to switch back and forth with. Good luck.
Laurie

[bigwalpaul]

I recently bought an A40, seems great, but after about 30 shots, started getting "change battery" message, auto-shutoff, etc. Same thing with brand new batteries. It isn't the batteries. I saw reference to this problem on another forum and on the Canon website incidental to the AF fix download. Here is a deep link to that
http://www.canon.co.jp/Imaging/PSA40/PSA40_Adjustment2-e.html
The other forum is
http://www.benel.com/psforum/
where there are several related posts pointing to a problem with the battery compartment cover or the dc/dc converter. Both seem plausible. I'll pursue it with Canon service next week.
--Paul

[JohnMN]

I own a set of 4 NiMH rechargables from a company called Uniross and my charger is also from Uniross. It takes them 5 hours to charge fully - lights go green. I didn't know you could charge a set in an hour, is this long enough? Maybe you need to do it a few times, like previous contributors have stated. I also use a plug in timer (you know the kind where you can set the start and end times on) if I am going to take pictures early in the morning. This saves having to rise during the night and plug everything in.

JohnMN

[DNAphil]

I got some NiMH batteries when I bought my A40 as well. I charged them overnight and put them in the camera. As soon as I turned the camera on, it was giving me the 'Change Batteries' message. The camera lasted for a night of taking pictures and then finally died out.

I recharged the batteries overnight, and the second time I put them in they were great. I took a ton of picutres over the next few days with them and they were fine.

I just read on another page, that NiMH batteries take 3-5 cycles before the batteries get to their full capacity. The site was really helpful. The link is: http://www.thomas-distributing.com/maha-educate-batteries.htm

Check it out. It was pretty helpful for me.

Phil