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NiMh battery help

L

Lefty

Trade: Amar Sood Photo
Hi guys,

I've just bought some 2700mAh AA batteries + charger for my Pentax K100d Super. I was told by the guy in the store that these would need charging before use so I got them out of the pack and put them on charge yesterday. According to the instructions, these should take approx 2 hours to fully charge.

However, the red charging light turned to green indicating charging was complete after only 20-30 mins. I reasoned that they must have already had some charge when I bought them so I took them out and installed them into my camera. I've taken maybe 30 pics since then and they are already flat. I've put them back on charge and again, after 20-30 mins the charger says they are ready.

Does this mean the batteries are knackered? Also, would only charging them for 30 mins and then using them yesterday have reduced their capacity?

Lefty
 
Hi Lefty,

Your situation is special because of the K100D.

This camera is very sensitive to changes in batteries voltage, and indicates batteries as empty long before they are, just because their voltage dropped somewhat. Put these batteries in some other appliance and see they still have plenty of juice.

Solution is simple. Buy some Sanyo Eneloop batteries.
They do not discharge over time, so you can leave them for a month in the camera with no penalty. Hence they also come pre-charged.

And for your problem, they are much more stable wrt their voltage, so my K100D takes > 500 photos with one charge if I am not mistaken.
They can also supply greater current, so charge the flash faster.

Omer.
 
did you buy them from the store that sold you the camera, and told them it was for this application? if so, take them back for something that works.

If not, make a mental note next time to follow step one.
 
Thanks for the feedback guys.

I know what you mean Omer, even with standard AA batteries I found the camera could go on a little longer (15-20 pics) form when it said the battery was flat. Unfortunately, I only got 3-4 pics after the camera showed the "battery depleted" message with the NiMh units.

As for the batteries themselves, they are Jessops' own brand. I did tell the sales guy what they were for and he led me straight to these batteries. I left them on charge for 2 hours but haven't had the chance to test them yet. Fingers crossed they are now ok. 500 shots would be great. I only got 80-100 with standard AA's.

If all is still not well I shall take them back and get myself some of those Sanyos :)

Lefty
 
I use the lithium batteries for my *ist DS. They last for nearly a year, and I would guess around 1000 shots. Not rechargeable though, so I'll be looking into the Sanyo Eneloops too!
 
I've just bought some Uniross Hybrio batteries for my cameras as I was fed up of the 'normal' rechargeables losing a lot of their charge before I used them.

They're the same thing as the Sanyo Eneloops. Have a look on Ebay - if the postage is reasonable, it's as cheap as anywhere.;)
 
Just a small update re the Sanyos.

I was the official documentor of a long festive thing one of these evenings, 220 pictures, all with on-board flash (although with some negative EV). The eneloops still show as full on the K100D. Previous GP 2700 and precharged GP Recycko's didn't come near.

Figures on the web are anything between 500 and over 1000 shots on one charge.

Omer.
 
Thanks for the update Omer.

I still haven't got round to trying the Jessops batteries after charging for 2 hours. Will report the results here when I do :)

Lefty
 
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