The life of re-chargable batteries?

[johnmiic]

I have 4 re-charge batteries for my digital camera that I have had for 1 & 1/2 year and if I don't use them they go dead in 2 days and need to be re-charged. They used to hold the charge for much longer. Does this mean I should replace them because they are no longer good?

[Dave Mc]

Yes, those are only good for so many re-charges or a certain period of time. I had a set last 2 years, then they stopped holding a charge. Time to replace them.

[johnmiic]

Thanks Dave!

[Meule]

Yep, same here. Had to replace 'em all because they were dead after a day

[tay666]

Yeah.
I usually burn out a set of recharables in a year or so.
My camera takes 2 and I always get 4 so I have a fresh set to put in.

[wayne foundation 07]

They really came down in price,it might offset the quality I guess.

[ctc]

Hmmmm....

Sometimes when that happens it's 'cos the battery had developed a "memory." That is, it doesn't fully recharge when charged up. I use my rechargables 'til they're almost completely drained. It helps prevent this. Some brands are also memory free, or have chargers that do a purge before charging to help prevent this. (The ones I use in my camera have a purge, but it takes longer for them to charge.)

Don C.

[cjefferys]

I recently read an article that said scientists have discovered a method that would only slightly change how batteries are made, but this change, which allows them to work much more efficiently, will allow them to be recharged in a fraction of the time it takes now, and they can be continuously recharged many more times than they can now. They should be available on the market within a couple years.

[Adam West]

The recharge batteries on our cordless phones are all starting to sputter out.

There really seems to be no correlation between battery drain and recharge vs. replacement time (they all pretty much went out within a month or so of each other).