How Can I Stop Batteries Discharging?

[Mechanicus]

Hello.

I have quite a few (about 20) hi-cap AA/AAA batteries (2700mAh on the AAs, 1100mAh on the AAAs). I used to use these with my old digital camera.

I recently bought a new Olympus SP-310, which came with a 3v Lithium dual-AA. It isn't rechargable, but I used it up, keeping my rechargables aside for when it ran out. All my rechargables were fully charged and ready to go, and stored in 4-pack plastic holders, as seen here.

Now my battery has run out, I am turning to my rechargables, but they are all flat! Each one takes about 3 hours on a quick charger, so that's 60 hours of recharging I have to do.
Why are they discharging so quickly? Is it because they are close to each other? Is there a way to isolate them so they are fresh and ready to use whenever I need them, such as storage boxes?

[cyberlord]

The problem with rechargable batteries, particularly NiCad and NiMH, is they do not have a very long shelf life. It has nothing to do with how close they are to each other.

If you constantly use the camera and keep a set of batteries on the charger you will have no problems. If you are spuratic with your photography and wait a couple weeks between uses then the batteries will have lost 50% or more of their charge.

Lithium Ion rechargable batteries (like in most cell phones) have a much better shelf life. I have not found any Lithium Ion rechargable batteries in standard battery sizes , but I haven't been looking for any either.

Keep a set of alkaline (disposable) on hand for emergencies and keep the NiMH rotated on the charger. Works for me.

Tim

[Mechanicus]

Okay, that sounds like a good idea.
I used to carry sets of 4 batteries around with me, because my old camera used to each them 4 at a time. But when the set in the camera died, and I replaced them with another lot from my bag, I would find that these too would be mostly drained.

I have been using this camera a lot more, so I hope that I can get some use out of them each time.

[another view]

Same here - I charge my NiMh batteries a day or two before I need them. They'll be dead from a full charge and no use within a couple/few weeks. Alkalines have a long shelf life so they should work pretty well for this. Lithium AA's work really well too, and much better in the cold than about anything else. They're also quite expensive but we shouldn't be needing them for awhile!

[Erik Stiegler]

The problem may be your camera. The SP-3xx series cameras are very hard on NiMH rechargables. Have you upgraded the firmware to 1.3 or 1.4?

I gave up on them in my SP-350 and started using lithium AAs.

[Mechanicus]

How would I know the firmware version?

Oh, and it's not the camera - the batteries drain inside or outside the camera. I only notice when I go to use them.

[Erik Stiegler]

Olympus Master will tell you the firmware version. Connect the camera and run the update camera command. The 1.3 update addresses battery life with rechargables.

Even freshly charged AAs performed very poorly in my SP-350 (even with the firmware update). It was so bad, I thought my charger was broken, but the same batteries work fine in another camera.

[WesternGuy]

Just some recent experience. On February 6, 2007, I fully charged a set of four Energizer 2500 mAh NiMH batteries (1.25 volts). Today, April 2, 2007 they show a retained voltage of between 1.1 and 1.2 volts. These have not been used - just sitting on the shelf.

Another set of generic AA NiMH 1.25 rechargeables, were charged on January 13, 2007 and show the same voltage deterioration in a flash unit that has been used to take a couple of dozen flash pictures. (Go figure )

It sounds like your camera as it is currently configured, may be hard on batteries. Go for the firmware update and see if that helps.

My 0.02 cents for what its worth.

Cheers,

WesternGuy

[freygr]

The NiCad or NiMH batteries, the discharge rate depends on 1) the age of the battery, 2) the temperature the batteries are stored at, lower temp. less discharge.

And if also the NiCad or NiMH batteries have a maximum number of charge cycles before you need to get new batteries.

[Mechanicus]

The NiCad or NiMH batteries, the discharge rate depends on 1) the age of the battery, 2) the temperature the batteries are stored at, lower temp. less discharge.

And if also the NiCad or NiMH batteries have a maximum number of charge cycles before you need to get new batteries.

The batteries are probably about 4-5 months old. They are kept in my room, at slightly-below-average temperature (I turn the radiator off), and they have a charge cycle of 3000 charges, according to the writing on them.

[freygr]

I've also noticed that some of the no-name batteries will self-discharge faster than the name brands.

[livin4lax09]

it should also be mentioned that you should recalibrate your batteries from time to time. I know, sounds strange for batteries, but it still works to help preserve the life. Not many people know about it, but they recommend it a lot, especially for laptop batteries. all it involves is completely draining the charge of the battery, letting it sit for a couple hrs, then charging it fully and letting it sit for another couple hrs before using it again.

and also try not to partially recharge when charging, always do a full charge whenever possible. It helps to preserve the life as well... it's just the science of how rechargables work.

[another view]

letting it sit for a couple hrs.....letting it sit for another couple hrs before using it again

Did not know this part of it... I have a NiMh charger that will zap whatever charge is still in the battery before recharging, but it starts over again right away. I suppose you could just put them in a flashlight to let them burn out...