NmH batteries: mix and match in recharger?

Factual Questions
1

I remember reading a while ago that you weren’t supposed to mix different brands and/or different power types (1400, 1850, etc) of nickel metal hydride batteries. Is that still true?

I have 2 AA 1850 Sanyo NmH batteries with a Sanyo recharger, and I want to know if I have to buy only Sanyo brand batteries from here on out.

Thanks!

2

Buy? No. You can buy any brands you want. You just can’t mix them up and charge different ones at the same time. The brand of the charge doesn’t matter, as long as it’s designed for the particular battery type you have.

3

That’s “the brand of the chargER”.

4

Better chargers will have an independant charging circuit for each cell. If you’ve got one of those, it will have a separate LED for each cell, then you don’t have to worry about mixing them in the charger. Most cheap chargers work in pairs so you shouldn’t mix within a pair.

Most NiMH chargers will charge to full capacity so it won’t be a problem getting higher capacity cells, they’ll just take longer. Not all chargers are created edqual and some do a poor job of getting a battery to full capacity. I’ve been using a Rayovac charger for a couple of years and it’s fast but often overheats batteries which damaged the capacity so I’m looking at a Maha charger.

5

Hi QED.

When you say “as long as it’s designed for the particular battery type you have,” do you mean: “as long as the charger is designed for NiMh batteries as opposed to Alkaline or Cadmium batteries”?

6

Yes, that’s exactly what I mean. Most NiMH chargers will work fine for NiCd batteries, but the converse is not necessarily true. A good rule of thumb is if the charger manual doesn’t list your battery type, don’t use it. And definitely stay away from so-called “fast” chargers, especially the low-end ones. Yes, they charge batteries quickly, but at the cost of greatly-reduced operating life. some high-end rapid chargers have temperature sensors that are suppose to monitor cell temperature and adjust the charging current appropriately, but even these lead to reduced life over repeated use.