Nimh Battery Problem

[Vynx]

Right. I bought a compact NiMH battery charger with 4 2500 rated energiser batteries yesterday and put them on charge. I was under the impression that the light would go off when they finished (The website or the manual doesn't say this though). So I left them on. It's been around 15 hours now and the batteries were pretty hot, so I turned it off. The average time charge said it would be around 8 1/2 hours, so i'm guessing i've left them in way too long.

Will I have damaged the batteries? The charger does say this on the website though:

Safety Timer? That means i'm ok then?

I've always been pretty paranoid when it comes to batteries, so if something with the technical knowledge could put my mind at ease, or at least tell me if i've damaged my batteries or not, that would be appreciated.

 

[Dimacus]

As far as I can tell you haven't damaged you batteries.
Batteries getting warm during charging is normal, it's when they are hot something might be wrong.
As the instruction-thinge says there on the picture it has a built-in timer, so you should be ok.

 

[Vynx]

Well, my GP2X says they're full now, so i'm just going to enjoy the damn thing. I've waited long enough <_<

 

[hired gun]

Most batteries tell you to charge them longer the first time, so you are probably okay there. As for the Safety timer, if probably means that after the batteries are fully charged it switches to a "trickle charge" mode. Don't ask me what that is, lol, as I have no idea, but my battery charger states that when the batteries are fully charged the light will change from red to green (I love that feature) and if the batteries are not removed it changes to a "trickle" charge mode. H.G.

 

[reallynotnick]

Trickle charge simply starts after the batteries are fully charged. What it does is keeps the batteries at their peak compacity, now I don't understand why we even need trickle charge. Its not like we are going to loose a bunch of battery power by not using our batteries for like 1 hour.

 

[lintsniffer]

It looks like I have the same charger with 4x 2500 batts, but it has a 3.5 hour auto shutoff. Est. time for 2500 mAh is 3 hours for mine though.

 

[zektor]

I have that exact charger/battery combo as well. Not too satisfied with it however...sometimes they charge well, sometimes not. I ordered a Duracell setup...hopefully they are better.

 

[Vimacs]

Sounds like the batterys were overcahrges, this lower thair lifetime, also this is a "stupid" scharger as it only works by charging for a fixed time.
You should realy get a intelligent charger wich measures the batterys, timed chargers are BAD.

 

[Vynx]

Well, I can't afford to get a new charger right now, but you're right. As soon as I can i'll upgrade to a better charger.