Charging NiMH batteries

[bonxer]

I have a digital camera that takes two AA batteries. I have four NiMH batteries that I am going to use with it. The NiMH charger I have (Creative Nomad MP3 player that puts them all in series) required 4 batteries to be in at a time in order to work.

I have used one pair of batteries until they drained to the point the camera stopped working. I then switched them for the other fully charged set and have continued to use the camera. I'm getting ready to go on a trip, and would like to not have to worry about batteries. I would like to have all four fully charged when I leave.

Can I go ahead and put the two mostly-drained batteries and the two half drained batteries in and have it charge? Or would it be best to just leave the camera's LCD screen on to drain the current ones to the 1st pair's state, and then have them all charge?

 

[williB]

i dont think it matters with NiMH .
they dont have a memory so , recharging one that is half full is fine..
they do tend to loose a charge after a week or so , so keep that in mind..
my charger can charge four at a time also, but only requires two to charge..

 

[Oznog]

Can I go ahead and put the two mostly-drained batteries and the two half drained batteries in and have it charge? Or would it be best to just leave the camera's LCD screen on to drain the current ones to the 1st pair's state, and then have them all charge?

I would say no, unless it's a trickle charger. It sounds like they put the cells in series, which means they must all receive the same charge current for the same time period. So either the two half-drained cells will get a 50% overcharge or the empty cells will get only a 50% charge before it terminates.

It depends on their scheme for detecting a full charge, but basically there's no right way for it to do it. Best answer is get a charger that does the cells individually- they're common in fast chargers nowadays.