Rechargable Batteries - what an exciting topic !

I recently grabbed my s2 and headed for the great outdoors hoping to become closer friends with the wee beast.

Testing before I headed out I noticed that the batteries were flat - no worries I had charged my entire collection of AA's and carefully stored them in little battery boxes to stop them discharging.

or so I thought

All 24 were flat - well enough life to power on and tell me that the batteries were on low life too risky to head out into the wilds of South London. My charger is a Sony, if I use batteries hot from the charger they last as expected. I have 4 different makes of battery anasmann, sony, uniross and sunpak

What am I doing wrong ?

The batteries had probably been charged and stored about 2 mths ago.

Are the discharging on there own in the battery box ?

If I leave the batteries in the charger after they have finished charging do they start to discharge?

NiMH batteries discharge on their own around ~1% or so per day, more in the first days after charging. My rule of thumb: charge everything the day before use.

I think I remember (from our battery guys) that NiMH batteries lose between 15 and 25% in the first 24 hours and then will lose about 0.6% per day thereafter at 25C. Higher temps mean higher self discharge.

So its a charge the day before and then into the fridge with my wifes film !

That is until Zanussi design a fridge with a built in battery charger !

Actually, if you have a big charger like teh ansmann energy 16, it's best to just leave the batteries in the charger and leave it plugged in. I don't think the freezer or the fridge will help much.

Cheers

James