battery problems

Dear Group,

A year ago I got a canon S2IS, and also 2 sets of 4 2500mAh
energizer rechargeable batteries and the standard (not quick-charge)
recharger for them.

I'm not quite so picture-happy as my parents , so I really
haven't used it that much. Maybe a couple hundred photos in the past
year? Only for special things. The batteries have been recharged
maybe a score of times, they SHOULD still be good.

However, they' re draining impossibly fast! I recharged both sets
2 days ago. I put one in the camera. I took, oh, 10 shots over two
days. They're dead now. I didn't leave the camera on, and wasn't even
using the flash. The second set? I just popped them in. Already
drained, and they haven't been put to use yet.

Is it the camera, somehow thinking they're dead when they're not?
The same batteries DO seem to work in my power toothbrush, at least,
even if they're drained to my camera. Or are the batteries somehow
shot, as little as I've used them? Or is the recharger not recharging?
I'm assuming that I pop them in the recharger, plug it in, and come
back later when the light on the charger is out; that they're not going
to start draining of their own accord if I've left them in the charger
too long? Maybe it's a matter of voltage; all the amps are there, but
the batteries aren't getting enough voltage for the camera, even if
other things are working fine off of them?


Have you had similar problems yourself? My camera is unusable
with battery life this short, of 0-20 minutes, and I don't feel like
paying for more new rechargeable batteries, or burning through
alkalines just yet.




thanks!
-Bernard Arnest

On 17 Aug 2006 08:41:45 -0700, Bernard Arnest wrote:

> I'm not quite so picture-happy as my parents , so I really
> haven't used it that much. Maybe a couple hundred photos in the past
> year? Only for special things. The batteries have been recharged
> maybe a score of times, they SHOULD still be good.
>
> However, they' re draining impossibly fast! I recharged both sets
> 2 days ago. I put one in the camera. I took, oh, 10 shots over two
> days. They're dead now. I didn't leave the camera on, and wasn't even
> using the flash. The second set? I just popped them in. Already
> drained, and they haven't been put to use yet.
>
> Is it the camera, somehow thinking they're dead when they're not?
> The same batteries DO seem to work in my power toothbrush, at least,
> even if they're drained to my camera. Or are the batteries somehow
> shot, as little as I've used them? Or is the recharger not recharging?
> I'm assuming that I pop them in the recharger, plug it in, and come
> back later when the light on the charger is out; that they're not going
> to start draining of their own accord if I've left them in the charger
> too long? Maybe it's a matter of voltage; all the amps are there, but
> the batteries aren't getting enough voltage for the camera, even if
> other things are working fine off of them?

Rechargeable batteries really like to be used often. Leaving them
in the charger too long is not nearly as bad as leaving them out of
the charger for too long. What can really damage rechargeable
batteries is if they're left for a *long* time in a device that
slowly drains them. I'm not talking about extremely low currents
such as clock calendar chips that could run for several years on a
single alkaline battery, but cameras that have much greater small
current drains when the camera is powered off. If a fresh set of
alkalines will not last a year in a camera that's never turned on,
that camera can kill rechargeable NiMH batteries if they're left in
the camera for several months between charges. Your electric
toothbrush uses *much* less power than the camera, so if your
batteries have been abused to the point that they've lost 90% of
their capacity, they'd still be able to power your toothbrush for
quite a long time, maybe for a week or two of daily use after they
don't have enough energy left to power the camera any more.

With the number of pictures you say you take per year, you really
don't need to use rechargeable batteries. You could probably get by
with from 1 to 4 sets of alkaline AA batteries per year. Only one
set if you rarely use the flash. Up to four sets if most of your
pictures are taken using the flash. Check your manual. Somewhere
in it will be a table showing how many shots it can take using
alkaline and NiMH batteries under different conditions.