Hello all:

I have a Standard Horizon HX260S hand-held VHF marine radio which, along
with a supplied NiCad battery pack, can take 6 AA batteries. The NiCad
battery pack takes 15 hours to re-charge. I would like to use 6 AA
rechargeable NiMH (Nickel Metal Hydride) batteries instead of the regular AA
batteries but my owner's manual says it's 'not recommended'. I couldn't find
anything at their website explaining this further. Has anyone done this?

Thanks in advance.

- Rob Malkin

I would suspect that their warning pertains to theirs charger. The NiMH
batteries have a slightly different charging behavior than the NiCad.

Why don't you purchase set NiMH batteries and one of the 'smart' battery
charges, designed for both NiMH and NiCad..

Intially, when I switched to NiMH batteries, I was very disappointed with
their 'shelf life' (self discharge). However, once I got a smart charger,
I'm very happy with the NiMH batteries.


--
My opinion and experience. FWIW

Steve
s/v Good Intentions

I think the NiMH are only 1.2V batteries. I have the same radio and when I
misplaced the charger, I bought the 12V charger, so just plug the radio into
the 12V plug in the boat when the batts are low.
Bill

"Rob Malkin" wrote in message
news:Mum8b.425179$Ho3.67600@sccrnsc03...
Hello all:

I have a Standard Horizon HX260S hand-held VHF marine radio which, along
with a supplied NiCad battery pack, can take 6 AA batteries. The NiCad
battery pack takes 15 hours to re-charge. I would like to use 6 AA
rechargeable NiMH (Nickel Metal Hydride) batteries instead of the regular
AA
batteries but my owner's manual says it's 'not recommended'. I couldn't
find
anything at their website explaining this further. Has anyone done this?

Thanks in advance.

- Rob Malkin

Thanks, Bill. I have a fast, 'smart' charger so I'm going to try it. And
thanks for the explanation about the low battery indicator - very useful
information.

- Rob Malkin


wrote in message
...

I have a Garmin 725 handheld that I use as a backup. The nicad pack
was never very good. Garmin has a NiMH pack as an option, and they
claim it would run the radio for 10 hours. They wanted EIGHTY
DOLLARS!!! I loaded up the extra battery bracket with 6 1850 milliamp
AA NiMH batteries that were freshly charged up. The radio's battery
indicator initially read 1/2 charge, and the indicator soon changed to
flashing "low battery", but the radio ran for over 21 hours that
way!!!

The reason for this is the threshold setting in the radio. NiMH
batteries have only about 1.2 volts each when fully charged, unlike
standard AA cells which are 1.5 volts. The difference is that the NiMH
cells stay at that 1.2 level for a long time before steeply dropping
at the end of their duty cycle. The indicator on the radio was
engineered to work with batteries that start at 1.5 volts and
gradually, but constantly, output lower and lower voltage.

Bottom line? Try it. The only thing I would warn against would be
using the "dumb" charger that came with the radio, or any 12 volt
adapter cables. For NiMH batteries it is very important to have a
charger that shuts off automatically when the batteries are charged.
Otherwise the batteries will get VERY hot, and possibly start a fire
in addition to self destructing.

I have a fast charger designed for the NiMH batteries that runs off of
either AC or 12v DC on the boat. I use the same size batteries in my
GPS and my digital camera, so there is always a set being charged, and
plenty of fresh spares to rotate.

BB

I already have the 'smart' charger you recommend because I just got a
digital camera. I'm going to go ahead and try it. Thanks for the reply.

- Rob Malkin

"Steve" wrote in message
...
I would suspect that their warning pertains to theirs charger. The NiMH
batteries have a slightly different charging behavior than the NiCad.

Why don't you purchase set NiMH batteries and one of the 'smart' battery
charges, designed for both NiMH and NiCad..

Intially, when I switched to NiMH batteries, I was very disappointed with
their 'shelf life' (self discharge). However, once I got a smart charger,
I'm very happy with the NiMH batteries.


--
My opinion and experience. FWIW

Steve
s/v Good Intentions

They'll work fine for awhile, but not as long as NiCads or Alkalines. If you
store them, they lose their charge pretty fast. The only way I'd use the
NiMH would be to charge them RIGHT before I used them.

--


Keith
__
Bend the facts to fit the conclusion. It's easier that way.
"Rob Malkin" wrote in message
news:Mum8b.425179$Ho3.67600@sccrnsc03...
Hello all:

I have a Standard Horizon HX260S hand-held VHF marine radio which, along
with a supplied NiCad battery pack, can take 6 AA batteries. The NiCad
battery pack takes 15 hours to re-charge. I would like to use 6 AA
rechargeable NiMH (Nickel Metal Hydride) batteries instead of the regular
AA
batteries but my owner's manual says it's 'not recommended'. I couldn't
find
anything at their website explaining this further. Has anyone done this?

Thanks in advance.

- Rob Malkin

"Rob Malkin" wrote in message news:Mum8b.425179$Ho3.67600@sccrnsc03...
Hello all:

I have a Standard Horizon HX260S hand-held VHF marine radio which, along
with a supplied NiCad battery pack, can take 6 AA batteries. The NiCad
battery pack takes 15 hours to re-charge. I would like to use 6 AA
rechargeable NiMH (Nickel Metal Hydride) batteries instead of the regular AA
batteries but my owner's manual says it's 'not recommended'. I couldn't find
anything at their website explaining this further. Has anyone done this?

NiMH batteries are little more tolerant of rapid charging than Ni-Cads
and have slightly better power density. But rapid charging of either
should only be done on a smart charger. I recall having a "rapid
charger" from a certain amayeir radio manufacturer that wasn't so
smart - just had a timer. Problems occurred if the house power went
on and off - constantly resetting the timmer and cooking the cells.

One issue your radio manufacturer may have is reliability with NiMH.
NiMH cells have poorer "shelf life". It can be significant - like
10-15% of the charge per week. If you charge the cells and then let
them sit for a couple of weeks - you might grab that radio and find
out that you don't have as much operating time as you may need.

I have had very good sucess with the Maha brand. MH-C204F that is a "Rapid
Charger & Conditioner for 2 or 4 AA/AAA NiCD/NiMH Batteries"

Further discription:
Microprocessor driven intelligent rapid charger.
Charge most batteries in about three hours.
Condition and rejuvenate batteries.

I have found that this product satifies all of these claims.

Steve
s/v Good Intentions

Which brings me to another question..

As I have stated, I have had a very good experience with the NiMH AA
batteries and a 'smart charger' from Maha..

I have just been looking at replacement battery packs for my two Skil
Proffesional cordless drill. These drills came with two each 12 volt Ni-Cad
battery packs and one each Ni-Cad charger.

After 10 years of heavy and faithful service in building my 38 ft boat, it's
time to replace the batteries..

The replacement batteries for these drills are now only available in NiMH
and cost $82 each. (2.5 ah)..

What will happen if I use these new batteries in the Skill OEM 'dumb' Ni-Cad
charger??

The battery vendor doesn't mention or recommend any battery chargers for
these batteries.

I wish someone would reveal the smart circuit so I could modify my existing
chargers. Were it not for the microprocessor involved, a clever (not me) guy
could reverse engineer it from one of the AA chargers.

Just thinking out loud.

Steve
s/v Good Intentions

Thank you!

"Steve" wrote in message
...
I have had very good sucess with the Maha brand. MH-C204F that is a "Rapid
Charger & Conditioner for 2 or 4 AA/AAA NiCD/NiMH Batteries"

Further discription:
Microprocessor driven intelligent rapid charger.
Charge most batteries in about three hours.
Condition and rejuvenate batteries.

I have found that this product satifies all of these claims.

Steve
s/v Good Intentions