Sony nimh digital camera battery charger

[pappyon]

Can a Sony digital camera battery charger be used to charge ordinary rechargeable batteries you would use in a torch.


It says on the back:-
Output 1.4v (sign denoting DC)

1.4V 400mAx2
160mAx2

CAUTION
This battery charger must only be used with Sony nimh batteries in AA or AAA size which are marked rechargeable


Thanks for any response

 

[Spark123]

I think the sony warning is saying no
Not worth the hastle for the price of a bog standard battery charger.

 

[ericmark]

Batteries can explode

Mouse 4

• ericmark
• 11 Dec 2009
• 5

and when they do it leaves loads of nasty stuff behind

Mouse 3

• ericmark
• 11 Dec 2009
• 3

as I found to my cost. This was not a rechargeable battery and it was not in the charger when it went bang. It looked similar to some rechargeable ones and a couple of days earlier it may have ended up in charger by mistake.

Point to remember there was a good time between mistake and going bang well over 24 hours.

Our rechargeable are also divided into different types, Metal Halide, NiCad and fast and slow charge. Chargers use a number of different ways to work out if charged.
Heat, Time, and Voltage being main with some just using a very low charge rate and no control. Some times there is a heat sensor inside the battery and sometimes it's part of charger. The voltage method looks for a dip in voltage rather than a value as NiCad batteries when charged with constant current have a dip in voltage just as they reach full charge.

Your charger says Nickel Metal Halide and although NiCad rechargeable batteries may fit it is likely to have too high of a charge rate for those older batteries. And even with Nickel Metal Halide of another make the battery may or may not be able to be charged at that rate and there may some temperature disconnecter in the Sony batteries. Although unlikely. Most AAA batteries are 180mah so it does not seem to be anything out of the ordinary and AA around the 800mah mark so again unlikely to be a problem. But at the price of universal battery chargers is it really worth the chance?

 

[timtheenchanter]

keep an eye on maplin and similar, the last one I bought was £9.00 with 8AA NiMh batteries, just before Xmas..