NiMH Battery storage life

[rhome]

LED flashlights are getting much better,brighter and cheaper.
I've limited my supply of rechargeable NiMH baterries to AA and AAA sizes.

Last year I purchased several 4 packs of AAA NiMH on sale.
These were stored properly and never opened until today.The problem is my little recharger defaults on all these old AAAs.
Do these batteries come charged from the factory and need to stay recharged?
OR did I need to charge all of them at time of purchase and then keep them charged?
The only info I could dig up was NiMHs will drain when not in use long term...months. I wonder if these stored AAAs simply drained to the point of no charge ability?
Hope everyone here has a prosperous New Year and thanks for all the great Posts and Threads, rhome

[stanb999]

Originally Posted by rhome

LED flashlights are getting much better,brighter and cheaper.
I've limited my supply of rechargeable NiMH baterries to AA and AAA sizes.

Last year I purchased several 4 packs of AAA NiMH on sale.
These were stored properly and never opened until today.The problem is my little recharger defaults on all these old AAAs.
Do these batteries come charged from the factory and need to stay recharged?
OR did I need to charge all of them at time of purchase and then keep them charged?
The only info I could dig up was NiMHs will drain when not in use long term...months. I wonder if these stored AAAs simply drained to the point of no charge ability?
Hope everyone here has a prosperous New Year and thanks for all the great Posts and Threads, rhome

You really need a charger for the NiMH batteries. Older chargers are for NiCad.

One other thing. you should get a newer charger anyway because some of the new batteries hold 8x the energy and the old chargers. Even the ones listed for NiMH wont give them a full charge.

[rhome]

stan. thanks for the reply...brand new charger for AA-AAA NiHM.
The 4 AAs that came with the charger charged up fine today.
Ain't this tech stuff just so much FUN??
Well at least I can take care of my kero lamps with no problems.

I'll ckeck the old AAAs and see if this charger is compatible for amps.