Overcharged or damaged NiMH batteries?

Hi all,

Recently, during my stay in the USA, I bought a rapid charger ('Seven Star')
with four NiMH batteries ('Digicam', 1.2V, 2000mAh) for my Canon A60 camera.
It worked perfectly fine, and I have recharged the batteries two times while
in the USA.

Back home in the Netherlands I forgot to switch the charger's adapter from
110V to 220V (most adapters I know switch automatically). Obviously, the
adapter broke. I bought a new adapter, and the charger appears to work
correctly.
After I placed the recharged batteries in the camera, the camera indicated
that I should change the battery pack. I tested the batteries and found out
that they are fully loaded - delivering 1,3V to 1,6V. Also, the camera still
works fine with regular penlite batteries.

The charger indicates that it has reverse polarity protection and -dV/dT
cut-off. Could it be that the batteries are still overloaded or damaged
because of the 110/220 accident? If so, is discharging an option - and what
is the best way to do that? Could it be that the charger's reverse polarity
protection and overcharge protection are damaged?

Any help on this matter will be highly appreciated. Thanks in advance!

Best wishes,

Blaujuffer

"Blaujuffer" <blaujuffer DeleteThis @hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:A4uVa.652725$gs1.43002368@amsnews03.chello.com...
 > Hi all,
 >
 > Recently, during my stay in the USA, I bought a rapid charger ('Seven
Star')
 > with four NiMH batteries ('Digicam', 1.2V, 2000mAh) for my Canon A60
camera.
 > It worked perfectly fine, and I have recharged the batteries two times
while
 > in the USA.
 >
 > Back home in the Netherlands I forgot to switch the charger's adapter from
 > 110V to 220V (most adapters I know switch automatically). Obviously, the
 > adapter broke. I bought a new adapter, and the charger appears to work
 > correctly.
 > After I placed the recharged batteries in the camera, the camera indicated
 > that I should change the battery pack. I tested the batteries and found
out
 > that they are fully loaded - delivering 1,3V to 1,6V. Also, the camera
still
 > works fine with regular penlite batteries.
 >
 > The charger indicates that it has reverse polarity protection and -dV/dT
 > cut-off. Could it be that the batteries are still overloaded or damaged
 > because of the 110/220 accident? If so, is discharging an option - and
what
 > is the best way to do that? Could it be that the charger's reverse
polarity
 > protection and overcharge protection are damaged?
 >
 > Any help on this matter will be highly appreciated. Thanks in advance!
 >
 > Best wishes,
 >
 > Blaujuffer

You've listed several possibilities. I don't see an easy way to test,
except try the charger with a different set of batteries; you should have at
least two sets anyway. The batteries can be discharged, but it shoukld be
under load. Just connecting the batteries together to complete a circuit,
with no load, is likely to damage the batteries.<!-- ~MESSAGE_AFTER~ -->