For rebuilding Battery packs people on this thread have said that nobody
makes NiMh 1/3A
cells, although some have used 1/3AA NiMh cells. In fact GP Batteries, a
large Chinese Battery
vendor lists 1/3A NiMh cells in their catalogue. These are 450mAh (min), 500mAh
nominal. These
should be capable of about "3C" in other words 1350mA peak current, which
should be more than
enough given the nominal spec for the MD2. Although the OM charger should work
with these cells it
will likely degrade the NiMh cells, particulaly if they are left on for
extended charge periods.
The cells are specd to last a year or so in overcharge but I am somewhat
sceptical given general
issues with overcharging NiMh. Also cell charge efficency drops at the lowish
charge rates of the
Oly charger (probably less than C/10 for these cells), so determining ideal
charge time maybe
require some testing. Even though GP lists the 1/3A cells in their catalogue,
they may only build
to (large) order, so they may not really be available retail. I have not tried
to find a retailer,
although many suppliers list the more common size GP cells, like full size AA.
I have been trying to get Huanya another Chinese vendor to sell me their 1/3A
NiCd cells (300mAh)
which have a higher rating than the more common GP brand NiCd's (250mAh)or
Sanyo cells, but they
don't stock cells, so unfortunately you need to order a really large number
before they are
interested in doing business.
The 1/3A NiMh cells from GP are attractive on paper, but would require some
investigation to find
best charge times with the Oly charger.
Regards,
Tim Hughes
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