[sdiy] silly question about NIMH batteries

[James Patchell]

I would advise against this.

NiMH batteries are not as bad as NiCd batteries, but it is best if all of 
the batteries are drained at the same rate.  If one cell discharges before 
the rest of them, there is a possibility of reverse charging that cell 
which could damage it (will damage NiCd for sure...not so sure how bad that 
is with NiMH...but it is not good).

Switchers are the best way to convert power with batteries...Linear 
regulators will waste a good portion of the available power from a 
battery.  And there are ways of dealing with the switching noise...but this 
is not an easy thing to do, even for those who know what they are doing...

At 04:26 PM 6/11/2006 +0200, Bert Schiettecatte wrote:
>Hi All,
>
>
>I was looking at these AAA NiMH rechargeable batteries that are being sold 
>in stores everywhere and I was wondering if it was possible to get several 
>simultaneous voltages from them without the need for regulators? To 
>clarify what I'm talking about : each battery is 1.2V, so if you put 4 
>batteries in series, that would give you 4.8V. But could it also give you 
>1.2V, 2.4V and 3.6V all at the same time without having to use a regulator 
>for each of these voltages? Would it cause problems if I drew current from 
>each of the cells that is in series with the other ones?
>
>This is probably a very silly newbie electronics question but then I'm 
>mostly a software guy ....
>
>Thanks,
>Bert
>
>

         -Jim
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