RS Pro-37 Portable scanner NiCad vs NiMH?

[Eskimo_Pie]

I've got a hand held scanner that takes 6xAA (alk or NiCad) that was made before NiMH AAs were popular. It has a built in charging circuit for NiCads and want to use newer NiMH batteries in it. Would the charing circuit charge the NiMH or not? I'm guessing that it would take 2-3x longer to charge the newer batteries since the NiCads I used to run in the Pro-37 were only rated @ 600-700 mah and the NiMH I want to run are at about 2000-2500 mah. Any thoughts on this?

Thanks for any info

Greg

[Radar-DLDN]

My scanner takes 4 so I decided to just give it a try. It charged it but I didn't leave it on too long. I doubt it has a smart controller so if you were to leave it plugged in too long it could overcharge and significantly lower the life of the batteries. That's my only concern, they are both 1.2V batteries so it's fairly compatible. I have checked the batteries after they were plugged in for about a half hour. They weren't nearly as warm as they are after charging in their charger so it definately isn't giving too many milliamp hours. But again, I don't know how well it charges, only that it's relatively safe for the batteries as long as you keep a tab on it.

[Eskimo_Pie]

My scanner takes 4 so I decided to just give it a try. It charged it but I didn't leave it on too long. I doubt it has a smart controller so if you were to leave it plugged in too long it could overcharge and significantly lower the life of the batteries. That's my only concern, they are both 1.2V batteries so it's fairly compatible. I have checked the batteries after they were plugged in for about a half hour. They weren't nearly as warm as they are after charging in their charger so it definately isn't giving too many milliamp hours. But again, I don't know how well it charges, only that it's relatively safe for the batteries as long as you keep a tab on it.

Thanks for the reply. I've got a separate charger for my NiMH AAs that is a smart charger, I'll just use that. I was hoping to used a 12v DC to 9v DC converter to charge the scanner/batteries in the truck since that's what the scanner requires for charging. NiCads are a little more forgiving in terms letting them sit and charge. I used to run NiCads in the scanner years ago, but then packed up the scanner when 800 mhz trunking became the norm in my area. I've since moved to an area that uses VHF & UHF bands and very little trunking and want to dig out the Pro 37 and my old NiCads are shot since they're 20+ years old.

73's!

greg