so i was reading up on how to charge batteries and went to take my battery charger apart... and realized when i was drunk this weekend i put normal alkaline AA's in my NiMH charger. i felt them, they weren't warm... they did not explode... maybe i was lucky, but they were at a healthy 1.72 V!
i won't go into details but it's possible to charge them. a couple manufacturers make chargers for normal batteries, and some people call them scams. of course, it works, but it's not ideal. they apparently don't charge many times (on the order of ten times vs hundreds), and alkaline can't be charged quickly either. luckily/probably my charger was smart enough to sense 'fast-charge' was done very early in this charging process, and it used a more nominal current. otherwise, i'm just lucky they didn't explode? either way, nothing i'd do on the norm, but it's obviously got me a bit excited. :)
also, i did not notice if the charge light was off (i unplugged it before looking), nor did i get a before reading on the voltage, but they definitely didn't have enough juice for my digital camera... but then again, digital cameras draw more current and are better suited for NiMH than alkaline. again, your mileage may vary, but worth a mention.
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