Can I use any Ni-MH AAA for my cordless phone?

[volcs0]

Our Panasonic cordless phones are no longer holding their charge (about 2 years old now).

http://www.amazon.com/Panasonic-Handset-...B000LYCUF8

The sticker inside the battery compartment says to replace them with:HHR-55AAABU or HHR-4DPA, both of which are rather expensive ($5/battery). I need 8 all together (2 per handset).

Any reason I can't just get these?

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.as...6817355035

[Black]

Normally they need to be wired in series; I tried to make my own with my Panasonic cordless once but couldn't get it to work.
Do you solder?
Also, are you sure they're AAAs and not AAs?

[Filliam H. Muffman]

Just about any NiMH should work, assuming you don't need them with solder tabs.

Edit: Thought they were AA instead of AAA.

[GGD]

From looking at this site for battery compatibility, it appears that the HHR-4DPA is just a standard AAA battery and you should be able to use an off the shelf battery. This is good news for you, but uncommon, many cordless phones use a battery pack with the cells wired together and shrink wrapped with a wire cord coming out and a special connector.

http://www.ultralastgreen.com/battery-ma...ge=details&model=UL132&manufacturer=Panasonic&device_model=0&device_battery_model=HHR-4DPA&category_id=4&subcategory_id=4

[RAMd®d]

You'd just want to check the capacity of the cells/batteries to be sure the replacement batteries will power the phone for as long as the original sets did. If the original batteries were say- 1000mAh, you wouldn't really want to replace them with ones that have a 800mAh rating. No harm, just shorter talk and standby time.

And the more frequently the batteries are run down, the shorter the over all life span.

[Racer X]

all the cordless phones I have have 600mAh batteries, so pretty much any replacement will be higher. They are all either AA battery packs soldered together or 2/3AA batteries soldered together.

[space-time]

hi vocls0

I have the same phone (the 2 handset kit) and they indeed take AAA cells, that is loose cells, not packs. That was one reason why I bought this model.

I have used eneloops and they work very well. IIRC the original cells are rated 550 mAh. an eneloop is 800 mAh, and will power the phone even longer.

That being said, you may be able to revive these cells. They are charged in series, so if they have slightly different capacities, one of them will always run low first, then when you charge them, the same weak cell will get full first. Thus the imbalance gets even higher with each charge.

If you have a smart charger (and if you don't have one, I recommend you do get one, like the LaCrosse BC 700 for around $25 from Amazon or a MAHA C9000 for around $55-60) and try to revive these cells.

heck, even if you do not have a smart charger, use a SINGLE CELL AAA flashlight and run the cells low (but not all the way low) and then charge the cells in a separate charger, and then put them in the phone. You may be amazed how long they last again.

also, on my phones, the batteries last about a week, so in 2 years they should have only about 100 charge/discharge cycles, which is low for NiMH cells. Usually they last for 500 (and up to 1000) cycles.

Other than that, how do you like the phones? no lighted keypad is the only valid reason I found, all others are just minor inconveniences. for me the phone is perfect, i don't need lighted keypad.

good luck.

[volcs0]

Thanks for the input.

We like the phones, though the display died on one of them.

I bought these:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B001F0RCE6

I have a MAHA charger, so I might try to revive the others as well.