Do rechargeable batteries wear out?

[Kos]

I have 4x 1800ma batteries for my digital camera which I brought over a year ago. I used to be able to take about 20 pics with them before they needed recharging. Now I cannot take one- despite charging them for over 48 hours (albeit on a standard battery charger (not high-power)). Have they worn-out ? Could the charger be faulty? Should I have been using a high-power charger?

[Potatoman]

rechargeable batteries to wear out after a while. youll need some new ones. Having said that, 20 photos on one charge seems very low even when new.

To keep the new batteries in good condition, only recharge them when they are totally flat.

http://www.digibattery.co.uk/ni-mh_store1.html

[bluedolphin]

It also depends on how u use ur camera...if u take photos thru the little color screen on the camera  it will drain ur batteries really quickly....so if u spend a lot of time getting the shot ready with the screen on it will reduce the life of the batteries....also lots of the cheaper cameras do not have low energy requirements.....Sony has the best technology when it comes to electronics and battery life...it is a real issue when u go to buy stuff  like cameras.... Most of the Nickel Hydride batteries now advertise up to 1500 recharges .... am using a pentax which takes 2 batteries and I have 6 replacements usually charged.... I can take about 200 shots (not using much flash) per 2 batteries.... Good Luck.

[sherljim]

There are three types of rechargeable batteries in common use: Nickle Cadmium (NiCad), Nickle Metal Hydride (NiMH), and Lithium Ion (LiOn).  The NiCad batteries have what is called a "Memory" problem.  Simply put, if you repeatedly re-charge the battery when it is still half full it "remembers" only the amount of the most recent charge.  Eventually the amount of "recharge-able capacity" of the battery falls close to zero.  It is claimed that the NiMH don't have this problem, but my experience has been that they too will succomb to the same issue.  By far the best of the three is the LiOn battery which not only is more powerful to start with, but also does not have the memory problem.  When buying a product with re-chargeable batteries insist in LiOn batteries!

[romko]

Buy a good battery charger and never use gimmicks like "fast charge" as these can stress the battery and often cause overcharging. Buy the best charger you can afford and trickle charge instead of fast charge.

As others have said, try to get Li- ion or NiMH batteires, avoid NiCads.