2026-09-28 Monster Powercells Digital Camera Power Pack

I found this Monster Powercells Digital Camera Power Pack at a garage sale for $1. It was the only item even vaguely photographic, but it has some surprises.
Back in March of 2003 Monster tested two of these NiMh Powercell AAA batteries against two of their own Alkaline Powercells. They used a Sony DSC-U20 2.0 camera and found they could take two and a half more images (all using flash) with the NiMH batteries than the Alkaline cells! Incidentally, the Sony DSC-U20 was supplied with two NiMH batteries when sold.
And since the NiMH batteries can be recharged hundreds of times (up to 1000 times), you will save hundreds of dollars. They even offered a green plan when the cells were done. You could send them back to Monster and they would pay the postage!
In the instructions it said—

the first charge should be 24 hours*
NiMH batteries will self-discharge 1—2% a day: if the cells haven’t been used in a week, they recommend recharging them
for both AA and AAA size NiMH batteries, recharging takes 3-hours
NiCad AA and AAA batteries take 4-hours to recharge

I tried charging the four AAA NiMH cells for 24-hours. I found two of the cells were absolutely dead. I tried several other NiMH chargers—Sony, Energizer, Duracell and an older Monster—and the dead cells stayed dead. The two good cells on the other hand showed they were as charged as any cell I have ever seen in that tester!

* Before I read this, the charger indicated the batteries were charged in about 15-minutes.

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