NiMH Rechargeable Batteries and Bluetooth Keyboard Battery Level indicator

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NiMH Rechargeable Batteries and Bluetooth Keyboard Battery Level indicator

So I have a white full sized bluetooth Apple Keyboard that I use with my G5 iSight iMac. I bought some Energizer NiMH rechargeable batteries and charged them until the indicator lights told me they were fully charged. However, when I put them in my Apple Keyboard, the bluetooth keyboard battery level indicator in System Preferences only lights up 4 out of 5 bars green, and in my dashboard, my iStat Pro widget only registers the batteries as 78% charged. So I'm wondering if anyone knows if the Bluetooth tab in the Keyboard and Mouse system pref pane and the iStat Pro widget are designed/calibrated to measure charge on disposable alkaline batteries only, and maybe don't really measure charge properly with NiMH rechargeable batteries, or if there is an issue with the batteries themselves?

iMac G5 (iSight) 20in 2.1Ghz 1.5 GB RAM 250 GB, Mac OS X (10.5.7), Soundsticks

Posted on Jul 3, 2009 5:06 PM

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Answer 1

Jul 3, 2009 10:37 PM in response to McToast

Hello Mc:

What you describe is perfectly normal with rechargeable batteries. I use Duracell rechargeables all the time (2650 mAh). I understand that what you see is because rechargeables are 1.2 volts, non-rechargeables are 1.5 volts. IMHO, rechargeables are much better - both for convenience and for the environment. By the by, I use a 15 minute charger from Energizer.

Barry

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