Original ni-cd 700 batteries in solar lights but salesperson sold you ni-mh 2650 for replacement Is this a problem?

Answer 1

Q: I am wondering also, I have ni-cd 400mAh in my solar lights but most batteries seem to have higher numbers. Hope someone can answer whether it matters! In general, it's best to stay with the TYPE of batteries your solar lights came with. For years NiCd - Nickle Cadmium batteries were used most often - and still are. More recently some solar landscape lights come with NiMh - Nickle Metal Hydride batteries. NiMh and NiCd have very different charging, discharge, shelf-life and electrical characteristics. NiMh can be rapid-charged, but NiCd need a slow, trickle-charge. The design and circuitry of the solar panel in your lights may be best geared to using and charging the type of batteries it originally came with. So in general, staying with the kind that came with 'em is usually best. You can try other types and see how they perform (or not) for the continuous, slow discharge pattern solar garden lights have. That said, both types of batteries (say AA size cells) come in different MaH - milliamp hour 'strengths' - the higher number, the more charge a battery can hold. NiCd batteries are typically between 400-1200 so if you do buy replacement batteries you may find you get better all-night performance upgrading from say the original 500MaH batteries to some rated 800 as an example. Source: www.led-landscape-lighting.com