Aiwa AM-NX9 + NiMH AA rechargeables

[sarelc]

hi guys, has anyone else run into problems using NiMH batteries in their NetMD players? i've had my NX9 for a while, it still works fairly well and i really like it. a few months ago i decided to invest in some duracell 2650mAh rechargeables, having come by some other toys that they would be useful in, and expecting that modern rechargeables would have been improved slightly (over the crappy nicads my parents got themselves over a decade ago). unfortunately when i pop one of the charged cells in, the player reports the battery as being: full (for about 20 minutes), then having an intermittent 1/4-1/2 charge (for a few hours) and finally turning itself off with a lo-batt message, when i know very well there's lots of power left. i'm guessing the player measures the battery life by voltage, which of course is lower than alkalines to begin with - which can't be helping. does anyone have any ideas on how i can fix this? and for someone with a service manual and/or more electronics design knowledge than i do, could i switch out some of the components to lower the level that the battery warning is triggered at?

[greenmachine]

What kind of charger do you use? New or unconditioned rechargeables need a few charge- discharge cycles until they reach their full capacity.

[sarelc]

i'm using the little grey Energizer travel charger, the one with the golf ball dimples on the front. (why? because at $11, it and the batteries were around $26. which imo was a far better deal than paying $10 more for an Energizer charger + 2000mAh cells, or $15 more for a duracell charger with 2200mAh's. i suppose that could be the issue though, i haven't used this pair very much as they were getting switched between a wii remote and my md player.