charging a li-ion battery

Hi, I've just brought a Li-ion rechargeable battery, an NB-5H to
replace the one in my Canon Powershot A5. Is it okay to use the Canon
charger that came with the camera to charge this battery? I noticed
earlier that the original battery is nimh. Or could I damage both the
charger and the new battery by doing so?

Thanks

On Thu, 06 Sep 2007 03:31:22 -0700, Steve wrote:

> Hi, I've just brought a Li-ion rechargeable battery, an NB-5H to
> replace the one in my Canon Powershot A5. Is it okay to use the Canon
> charger that came with the camera to charge this battery? I noticed
> earlier that the original battery is nimh. Or could I damage both the
> charger and the new battery by doing so?

Two possible (or should I say probable) mistakes. What makes you
think that the NB-5H is a Li-Ion battery? The ones listed in the
manuals for Canon's A50, S10 and S20 Powershots are specified as
being NiMH battery packs. This isn't to say that some company
hasn't made some weird NB-5H replacement that uses a pair of Li-Ion
cells, but if it has, I'd strongly suggest that you do *NOT* use it
with Canon's NiMH charger. Is the charger the one listed below?

[from the A50 manual, page 103]
> Power Supply:
> 2CR5 lithium battery
> Nickel-hydride Battery Pack NB-5H
> Compact Power Adapter CA-PS100/100E
> CR2016 lithium battery for Date / Clock backup

Second - was "A5" a typo for "A50"? BTW, if you cut an NB-5H
battery pack open you'll find that it contains 5 AAA NiMH cells.
The "5H" may have been used to indicate 5 NiMH cells.

> Two possible (or should I say probable) mistakes. What makes you
> think that the NB-5H is a Li-Ion battery?

I brought the battery from ebay, it was listed as being Li-ion - not
knowing much about battery technologies I went ahead and brought it on
the strength of it being compatible with the A5

> Second - was "A5" a typo for "A50"? BTW, if you cut an NB-5H
> battery pack open you'll find that it contains 5 AAA NiMH cells.
> The "5H" may have been used to indicate 5 NiMH cells.

No, it is an A5, it was one of Canon's early powershots which I've
owned since 1999. The battery has just given up on me so that's not
bad going.

Thank you for your answer, I think on the strength of that I'll look
for another one which states NiMH.

On Thu, 06 Sep 2007 04:51:12 -0700, Steve wrote:

> No, it is an A5, it was one of Canon's early powershots which I've
> owned since 1999. The battery has just given up on me so that's not
> bad going.
>
> Thank you for your answer, I think on the strength of that I'll look
> for another one which states NiMH.

I bought my last NB-5H battery a little less than two years ago
from J&R in NYC. It was made by Power2000 and sold for $20, quite a
bit less than what Canon's battery cost. I see that the price
hasn't changed. The one with Canon's own label on it may have
dropped a bit. I recall paying about $50 for one many years ago,
and J&R has them now for $40.


http://www.jr.com/JRSectionView.proc...cord_Search=GO


Adorama also has a couple. One with Adorama's label ($25) and one
made by Lenmar ($15). Both of these are also stated as being NiMH.


http://www.adorama.com/Search-Result...archinfo=NB-5H