I was thinking of getting some new 2600mA rechargeable batteries (any brand recommendations?) and I currently own a charger that came with 1500aM batteries. Will those batteries work with that charger or do I need to get a new charger as well?
it mostly depends on how fast you need the 2600 MaH batteries recharged. it will take twice as long as your current battery type. if you need them recharged quickly, then getting a new charger might be desireable.
Would that mean 2600mAhr and 1500 mA Hr respectively? It should work as the philosophy of charging goes as follows. If you have to charge a 1500mA Hr battery, one normally has a charging current of 150mA as the standard is 10 hr rate. If you use that for charging the 2500mAHr battery, you may have to charge the discharged battery for 16 Hrs approximately. Some chargers are also affected if battery voltage changes. No problem if voltages of the two batteries are same.
Yes, it'll be fine. Note, the battery is actually 2600 mAh (milliamp-hours). The charger does not have a mA rating per se. It just happened to be one that was packaged with 1500 mAh batteries. The actual current supplied by the charger is likely down in the few-hundred-mA range, unless it's a fast charger. It will likely take longer to charge the larger capacity batteries, but this isn't something you have to worry about. The charger's circuitry measures the charge in the battery and stops charging automatically. It does not depend on a specific time of charging or anything like that. Just put the batteries in the charger and wait until the LED goes out, or turns green, or whatever it does on that charger.
If they are the same voltage and the same technology (Li-ion, NiMH or whatever), you can probably use the same charger.
