land line phones not holding a charge

PHK

They didn't really last ten years though.  One set stopped working years back and another has gradually deteriorated.

Also, For safety reasons it's best to replace Nimh batteries every two or three years. Certainly  if they stop working and you keep charging them there is a risk of fire  

flaneurs_lobster

If you have an accessible IKEA their AA/AAA rechargeable batteries at £5 for 4 are cheap and score OK on the review sites.

Brie

PHK said:

They didn't really last ten years though.  One set stopped working years back and another has gradually deteriorated.

Also, For safety reasons it's best to replace Nimh batteries every two or three years. Certainly  if they stop working and you keep charging them there is a risk of fire  

No both were working just fine until a week ago.  It was the secondary base unit that stopped working - likely due to something my MiL did with it (dropped it or something).

And if the batteries stop working how could one keep charging them.  I mean - they've stopped holding a charge now so I'll stop using them and stop charging them pending getting new batteries.  It'll need to be a Currys or B&Q or similar as the nearest Ikea is 30 miles away and one of my least favourite places to visit in any case.

victor2

Brie said:

PHK said:

They didn't really last ten years though.  One set stopped working years back and another has gradually deteriorated.

Also, For safety reasons it's best to replace Nimh batteries every two or three years. Certainly  if they stop working and you keep charging them there is a risk of fire  

No both were working just fine until a week ago.  It was the secondary base unit that stopped working - likely due to something my MiL did with it (dropped it or something).

And if the batteries stop working how could one keep charging them.  I mean - they've stopped holding a charge now so I'll stop using them and stop charging them pending getting new batteries.  It'll need to be a Currys or B&Q or similar as the nearest Ikea is 30 miles away and one of my least favourite places to visit in any case.

We have two handsfree phones and just use the main base for charging them. Lost the second base years ago through never using it. Each handset takes two AA rechargeables and I replace them every 2 or 3 years. We don't leave a handset on the base, but just put one on (overnight usually) when it needs charging. They rarely both need charging at the same time.

Rechargeable batteries don't last forever, they can only take a finite number of charging/discharging cycles before they become useless. Yours are almost certainly end of life - they only lasted this long because you kept the handsets on the base(s) regularly, meaning they only needed to hold a very small amount of charge to power the handset for the duration of a few calls.

B&Q do sell rechargeable batteries - 4 Varta AA ones are currently £9, so not too expensive if that's the size you need.

matelodave

Have you not tried taking the battery cover off to see what sort of batteries are in there. Usually but not always AAA size, but really old phones may have AA.

It really isn't ever so difficult to have a look and buy some more of the correct size

TELLIT01

400ixl said:

Don't they just use AAA rechargeable batteries?

Yes but even rechargeable batteries die eventually and need to be replaced.

EnPointe

a lot of dect  cordless phones for domestic use   just use  NiMH AAA batteries - if you can pop the bakc off the handsets you;ll be able to see  ,  at 10 years old it's likely the batteries are  degrded  even if the  charging bases are still working fine