Safe to recharge? Semi-dented AAA NiMH

I had some AAA NiMH cells in a flashlight that was dropped from a tall height. Somehow, the batteries became dented at the flat ends, sort of like if you used a hammer to pound them in a little.

Are they safe to recharge, or must I throw them in the trash?

*

If the dent on the bottom is in the middle and not near the edge is probably is ok. I have a few nimh that are dented in the bottom from lights dropped, mostly twisties and lights that I perhaps tighted too much to turn on and none of them have been a problem. The bottom of nimh seems to be more robust to damage while tops are more fragile. I haven't taken the label off name brand cells but the generic green sleeve versions are designed as a can with a lid on top for the positive electrode so on them damage doesn't look to cause shorts unless it is near or on the top of it. I am unsure about the name brand cells perhaps someone has peeled back the label on one.

Hey there Russ,

Try charging them...if they explode, discard them...if not, keep them

What i am thinking is that perhaps they will take a charge up to a point,
and once that point is reached they may arc over internally and explode
or burn or something.

I use cells that are slightly dented on the bottom neg terminal where the
flashlight was dropped from a few feet and the positive button on the
one cell would push into the negative bottom of the next cell in line.
This caused a very small but noticable dent which doesnt seem to hurt
anything. They are NiMH too.

Semi-dented... is that like semi-pregnant?


I'd be cautious with them, the high capacity 2200 and up mAh cells have very thin layers and seem to be much less tolerant of abuse than the 1800mAh predecessors.

Ive dented 3 of my 5ahr C NiMH from a drop on carpet in a light. They charge and run fine, but they self-discharge a lot faster than the un-dented ones.

Mine are dented very severely, almost 1/4" on one of the cells.

always use mutli meter to test before and after the charge.

i have dented cells in my battery pack, its charging fine, i guess .....

try or else u nvr know .... thats life

cheers