What's causing ALL of my rechargable batteries (cell phone, flashlight, power tools) to stop accepting charges

It seems all at once, all of my rechargable batteries, my cell phone, flashlights, power tools, digital camera, no matter how old or new they were will no longer accept a good lasting charge. I have checked the voltage in my house and it remains rock steady at 114-118. My house is old (1960's) but I have not had this problem in the past. My power drill was reliable as the sunrise, then all three batteries with it started failing within minutes of taknig off the charger that indicated a full charge. Around the same time all my others bagan doing the same. Any suggestions?

sounds to me like they have developed a condition called memory try discharging the batteries fully then follow the manufactures directions I hope that takes care of your problem

These batteries, when new have a memory that remembers how much power was used until the next time it is put in the charger. For example, if you keep putting a half charged battery back in the charger, over time it will think it only needs to charge half way. Many battery chargers have a discharge feature that drains the battery before it charges back up. However, if you dont have this feature, you shoud try to drain the battery before recharging. I usually let my cordless drill run down by putting a clamp over the trigger after I am through for the day. When I need it again, I use my fully charged spare and but the drained one in the charger.

I would think your charger is no good.

114 is low 118 not to bad 125 by me that is a little high 120 the best

the charger has a built in regulator the changes of voltage will not affect the output . Do not think it is a power issue .

new design of batteries have solved memory issues that was a problem in the past.

An EMP device

NiCad batteries are " rechargable" batteries. However, each time they are drained to the point of not operating the device - we'll call this point drained all the way. This shortens its life by lowering the point of full charge caused by damage resulting from this drained point. Over time, you will see the battery has reached a point where it will no longer accept a charge.

To avoid this situation it is best not to drain the battery all the way. Recharge your batteries every 24 - 35 hours is my advice.

On the other hand, if your charger is providing too much charge too fast this will totally ruin the batteries - NiCads are designed for a slow recharge rate.

Flash light batteries were not designed to be recharged - often they can but other times this process destroys them entirely - unless they are rechargable batteries.