i have a digital camera with rechargeable batteries. ill charge the batteries and put them in the camera. the next time i go to use the camera the batteries are dead. why does this keep happening? it never use to do this. Rechargable batteries function in a way that is very much similar to a standard or alkaline battery except that the process is reversible. The only problem is that batteries even newly charged ones do loose charge as time passes for there is still no known material that can hold a charge indefinitely without loosing or giving off the power it has stored.
Batteries of different types have different characteristics such as with NiMh batteries that were developed to overcome the shortcomings of NiCad batteries. The later types suffered greatly from the memory effect which happens when a battery is not broken in properly.
It is normal and nothing to be worried about and if you have a camera that uses standard sized batteries, better have some high quality alkaline batteries as back-up just in case.
Hope it helps. That happens to me too. I readed the manual of the batteries and the more you use them, the sooner they will lose the charge. so, what I do now is, I charge the batteries when I know I will use the camera and I have regular alkalines batteries as a back up. | 