wrote:
Panasonic explains it in their tech manual for their NiMH batteries.

Nowadays there are chargers that will slow charge nickel batteries
without causing salt buildup. These chargers use pulses, like the
modern chargers designed to be left connected to lead-acid batteries.

How can Panasonic explain NIMH batteries when your "Nowadays"
explanation is talking about lead acid batteries? Please site the info
that says NIHM shouldn't be charged on slow chargers that are also
on slow timers. For your convenience here is the start page.

http://www.panasonic.com/industrial/...m/chem/nicmet/

Read it again. I said modern chargers for both types of batteries use
pulses instead of trickles.

If you had bothered to look at the page you recommend, you would see
that Panasonic says overcharging, even with a trickle charge, will
damage NiMH batteries.

If you buy a cheap charger, don't even check the current, and run it 2
hours a day, how can you possibly expect not to overcharge? The page
you recommend says a maintenance charger must monitor the voltage of the
standby battery. When it self-discharges to a certain point, the
charger must come on just long enough to charge it.

I didn't buy hybrid or low-self-discharge batteries. I bought the
ordinary NiMH cells available 11 years ago, and they still hold a charge
for months. I credit the good results to the use of automatic fast
chargers designed for NiMH.