In message , CD
writes
On Fri, 06 Nov 2009 10:56:35 +0000, Timothy Murphy
wrote:

But I was wondering what it means
if you get a flashing red light when a battery is inserted.
Does it mean that the battery is useless?
I get it occasionally even with new batteries.

It means that it thinks the battery is dead. Mine does the same from
time to time, I have to put them in an old Uniross charger which
brings them back to life as far as the Lidl charger is concerned.
I have another type of intelligent charger that does a similar thing,
flashes the LED when ti detects a battery it doesn't like, however, it
still pulses a small charge into the cell so if I leave the offending
cell in the charger it will pulse enough into it to initiate the full
charge routine after varying periods of time. Perhaps it would be an
idea to leave the 'duff' cells in the charger and see if they recover?
--
Clint Sharp