On 5/22/2014 11:38 AM, Ian Field wrote:
A while back I bought a cheap Chinese shaver, at best it only gave about
4 shaves per charge - when that deteriorated to 2, I opened it up and
had a look.

It has a single AA cell marked as Ni-Mh - 500mAh (I have higher capacity
Ni-Cd cells than that).

In the past I've tried replacing shaver Ni-Cd cells with higher capacity
Ni-Mh, only to find that the higher internal resistance results in not
much improvement on the worn out cells being replaced.

Since this shaver had a (marked as) Ni-Mh cell, I bunged in a 2300mAh
low self discharge type (brand new).

The shaver works, but seems sluggish - and no surprise, still only does
2 -3 shaves per charge.

So let the guessing games begin - did they fraudulently stamp Ni-Mh on a
Ni-Cd cell, or is the 500mAh cell optimised for high current at the
expense of total capacity?

Maybe I'll pull it apart again and stick a 600mAh Ni-Cd cell in it, but
I'd be interested to hear any opinions in the meantime.

Thanks.

Well I don't know, and I would be very disappointed in 4 shaves on a
charge. I have a Norelco (Philips) Aquatec, I have never tested it to
find out, but I be very surprised if I didn't get more than 10 shaves
before needing a charge.
I remember commenting to someone 25 years ago that I thought
rechargeable batteries were a great match for shavers. He didn't agree,
but I think he was a blade man.
Mikek