replacing dead cordless phone battery. Can I drop from a 550mAh to a 300?

[gooseEL34]

Hey all.
I have an older cordless home phone that has a battery that will no longer recharge.  My original battery is marked 2.4v 550 mAh Ni-MH.  The new battery is marked Ni-MH 2.4v 300 mHa.   the physical size is identical as is the pigtail connector (which makes polarity correct).

so basic question.....

I know that because the voltage, polarity and type are the same, it should power the phone handset.    Since this is being used for a home phone, what will I notice if I drop from 550 mHa battery to a 300 mHa?    is there any reason not to use these replacements?

phone handset is a SL82318 AT&T and replacements are marked Radio Shack 2302357 and the back does say Fits "many AT&T CL, EL, SL AND TL series phones"

I am just assuming I will get less talk time per charge but since these are generally returned to the charging cradles after the call ends (as opposed to staying on the coffee table), I don't think there will be a problem, right???

thanks
Tim

[Richard Crowley]

Yes, you will get less talk time (and listen time for that matter). But, as you say, if you are normally returning it to the charging cradle, then maybe not a big deal.

There may be some slight possibility that if you are out at the limits of the operating range, the transmitter may be "starved" for power, but maybe that isn't an issue in a normal situation.

[SeanB]

No problem other than the replacement battery will probably not last as long, as it will be slightly overcharged. Other than that, and the talk time and standby time off the cradle now being roughly half ( great way to limit call length) it will work. You might want to get a spare battery in a year, as the new one will probably only do that if the phone lives on the charger and the charger is the dumb type that always charges the pack. If it is an intelligent charger ( tells you battery capacity and not just low then dead) then it will have a good life.

[jitter]

Agreed. Besides, the original battery will have dropped available capacity over time. It most likely already had less actual capacity for quite some time now.

However, it's worth checking the manual or battery compartment for a warning. I have an old cordless Logitech rechargeable mouse. This came with 1700 mAh NiMh AA batteries. The battery compartment lid has a warning sticker that says to replace the batteries only with 1500-1900 mAh types. My guess is that it uses a less than sophisticated charge control that will leave smaller capacities overcharged and larger undercharged.