[emeritus]

The article that mentioned the potential problem was only concerned with the leisure batteries used by campers and caravanners, where in winter camping a battery could well be exposed to sub-zero temperatures.

My original post was prompted by my experience a couple of decades ago with the nickel-cadmium batteries I bought with my first digital camera just before taking the famiy on holiday to Spain in August. The temperature in our non-air conditioned room was over 40 C and by the end of the week the batteries would not charge. Jessops replaced them without quibble but although on reading the very small print a temperature range of up to 40 C was mentioned, there was no explcit warning that charging at higher temperatures would result in irreversible damage. The possibility of damage resuting from low temperature charging was a new concept for me. Thanks to all for their most interesting and informative contrbutions.