What kind of charger and charge rate did you use? IF this were a new NiCad and on a Wall-Wart charger this would be all that I would expect. If you used a fast charger that COULD be a different story. And YES, I did read that you are using NiMH, I was just doing a comparison. Unless using a fast charger, you are NOT going to fully charge a battery in 3 hours from a discharged condition.