Martin,

Interesting that you've had so many problems with the NIMH batteries.
I've used them for years in RC and they are consistantly far better
than Ni-CD in every instance. I've used various chargers succesfully
and the only thing I would have you double check is your settings on
the fancy charger. Most have both settings for both NiCD and NIMH.

NIMH battereis will charge on a NiCD charger but will take much longer
(due to the charge rate on the common charger being set to the 1/10
rate for the NiCD not the NIMH). If the charger has a timeout, often
it will take 2 or more cycles to get the NIMH batteries topped.

One reason not to use the alkeline is that they cannot deliver the
current as rapidly as the NiCD or NIMH. They have lots of capacity ,
just a slower delivery.

Sorry I can't take a good look at your set up and provide more help.

Mike