I have an ImaxRC B6 AC Pro charger and 2 Duratrax Onyx 5000mAh NiMH batteries.

Ever since the first time I charged the batteries with this charger, I get random results. The first time I charged one of the batteries, it only took about 500 mAh then the charger said it was 'FULL'. I ran the battery, and it died after about 5 minutes. I read about 'false peaking' and all kinds of other things and I even went back to the hobby shop to talk to them about it. The guy there basically told me to keep cycling the battery and it should plane out.

The second time I charged the battery, same thing; it took about 4-500 mAh and said it was done. I knew the battery was dead, because I ran it down, so I just charged it for another cycle and it took about 800 mAh this time. Being the astute mathematician that I am, I added the mAh (about 1300) and charged it again, this time it went for about 3200 mAh. I called that good and drove the car with the battery lasting about 30+ minutes.

Both of my batteries act like this with the charger, I charge them at 5.0A for two or three 'charges' all of which add up to 5000 mAh or less.

Yesterday, I was distracted and didn't pull a battery off the charger, expecting it to stop on it's own, and the battery took a bit more than 5000mAh between the three charge cycles. I put the battery in the car and drove it and stopped responding to low-rpm input, but would go fine if you gave it half-to-full throttle, but it was sluggish and the car stopped after about 15 minutes. The battery was pretty hot and it looked like it was bulging, so I took it out of the car.

Questions:
1) Does anyone else have experience with the B6 AC (Pro) charger (it is pretty much the same as every other b6ac out there) doing NiMH batteries and have this problem?

2) Is there any hope of this battery working again, or is it safer to dispose/recycle the battery?

Thanks for any help