The behavior of the sealed Ni-Cd and Ni-MH systems are compared experimentally with regard to their ability to consume gaseous products generated during the overcharge stage of these systems. It was found that the Ni-Cd system could only consume oxygen, while the Ni-MH system possesses the additional ability to adsorb hydrogen and to catalyze the recombination reaction of hydrogen and oxygen. The internal pressure within both sealed Ni-Cd cells and sealed Ni-MH cells can be kept well under control during the charge/overcharge processes if the rate of overcharge is not too high and if there is sufficient surplus of charging capacity at the negative electrodes. However, the internal pressure can rise to dangerously high levels if the rate of overcharge is too high or there is a deficiency of the charging capacity at the negative electrodes. The various factors that may affect the surplus of charging capacity of the negative electrodes are also discussed. (C) 2003 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.