Battery drain.

[iain clyne]

Has anyone found that their Sony batteries drain while in their camera bag. I have just taken two out of my bag that were fully charged when put in, one was below half and the other on was flat.

 

[Deleted Member 5003]

Hi IAIN,
I haven't experienced this and routinely am carrying up to 6 batteries.....any. chance your batteries have been exposed to temperature variations whilst in your bag....?

 

[Brownie]

Not as of yet. I have seen them at 87-95% once in a while, but always assumed that was a charging anomaly since I use an aftermarket charger.

 

[iain clyne]

Hi IAIN,
I haven't experienced this and routinely am carrying up to 6 batteries.....any. chance your batteries have been exposed to temperature variations whilst in your bag....?

It might be that with the weather we have been having lately.

 

[spudhead]

Hi Iain any lipo-lion or similar batteries are prone to issues regarding temperature, and not just in cameras

 

[Ralph]

I have got only one genuine battery and the rest are after market.
While I was using the aftermarket Battery pack my batteries were okay as I think .
And with out it I have not notice this either.
I also carry 6 batteries with me on every outing,

 

[iamdlewis]

Yes but the loss of power generally takes days before it is lower than 90%. I have noticed that my older batteries do drain faster than newer ones and the 3rd party ones do drain faster than the Sony of the same general age.
Naturally cold weather will drain batteries faster than normal regardless of age.

 

[iain clyne]

What's interesting is I have two third party batteries in my bag as well, all were in the bag for the same amount of time, all were fully charged when put in. The third party batteries only dropped about 10%.

 

[Unframed Dave]

I don't know if it's the case with Sony batteries, but dji drone batteries are programmed to discharge if left "idle" for longish periods.

 

[iain clyne]

Maybe that might be the case with the Sony ones.

 

[Deleted Member 5003]

Hi Iain,
all my batteries are sony originals and are 3 to 4 years old and i have at times had them
sitting idle for a week or more with very little(5% max) or no charge degradation t all...i know this doesn't help
you but could the problem revolve around your initial chage/charger.....?

 

[iain clyne]

They were all charged on the charger that came with my A1. I have another charger so will give that a go.

 

[Deleted Member 5003]

I have a cube 2 dual sony battery charger which gives a digital/LED readout of the % charge in
each battery as they charge which I find very useful...a little more expensive than other chargers but very useful when charging and for sorting out charged batteries from used just by putting the battery in the charger and it gives an immediate read out of the level of charge remaining.

 

[iamdlewis]

They were all charged on the charger that came with my A1. I have another charger so will give that a go.

I don't see what difference a charger will make in this, the power going in is going to be the same. If any charger says that the battery is full and then you put that battery in the camera and the camera says it is full then the charger works correctly.

 

[Deleted Member 5003]

Charger malfunction Is not an impossible event .....in Iain's situation he needs to eliminate
the possible causes to allow him to identify the real cause.

A simple process of elimination....nothing more complicated than that..

 

[Brownie]

Common sense dictates this is clearly not a charger issue. If it showed they were charged, the circuitry in the Sony batteries dictates that.

I have just taken two out of my bag that were fully charged when put in, one was below half and the other on was flat.

What's interesting is I have two third party batteries in my bag as well, all were in the bag for the same amount of time, all were fully charged when put in. The third party batteries only dropped about 10%.

A few percent below could mean the charger isn't getting them to full charge, below 50% and dead flat indicates something else.

Batteries do go bad and get weaker with age. @iain clyne, are the Sony batteries older or have they been put through many more cycles than the aftermarket batteries? Were they subjected to different ambient temperatures while in storage?

If none of those make sense, recharge them and let them set, see what happens.

 

[iain clyne]

Some are older, two are less than six months old. The third party ones don’t get used unless I need them so are nearly new.
i have now charged them all up to full on another charger and will see how they fair.

 

[Deleted Member 5003]

Lets see.......maybe common sense, as aspoused by some non engineers/ would be technicians may not prevail...

 

[Brownie]

Lets see.......maybe common sense, as aspoused by some non engineers/ would be technicians may not prevail...

Not going to get into an argument with you Ray. If the charger works properly with all batteries except two, it isn't the charger. It doesn't take an Engineer to determine that. BTW, I work for one of the largest engineering firms in the world. Be careful where you go, you may end up on the short end.

 

[Brownie]

Some are older, two are less than six months old. The third party ones don’t get used unless I need them so are nearly new.
i have now charged them all up to full on another charger and will see how they fair.

It's best to rotate batteries equally. It is possible that the uneven use is showing up. I have 5 batteries, 3 Sony and 2 Wasabi, and just use whichever one I grab out of the bag at that time. So far so good.

It'll be interesting to see where this ends up. As a 'control' of sorts for your experiment, I would put each one in the camera and write down its charge percentage as soon as you take them off the charger. That way you'll know they're taking a full charge to begin with, and how much they drop, if at all.

Edited to add: 6 months old doesn't make any sense.

 

[Deleted Member 5003]

Not going to get into an argument with you Ray. If the charger works properly with all batteries except two, it isn't the charger. It doesn't take an Engineer to determine that. BTW, I work for one of the largest engineering firms in the world. Be careful where you go, you may end up on the short end.

I am not looking to argue either but as a professional chartered and fellow engineer of a worldwide recognised enginerring organisation in the oil and gas industry designing Oil refineries for the past 30 years have dealt all my life with ,"would be" engineers from around the world and don't need you to question my simple effort to help Iain solve his problem ......my advice was simple and well explained and doesn"t need your oversight...stick to your wheel house.....

 

[Brownie]

I'm done, and if you're smart, you will be too.

 

[Deleted Member 5003]

Agreed....

 

[spudhead]

I don't know if it's the case with Sony batteries, but dji drone batteries are programmed to discharge if left "idle" for longish periods.

Lipo li fe lion batteries of any cell count in rc applications should only ever be kept at storage level charge when not in use, 40 years in high level rc racing has taught me that with cell counts from1-12 cells being charged and balanced perfectly to endure 20-25 minutes of high speed racing. Another useless fact from me

 

[spudhead]

Just wondering why most of you guys need so many spare batteries with you when you go shooting? jeez I get a 4 hour walk with 2 batteries in my grip and even then usually the second battery is either full or just come in to play

 

[Brownie]

Just wondering why most of you guys need so many spare batteries with you when you go shooting? jeez I get a 4 hour walk with 2 batteries in my grip and even then usually the second battery is either full or just come in to play

I usually go through one full battery plus another half battery in one camera, then almost a full one in the second camera. So, 5 batteries equal one spare for each. I may even get another one or two, just because!

A day at the track can be 14 hours. The bigger problem comes with a two-day event, where I'm shooting 6 hours on a Friday evening then a full day on Saturday. I have to remember to put batteries in the charger Friday night, and I hate charging lithium batteries unattended.

 

[spudhead]

So as an update for you guys Sony use lion battery packs in e-mount and they are 2 cell packs ie 7.2 volt 2 x 3.6 volt cells with a centre tappet for balancing of the pack.

 

[Deleted Member 5003]

Similar as above with 2 cameras, shooting from sunrise to sunset, with extra capacity
in case over night charging is not available and/or i camp out in the field to
recommence early morning shooting for the next day for any reason.......covering
my options basically.

 

[Uncle Kevriano]

Just wondering why most of you guys need so many spare batteries with you when you go shooting? jeez I get a 4 hour walk with 2 batteries in my grip and even then usually the second battery is either full or just come in to play

Agreed. I have 2. OEM and 2 powerextras. I never run out 2 in a day, and I can take 1500 shots. The Powerextra only get used when I forget to charge the Sonys

 

[iain clyne]

Some days when I am covering rugby I have two games to do with two camera bodies and if it’s cold those batteries go down quicker. That’s when I miss my Nikon D5 as the battery in that seemed to last for ever.