About the new Sony battery charger (BC-ZD1) - the choice of power block

[AlphaWorld]

There were a couple of threads on other sites about problems with the BC-ZD1. At least one person thought they'd received a faulty unit.

You are supposed to use a 30W power block. I have a 35W Apple charger with two ports on it, and I thought I could use that one, because I'd only be using one at a time. Turns out, if you have a cable plugged into both ports, you only get half the power to each. So I got to see what happens.

Anyway, if you use an under-powered block, the BC-ZD1 will flash its yellow lights alternately. Quite disconcerting.

I unplugged the second cable, and it just worked.

I had originally thought it might just charge more slowly if it didn't have enough power, but nope.

 

[Unframed Dave]

Not a very flexible bit of kit then.

I'm a big fan of the hahnel cube and also because I spend a lot of time off grid, the Llano, which will charge 2 batteries from flat using it's own internal battery.

 

[iamdlewis]

I wish all of these power blocks/plugs/widgets all gave the same info about capacities and all the gadgets needing them gave clear requirement details that matched the info stated on the blocks/plugs/widgets.

The Sony site has these notes about the charger:

1. Simultaneous two-battery charging requires a USB PD (30 W min.) compatible power and cable (3 A min.)
2. The CHARGE lamp will turn off when battery charge level exceeds 90% (operational charge). Continue charging for another 30 minutes to achieve a full charge. Actual performance varies based on settings, environmental conditions, and usage.

Think this will just really give the needed excuse to replace the outlet with one that has standard plugs and USB plugs. At this rate in another 5-6 years I'll have them all replaced.

 

[AlphaWorld]

For me there are three advantages to this charger:

• most importantly, I can put two batteries in it and not worry about them - I generally only want one charger on my desk, but it’s not uncommon for me to return from shooting with two batteries to charge - with the old charger I had to wait for the first one to finish, then swap it out for the second.
• The new one is a bit smaller - reason I only want one charger on the desk is because it’s cluttered - this helps a teeny bit! (ok, I am fooling myself!)
• I have lots of usb-c power supplies (iPad, iPhone, MacBook, headphones, etc) - most are only used intermittently. I am looking around for a larger, better quality power source to use for several things at once - there’s a large Anker unit that looks good. I think the smaller wallwart chargers have a limited life (although the Apple ones seem to last better) - one bigger one with 4 or 6 outlets sounds sensible.

Does anyone has recommendations / horror stories about multi-port USB-C chargers/power supplies?

 

[Denise Applewhite]

All my AP friends love the Sony line. After a 40 year career shooting Nikon and Canons, I am not impressed by Sony. The focusing accuracy is better, but not much else. The Battery Life on a full charge is subpar for a premium priced camera. As, I'm charging my 8 batteries needed for a 4 hrs. event. Ridiculous. Buyers beware.

 

[iamdlewis]

All my AP friends love the Sony line. After a 40 year career shooting Nikon and Canons, I am not impressed by Sony. The focusing accuracy is better, but not much else. The Battery Life on a full charge is subpar for a premium priced camera. As, I'm charging my 8 batteries needed for a 4 hrs. event. Ridiculous. Buyers beware.

Funny I get more than 4 hours of use out of each battery and that will get me more than 2500 images with lots of 30fps multi sec tracking shots. Nikon Z8 shooters also seem to get the same battery life I do. So what is it that you are doing? Are you comparing DSLR to mirrorless?

 

[Unframed Dave]

Funny I get more than 4 hours of use out of each battery and that will get me more than 2500 images with lots of 30fps multi sec tracking shots. Nikon Z8 shooters also seem to get the same battery life I do. So what is it that you are doing? Are you comparing DSLR to mirrorless?

Absolutely agree. 8 hrs shooting wildlife out of 2 batteries. 4000 plus exposures.

I don't see a problem.

Furthermore, lens availability is way superior to nikon. This is the main reason I jumped ship.

 

[AlphaWorld]

All my AP friends love the Sony line. After a 40 year career shooting Nikon and Canons, I am not impressed by Sony. The focusing accuracy is better, but not much else. The Battery Life on a full charge is subpar for a premium priced camera. As, I'm charging my 8 batteries needed for a 4 hrs. event. Ridiculous. Buyers beware.

I used one and a bit batteries shooting continuously for a bit over 4 hours, and I ended up with over 8000 frames. I also managed to get 26000 frames from two batteries, shooting long bursts at high frame rates.

How many cameras are you using to need 8 batteries?

I have found the life of an FZ100 battery to exceed what I expected from a battery of this size, and I've use both Nikon and Canon. I've also found them to have a longer lifetime, too - one of the batteries I still use is one I bought in 2018 (the year is stamped on each battery).

 

[THXGEEK]

Funny I get more than 4 hours of use out of each battery and that will get me more than 2500 images with lots of 30fps multi sec tracking shots. Nikon Z8 shooters also seem to get the same battery life I do.

+1

Yup. For all my different batteries (Sony, Nikon & Canon).

 

[AlphaWorld]

I was looking back to what I said about power blocks.

I found a Belkin unit with four USB-C ports on it, all PD. I am using one for the Sony ZD1, one to power a USB-C hub, and one intermittently to charge my phone. It has the highest power port (can power a laptop) free. It works nicely, and helps with the clutter on my desk (ok, maybe it increases the clutter…). Beats having a power strip filled with power blocks!

 

[THXGEEK]

I've been using this USB charging station for a few months without any issues. It powers the ZD-1 without any issues.

 

[AlphaWorld]

I've been using this USB charging station for a few months without any issues. It powers the ZD-1 without any issues.

Looks like a powerful charger, but it isn't suitable in my country (it doesn't go above 120V).

 

[jtbili]

A more difficult issue is the operation of the included BC-ZD1 charger.
The camera manual does not provide information on what the fast or slow flashing of the yellow LED on the charger panel means and what to do in such a situation. More information is presented in the charger manual, although it is still incomplete.

There is no information on what to do in the event of a deeply discharged battery that the charger does not recognize and does not start charging. From experience, I suggest using another (older) charger to pre-charge the battery.

It should be emphasized here that not all USB-C PD mains chargers are capable of delivering 15V and 2A (i.e., 30W). Sony should redesign the charger so that it can also be used with 12V and 2.5A and/or 20V and 1.5A. The 12V-15V-20V voltage range is typical for USB-C PD. There is also no information on the acceptable minimum and maximum PD charging voltage at which the charger charges batteries and the minimum acceptable USB-C PD output power of the mains charger.

It should also be mentioned that commercially available chargers with USB-A outputs with the following parameters are available: USB-A: (60W Max) 5V/3A, 9V/3A, 12V/3A, 15V/3A, 20V/3A. These are most often modern chargers based on gallium nitride (GaN) semiconductor components. If SONY does not allow charging from a USB-A port, an appropriate warning/exclusion notice should be included.

Best regards,

jtbili