Batteries Dying

[Steve Wargo]

It;s possible that the batteries are so dead that they don’t register on a standard charger. Are they old? You might hunt down a reconditioner.

Steve Wargo
Tempe, Arizona

It’s a dry heat!

[Luckfactor]

What’s a reconditioner?

And no, the batteries aren’t particularly old. One was about six months old and the other about nine months old. I use them maybe four times in a month. And the thing that makes me think that they register on the charger is that the charging light comes on for a second or two before it shuts off.

— Chuck

[Tim Scarpino]

Perhaps the problem is with your charger?

What Charger are you using? What kind of batteries?

More info would be helpful.

Tim Scarpino

[Luckfactor]

The charger is the one that came with the camera — appears to be model No. DE-852D. It’s certainly not a miracle, but it is the standard issue charger, as far as I know.

One of the Batteries is an Impact Li-ion 6000 mAh. Model Number IMCGRD54. Says that it replaces the Panasonic CGR-D54.

Anything else that jumps to mind? I am in Bolivia, and the current isn’t exactly consistant here, which is one thing.

Thanks,

chuck

[Jan Crittenden livingston]

That model number does not sound like a Panaosnic Model number and we have not changed our model number for the CGR series. So who’s batteries are they?

Best,

jan

Jan Crittenden Livingston
Product Manager, DVCPRO, DVCPRO50, AG-DVX100
Panasonic Broadcast & TV Systems

[Luckfactor]

Impact is the brand of the second battery to go dead. I’ll have to look at the first one, which is stuffed in a drawer in my apartment. The first battery was a smaller one, maybe 2800 mAh, if that makes sense.

I believe that this is the battery that came with the camera. I recently bought two new batteries from B&H, that (I believe) are identical to the one that came with the camera… I can’t double check this moment because I have two of three, including the dud, here with me.

Which raises the point that it may not be the nine-month old battery that came with the camera that died, but a brand new one that’s on its third charge.

If it’s not the battery that should have come with the camera, then I got what I paid for with a bargain on the camera… and somebody else got my battery.

I’ll check on those questions that all you good people raise, and have answers on Friday (I’m shooting tomorrow, if they lift the blockades.)

Thanks for your help and thoughts on this.

[Tim Scarpino]

Are your charging problems ONLY in the country where you are at? Did these battery charge OK before you left your home?

I’m leaning towards the charger because of the acknowledged current issues.

Sorry

Tim Scarpino

[Luckfactor]

Okay, so they didn’t lift the blockade in time to travel, and I am therefore in the office with enough time to write you back about batteries.

The battery that came with the camera, panasonic model number CGA-D54, 5400 mAh is fine. No problems at all on that one.

The first battery that died is a Power 2000 For Panasonic, CGR-D220XL, 2400 mAh. It was kind of a useless battery anyway, that I only every used as a back-up when one of the 6000 mAh ran out of juice. It has now officially graduated to paperweight status.

The second battery that died is, as noted before, an Impact brand IMCGRD54. It is not as I noted in my first post nine months old, but more like 2 months old, and on its fourth charge, maybe… Sorry for not doing my homework correctly. It is the generic brand replacement battery that B&H recommended to me.

Here’s the weird thing though… I just plugged it in for kicks and giggles one more time. It did the charge light for two seconds and then shut off thing once. I reconnected it and it charged overnight and apparently full. In the end, sounds very similar to the problem that Florentine posted in the digital photography forum on Jan 7, 2006.

I think Tim Scarpino may be onto the source of the problem because this time I connected the battery to a much better quality surge protector. If I am the only person out there who has this problem, and all the rest of you are operating with nice, stable, first-world electricity, then it may make sense for me to buy a current stabilizer.

Thanks for all your help,

chuck